'AITA for calling out my MIL after she trash talked me at a family gathering?'
"AITA for calling out my MIL at a family gathering after overhearing her trashing me?"
Motor-Reward-4929 writes:
This just happened over the weekend, and I can’t stop thinking about it. I (32F) ended up in an argument with my MIL (57F) at a family gathering I had planned. Now I’m wondering if I went too far.
A couple of months ago, it was decided that we would have a big family get-together. My MIL was originally supposed to host it, but she kept making excuses about how it was “too much work” and she was “too overwhelmed.” Fine, whatever. I said I would take care of it. Even though I work full-time, have two young kids, and barely get a moment to myself, I still wanted to make sure everyone had a great time.
I spent days planning. I made a ton of food, cleaned my entire house, decorated, and even made a little “kids' corner” with activities so the parents could relax. It wasn’t perfect, but I really tried.
During the gathering, I was in the kitchen getting more drinks when I overheard MIL talking to some of the other relatives. And what does she say? That the party was “thrown together last minute,” that the decorations looked “cheap,” and that the food was “boring” and “probably store-bought.” Then she laughed and said, “This is why I didn’t bother hosting. I knew she wouldn’t be able to pull it off properly.”
I felt like I had just been slapped. I walked right in and said, “Wow, MIL. For someone who refused to host, you sure have a lot to say about my effort.” The whole room went silent. She tried to laugh it off, but I wasn’t done. I told her that if she had such high standards, maybe she should have hosted instead of dumping it on me and then talking crap behind my back.
She turned bright red and started stammering, saying she was “just joking” and that I was being dramatic. My husband backed me up and told her I worked really hard on everything. A few other family members agreed, but some of the older relatives started saying I should have just ignored it and “been the bigger person.”
MIL ended up leaving early, and now I’m getting texts saying I embarrassed her and ruined the gathering with “unnecessary drama.” But honestly? I don’t think I should just smile and take it when someone insults me after I worked so hard. So… AITAH?
Here are the top rated comments with OP's responses.
Bonnm42 says:
NTA your MIL ruined the gathering with unnecessary drama. Most likely because you did a better job and she was jealous.
OP responded:
She had no reason to be jealous of anything, she had the change of hosting the gathering, but made excuses not to so I jumped in and tried to make the best out of it.
JacketJolly2982 says:
You should confirm with the 'just roll with it wankers' that it was fine for the monster in law to be rude and disrespectful then? And then thank them for volunteering to host the next event and cop the abuse from now on.
OP responded:
My MIL had the chance of hosting the gathering but made excuses so I jumped in trying to help out and organize something nice to enjoy and she ruined everything.
What do you think?