We asked members of the BuzzFeed Community to tell us about the most unhinged things their in-laws have ever said or done to them. The responses were *quite* extreme — like, what the heck is wrong with some people? Here are their stories:
1. "Where to start?! She didn't like me from the beginning. Less than one minute after being married, she ran down the aisle and whispered threateningly in my ear, 'He will always be MY baby.' She is a constant victim and gossips about everyone, and we knew we were no exception. However, two weeks ago, after dropping off a gift that was meant for me, she left a message saying she was the one who delivered it. She forgot to hang up and proceeded to trash me on 26+-year-old crap (that wasn't even true) to the person in the car with her. My husband called and laid into her, and she said it was his fault because he doesn't call, so she had to talk about me. She's not even sorry. Her apology to me was, 'I'm sorry that was hard to hear.' I'm done jumping through hoops after over 30 years. I'm not going anywhere, lady! DEAL WITH IT."
—Anonymous
2. "When my mother-in-law was 70, part of the celebrations was a four-day cruise. My husband was invited without me. He came back furious. She had spent the whole four days nagging him to divorce me! We had been married for over 20 years and had two adult daughters."
—Anonymous
3. "My father-in-law and mother-in-law were in town for a doctor's appointment. They had instructions to go home and administer an enema for my MIL. Instead, they came to my house and did the procedure ON OUR GUEST BED! They didn't tell us until they were ready to leave and had soiled bedding and towels. They also failed to mention the state of the bathroom. They lamely apologized for 'not thinking,' however, they didn't offer to wash the bedding or clean the bathroom. My husband explained to them that this wasn't okay and to clear with us before doing any more medical procedures in our home."
—Anonymous
4. "My mother-in-law did not want to go to our wedding because it was out of town, and she said it was too expensive. The next week, she bought herself a large flat-screen TV. My husband wasn’t really talking to her after that, so when he got something in the mail from her, he thought it might be a wedding card or a letter of apology. Nope. It was a BILL with an itemized list of charges. Things like library book fines and items she told him were gifts but now wanted to be paid for. The nice final touch was a sticker, that she probably got off one of her own bills, that said 'overdue.'"
—Anonymous
5. "I had a placenta previa and hyperemesis gravidarum with my second pregnancy. During my first pregnancy, I had full-blown eclampsia, so I was already considered high-risk. My due date was May 12, but my mother-in-law insisted that I could hang on for a few weeks and have the baby on Mother's Day as a special gift for her. I had a major rupture April 12 and had an emergency C-section. My mother-in-law was DEVASTATED because I did not wait to have the baby when she chose."
—Anonymous
6. "When my partner and I got married, we decided to have a smaller ceremony, roughly 100 people. My future in-laws were upset because they have a relatively large family. They had a list of over 250 people that they wanted to invite. It was a hard NOPE for both my partner and me. My mother-in-law came up with THE WILDEST suggestions to try to get the entire list of people invited to the wedding. The best one? She wanted to seat people for dinner in 'shifts' — basically load the entire rented area with a ton of tables, have rounds of dinner service, then ask the waitstaff to clear all the tables so people could dance at the end of the night."
—Anonymous
7. "Our in-laws lived a town over from us, so we gave them a spare key in case we got locked out. We made it clear it was for that sole purpose. On two different occasions, my father-in-law came to our apartment and let himself in. The first time, he blew up my phone asking for me to tell our front desk that he could come up to drop off something (something that I had said I would pick up later). I work in a hospital and have no cell service, and my husband cannot have his phone at work. He then recalled he had a key and left it in our house. The second time, he 'gave' us all the spices from their home when he got divorced, even though we said we did not want them. I was in the shower at the time and heard the door open and freaked out, but he was gone by the time I wrapped myself in a towel and saw the spices on our counter."
"For reference, my parents also had a key and lived down the street, but we never had an issue with them. We now have very limited to no contact with my father-in-law since he cannot respect boundaries."
—Anonymous
8. "My husband passed away from cancer while our children were young (ages 7 and 10). My mother-in-law sent my sister-in-law to my house to get back everything she had ever given us, including wedding presents."
—Anonymous
9. "I am currently pregnant with our second child, another boy. My mother-in-law continues to refer to the baby as her granddaughter or doesn’t acknowledge its existence at all."
—Anonymous
10. "My mother-in-law decided my 17-year-old stepson should get the car my oldest child was no longer using (that was owned by me). Due to his numerous discipline issues, having already wrecked the truck he was given when he turned 16, being arrested, etc., we did not plan for him to have a car unless he paid for it himself, so we asked him to bring the car home. She followed him to our house, let him leave it parked in the middle of our driveway, blocking access to the garage, left the headlights on to run down the battery, and watched him throw the car keys into the middle of a HUGE hedge (one of four in the yard), and left a note on it saying, 'Good luck digging the keys out.'"
