'AITA for reading my MIL's prenup at her retirement party after she said I 'trapped' her son and helped him cheat on me?'
"AITA for reading my MIL's prenup at her retirement party after she said I 'trapped' her son and helped him cheat on me?"
I stood up at my mother in law's retirement party and read out loud the prenup she forced me to sign seven years ago, specifically the part where it says she gets cut off completely if she interferes in our marriage.
So here's what happened. When I got pregnant with our first kid, my mother in law lost her mind. She told everyone, and I mean everyone, that I trapped her precious son. She said I poked holes in condoms.
She said I lied about birth control. She even suggested at one family dinner that I might have assaulted him while he was drunk. My husband just sat there. He didn't defend me. Not once.
His family ate it up. His sister stopped talking to me. His dad gave me these disgusted looks at every gathering. Cousins I barely knew were messaging me asking how I could do this to their family.
The truth? We'd been trying for six months. He wanted kids more than I did.
But his mother had this whole narrative.
She told people I came from nothing and saw her son as a meal ticket. She said I was white trash who got lucky. At my baby shower, which she insisted on hosting, she made a speech about how some women use pregnancy to lock down a man and how sad that was.
I smiled through it. I had to. My husband kept saying she'd come around.
She didn't.
After our son was born, she got worse. She told people I was keeping the baby from her when I asked her to wash her hands before holding him. She posted on Facebook about grandparents' rights. She showed up at our house unannounced constantly and had a meltdown every time I said it wasn't a good time.
Then I found out my husband had been cheating. With his ex. For eight months. His mother knew. She'd been covering for him. Telling me he was at her house for family dinners when he was actually with the ex. She even let the ex come to some of those dinners.
When I confronted my husband, he broke down. He said the pregnancy had freaked him out. He said his mom kept telling him I'd changed and wasn't the woman he married. He said he felt trapped.
Trapped.
The same word his mother used about him.
I told him I wanted a divorce. He begged me to stay. His mother called me and screamed that I was breaking up the family over nothing. She said men make mistakes and I needed to get over it. She said if I really loved him, I'd forgive him.
I asked her if she told him to cheat.
She got quiet. Then she said, "I told him he had options."
That's when I remembered the prenup. Before we got married, she sat me down and said her son was going to inherit everything and she needed to protect him. She had a lawyer draw up this whole document. My husband was embarrassed but he signed it too. So did I, because I loved him and didn't care about his family's money.
The prenup was insane. It had clauses about infidelity, about custody, about property division. But buried in there was a section about family interference. If either of our parents tried to control the marriage or turn us against each other, they'd be cut off financially.
No inheritance. No gifts. No help. Nothing. His mother had insisted on that part. She was worried about my parents being leeches, she said. She never thought it would apply to her.
I hired a lawyer. Turns out the prenup was solid. And my husband's infidelity meant he got almost nothing in the divorce. The house we bought together, which his mother helped with the down payment, was now mine. The trust fund he was supposed to inherit at 35, gone. All of it redirected to our son.
And his mother? She lost her golden boy's future. But I wasn't done. She had this huge retirement party planned. Fifty years at the same company. The whole family was coming. Colleagues. Friends. Her boss. Everyone.
I got an invitation. I almost didn't go. But then I thought about every time she called me a gold digger. Every time she said I trapped him. Every time she covered for his cheating and made me feel like I was crazy.
So I went. I wore a nice dress. I brought a card. I waited until the speeches started. When it was time for family to talk, I stood up. My ex husband's face went white. His mother smiled at me like maybe I was going to apologize or make peace.
I pulled out a copy of the prenup. I said, "I want to share something that my mother in law wrote seven years ago. This is from our prenup, the one she insisted on." Then I read the whole section about family interference. Out loud. Every word. Including the part about financial consequences.
I looked right at her and said, "You told everyone I trapped your son with a pregnancy. You called me a gold digger at my own baby shower. You helped him cheat on me and then told me to get over it.
According to your own contract, you get nothing now. No access to his trust. No financial help from us ever. You made sure of that when you wrote these rules. You just never thought they'd apply to you."
The room was silent. Her boss looked confused. Her friends looked horrified. My ex husband was standing up like he wanted to run. She started crying. She said I was cruel. She said I was ruining her special day. She said she only wanted what was best for her son.
I said, "You wanted what was best for you. And now you have exactly what you wrote into that contract. Nothing." Then I left. I didn't stay for cake. I didn't say goodbye to anyone.
My ex has been calling nonstop. His sister sent me a long message about how I'm a monster. His dad said I'm teaching our son to be vindictive. Some of the extended family are on my side though. Apparently she'd been talking trash about a lot of people over the years and they enjoyed watching her get called out.
My friends say I went too far. That I humiliated an old woman at her retirement party. That I could have handled it privately. That our son is going to grow up hearing about this. But every time I think about her standing at my baby shower telling people I trapped her son, I don't feel bad. Did I take this too far?