"She then drove my stepson back to her house. I got home from work after dark, in the rain, and my husband was out of town for work. When my husband called her to come over to help find the keys so the car could be moved (we didn’t yet know about the dead battery), she replied, 'I’m not doing anything to help that bitch.'"
—Anonymous
11. "We’ve been together for 10 years and have known each other for 22. Over the years, my in-laws have constantly made jabs at my lack of a degree since they value higher education over everything. My spouse and I are very much in love, but I recently found out that my mother-in-law wanted to introduce another woman to them. The fact that this happened shortly after she discovered that I’m infertile is not lost on me. I’ve let go of so many things they’ve done to me over the years, but this is the straw that broke the camel’s back. If we’re lucky enough to have children, you can trust they’ll have as little to do as possible with those extremely toxic individuals."
—Anonymous
12. "My fiancé (boyfriend at the time) and I were excited to spend our first Valentine’s Day together. We had planned to cook dinner, drink wine, and watch movies. For context, we were renting a house from his brother, and his family had keys and showed up whenever they wanted. I got home from work to see a decoration hanging in our window. Thought he was being sweet. Nope, his mother was sitting on the couch next to the gifts he had bought me and planned to stay the night with us. Locks were changed not long after that."
13. "My mother-in-law has done some truly unhinged stuff over the years, but the first thing she did that left a huge scar was before our first child was born. Luckily, we had family members willing to come and help us because we were still on the waitlist for daycare and didn't have a lot of PTO saved up. However, my mother-in-law did not appreciate her position in the queue. My stepmom was scheduled first because of her job and time-off schedule. It was really just set up to best work for people without disrupting their lives. My mother-in-law sent a nasty email to my husband asking how dare we have my stepmom visit first because she isn’t blood, and therefore isn’t family. Mind you, my stepmom and I are really close, and she has been there for us as a mom. She went on about how we were selfish and malicious for making her wait to visit (despite her planning to be there the day our child was born)."
"She said it was akin to us stabbing her in the back and she wasn’t going to come to help. My husband was livid and called her out. We eventually resolved it, and she came to visit, but I haven’t forgiven her, and she has since acted irrationally on numerous occasions."
—Anonymous
14. "My mother-in-law put garbage laying around HER yard into MY car instead of tossing it in her dumpster. I now lock my car in her presence."
15. "I was with someone who was an only child. His mom constantly accused me of stealing her son away from her. She would cry to him asking why he didn't love mommy as much as me, and she loved putting me down in ways that were oblivious to my partner. After I got cancer, she told me that I didn’t need help looking after my kids because I was strong. We aren’t together anymore."
16. "My mother-in-law answered the phone on speakerphone while sitting next to me (mind you, this is the first time I met her) and informed the person that she was speaking with that why, yes, she did actually like me, but no one else in the family did. She then looked me dead in the eyes and said, 'Oh, I think she can hear me,' and proceeded to tell the other person that the entire family, which consisted of six siblings, thought I trapped my husband into marriage by getting pregnant. When my husband saw my face and asked what was wrong, she replied that I was eavesdropping on a private conversation and may have overheard her."
—Anonymous
17. "I had hyperemesis gravidarum with both of my pregnancies. My mother-in-law told everyone who would listen that I was an awful hostess because I would not cook Christmas dinner (my mom and husband did). My due date was February 1, and I wound up having the baby December 31 after developing eclampsia. She also complained about how disgusting I was because she could hear me throwing up. It was 'just disgusting' to make the rest of them suffer through me not being 'good' at being pregnant."
—Anonymous
18. "My sister-in-law wore white to my wedding. Our wedding photo is on the coffee table, sitting there, reminding me of how selfish she always has been and always will be."
—Anonymous
19. "My mother-in-law has been guilt-tripping for grandchildren since she met me. She breaks down into tears about how old she will be when she eventually has grandchildren, even though my husband (her son) and I have told her we will not be having children ever. It turned into an argument where I told her she can adopt herself if she is that desperate to have a baby around, but my uterus is my business!"
20. "My mother-in-law would come to visit for two weeks every summer, and somehow, my husband, who always said he adored her, would conveniently have two weeklong work meetings. She would pass judgement on my housekeeping by checking my garbage cans and testing for dust on top of my refrigerator. She also re-arranged all the kitchen cabinets. 'Why would you want things there? They would go much better here.' The last time she visited, she finally realized she was about three inches taller than me and maybe that was why I put things where I did. She also demanded I buy a new set of pans because she didn't like mine. I refused to have a separate set of pans for someone who was only around two weeks a year."
—Anonymous
21. "My mother-in-law was an all-around nasty little woman, making derogatory comments about everyone and everything, including her other daughter-in-law as she was standing in the next room. But, the one thing she did to me that I found hard to forgive was disrupting our five-year vow renewal ceremony in a private church by loudly saying 'kissy-kissy' in a sarcastic tone of voice when we concluded our pastor’s blessing with a kiss. It ruined the moment for us both, and judging by the look on her face, it wasn’t intended to be friendly or nice."
—Anonymous
22. "It should have been a red flag when she walked up to the altar beside her son and said, 'You don't have to do this.' Eventually, he told her to sit, and we finished the wedding. She went through my drawers and complained to him about my pricey underwear, only to find out they had been a gift from him. Once, during a family dinner, she wasn't eating. My husband asked if the food wasn't good, and her reply was, 'It's good, just not good enough to eat.' She never introduced me by my name. I was 'the children's mother.' He was 34 when we married, and she was convinced her son, the doctor, was a virgin until he met the 'divorced girl.'"
"My husband was in a very bad accident, and while in the ICU, she told the nurses that he was well insured and my visits should be supervised because I would try to kill him. Fortunately, the nurses were friends and didn't believe the witch. He divorced me 10 years later because I didn't like his mom. WTF?"
—Anonymous
23. "I could write a book with all of the horrible, unhinged things my mother-in-law has done or said. The worst was after my husband and I went through two very physically and emotionally traumatic miscarriages exactly three months apart. She took it upon herself to tell anyone who listened that god was punishing me for unrepentant sin in my life. Not my husband because she raised him perfectly and he didn't sin, but me…oh, I was such a sinner! I had a lady from our church call me to let me know she just got off the phone with my MIL and thought I might want to know what she was saying to everyone. It took a couple more years, but we finally cut them out of our lives for good when she threatened to 'beat the sin' out of my children since I allowed them to watch The Magic School Bus. Haven’t missed her one bit."
—Anonymous
24. "My ex-mother-in-law tried to talk me into letting my sister-in-law breastfeed my newborn son. It was a pretty awkward conversation."
25. "My mother-in-law and sisters-in-law would swipe things from me. None of the things had a lot of monetary value, but had sentimental value to me. For example: a photo in a ceramic frame of my sister and me when we were babies, a set of darts my uncle had given to my husband, an engraved silver-plated baby cup my husband bought our daughter when she was born, and more. At first, I was appalled and angry at their behavior, but as time went on, I realized how strange and sad their behavior was because I wasn't the only one they did this to."
—Anonymous
26. "There are so many stories from my mother-in-law, but the one that stands out is when we were visiting for Christmas and my husband was leaving to run errands. I said, 'Bye, babe!' and his mother ran over to him, hugged him, and said, 'Yes! Bye, babe!' and then turned to me with a glare and declared, 'He was MY baby first!' What?! No one else in the room even batted an eye at this ridiculous behavior."
—Anonymous
27. "My husband passed away young at the age of 28. He had a structured settlement that was still active. When that settlement of $50,000 was paid out, it went to my mother-in-law since she was the beneficiary. The settlement was set up when he was 2. My husband and I have four children. Our house was foreclosed on because of lack of funds. My mother-in-law decided that she deserved the money more than our children did. The kids never saw a penny of that money, even though she said that she had set up college funds for them. Then, she disappeared from their lives. Needless to say, there are no college funds."
—Anonymous
28. Finally: "I have cancer. With chemo, I lost my ability to have children. The thing I wanted most in my life was to have a child with my partner. Thanksgiving night, we were at my partner’s mother’s house and had just finished dinner. Our dog was whining and being obnoxious, and my partner told his mom he was frustrated with the dog. His mother looked at me and said, 'Maybe if you hadn’t put so much time, effort, and money into that dog, you could have a baby.' She knew the chemo made me infertile and also knew it devastated me. It was the cruelest, most heartless and vindictive thing she could've ever said. She still hasn’t apologized, and if she ever does, my response is going to be telling her to go to hell. Who says something like that, especially to someone you know is struggling with infertility and cancer?"
—Anonymous
I'm at a loss for words. I'm just so sorry to everyone who had to deal with these horrible in-laws! If you have your own in-law horror story, please feel free to share in the comments below.
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.