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Mothers-in-law can be one of life’s biggest blessings or worst nightmares. These women have the power to either make you feel like you’re right at home or make your life a living hell. While some are sweet and always check on you, others are out there plotting your demise. And the bad thing is that you probably can’t tell you have a monster on your hands until it’s too late.

But the people in our stories found out- and they did it the hard way too. Their monsters-in-law offered them everything from unwanted advice to $30, 000 for grandchildren. If you think you’ve heard some horror stories, we’re betting they were nothing like these. Here are some of the craziest things mothers-in-law have ever said.

67. MIL Experiment Went Wrong

My mother-in-law forced me to drink the soup. After six years of trying, I finally got pregnant. So my mother-in-law forced me to eat a healthy diet. "She went straight into the kitchen to prepare soup for me," saying it was good for the baby's health. A few weeks later, my belly got bigger and bigger, and my husband took me to the ER. The doctors were unable to find any clues. Suddenly, my husband's face turned red when he saw a bowl full of soup beside my table. He said, "Did mom ask if this is good for the baby's health". I replied, "Yes". My blood froze when he said, "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you". I said, "Why, what happened?" She discussed with me last night that she made a mistake by trying her herbal diet plan on you, which was good for your baby but caused reactions and didn't suit your immune system, and that's the reason you're getting fat.

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66. I Called The Cops On My MIL

My MIL hated me and the feeling was mutual. She was always belittling me. One day she came to dinner, and after a few drinks she passed out. We went to the hospital and after an hour her doctor said "I called the cops, they will explain everything." While I was wondering why, my wife's face was straight, it almost seemed like she knew something. We went into her room and saw two cops guarding her. While my wife was speaking with them, my MIL secretly passed me a paper. It was written "IT'S HAPPENING AGAIN! RUN!" I didn't know what was going on, so I looked at her and whispered to her "Why?" She just pointed to her daugher. Then it dawned on me. My MIL couldn't end up in the hospital because she was drunk, she had like 3 drinks. BUT, one of the drinks was meant for me. OMG, my wife wanted to poison me. I stepped out as fast as I could and one of the cops noticed me. I told him the whole story and he knew what had to be done.

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65. A Punch and A Slap

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When my husband and I were expecting our first child, my MIL demanded that we give her a girl. I explained that there was no possible way for us to guarantee that, but throughout my entire pregnancy, she continued to badger us about how the baby better be a girl.

We did a little reveal at a family party and when we found out we were having a boy, she slapped me, punched my husband, and got rip-roaring drunk. She was so drunk; she barfed all over herself and her bathroom for hours on end.

64. She Makes Cruella Look Sweet

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My mother-in-law took me out to dinner to be told at the end of it that I had a little over a month to move out of the condo I rented from them because “they didn’t want to be landlords anymore” and that I had to deal with the taxes and stuff that went with it; she proceeds to hand me a magazine with a list of places for rent.

Not unusual right? Well, their son, my husband, died almost THREE months before this. I’m crying and she had the nerve to say that my crying made her uncomfortable. She’s definitely crazy and terrible!

63. The E-mail

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My MIL wrote her son a letter a week before we got married, telling him to think very carefully about what he was doing, as he needed to be sure he was marrying someone he loved and trusted. (We had been together for six very happy years at this point! )

She later walked out of our wedding in tears, drove home (seven hours away!) without saying anything to anyone and then followed that up by emailing me saying she didn’t know what my husband (her son) saw in me. I refused to have anything to do with her until she apologized to me; it was a lovely year of no contact with her at all.

62. MIL With An “F”

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I work in a tech-related field, so I wasn’t surprised when one day my mother-in-law asked me for help with her phone. I noticed it was low on memory because of all the pictures on it.

It turns out she had hundreds of nude selfies she was texting to men that were not my father-in-law. I finally asked “Do you want to keep these?'” Well, she answered, “Just the ones on the couch, I think I look really good there, don’t you?” I just handed her her phone back.

61. The Permanent Ex-Wife

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My mother-in-law loves my husband’s ex and doesn’t seem ready to acknowledge the fact that he married someone else. I don’t really care that she stays in touch with her, but I’m not sure how I’m supposed to respond when she tells us over dinner that his ex is single again and looking for someone special, followed by a meaningful look.

She would also call me by my husband’s ex-wife’s name, like always! And every time I see her at a family gathering, she would always say, “Oh are you guys still married?” Like hello?! Isn’t it obvious?! Can you just please be happy for us?!

60. “I Already Have A Dog”

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Before my husband and I got married, my mother-in-law whined to my family that she was losing her only son and my aunt reminded her she wouldn’t be losing anyone, but gaining a daughter. And my MIL said to my whole family, “What do I need a daughter for? I already have a dog.”

Then when I was nine months pregnant with my first child, my MIL asked me to stand up and turn around. After I did, she said, “Ew, when I was pregnant you could never tell from the back.” Oh really? Okay…

59. Unwanted Assistance

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My mother-in-law was staying with us and my husband just went back to work after us being in the hospital for a week after having our daughter. She continued to tell me about my husband’s ex that he has a daughter with also and how she broke his heart and had maybe given him an STD (she hadn’t).

She also continued to make me feel horrible about myself by saying, “I’ll make you an appointment with a dermatologist to fix your breakouts.” I just had a baby and I wasn’t even breaking out that bad. She was commenting on losing the baby weight asap, and then continued to say rude things to our newborn like, “Hope that one day you’ll be a cute baby.”

58. Devil, Devil, Devil

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My son was diagnosed with ADHD. My MIL told me I must not be very smart if I think ADHD is a real thing when really it’s the devil causing my son to act that way; she even said that I was poisoning him by giving him medication for it.

And that wasn’t all! She also told me that I must have been on illegal substances myself while pregnant to allow the devil into my child.

57. The Gift of Giving

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My mother-in-law gave me a vegetable steamer wrapped in used Christmas paper. She proceeded to tell me, “It’s not much of a gift, but as you insist on giving my poor boy frozen vegetables at least you can steam them.”

And the best gift ever (Christmas) was when she gave me a pair of G-String underwear which more resembled dental floss. This though was backed up with my sister-in-law giving a basket of edible body paints, motion lotion, and a vibrating adult toy! Wow, just wow!

56. Stop with The Questions

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When my daughter was still five months old, my mother-in-law told me, “How much do you feed this baby? Is she too fat already? Aren’t you worried she’ll turn out like… you?” Ugh. There is no such thing as an obese baby.

But the worst is when she told me, “Don’t you think the baby needs a helmet? It seems like her head is a weird shape.” And then she mentioned it over and over and over until I finally snapped and told her that the pediatrician thinks the baby’s head is just fine.

55. Monster-In-Law

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My mother-in-law HATES me with a passion. She has been nothing but vicious and cruel to me at every opportunity during the 22 years I have been married to her son. She is also a self-proclaimed, born-again Christian, so full of love and all that drivel.

I’m adopted and she has always thrown that in my face. I’ve always heard her say things like “since nobody knows where you came from,” to “you have no heritage,” to “aren’t you afraid of what could be wrong with your baby?” Yes, I have a real winner of a monster-in-law.

54. But, It’s Our Baby!

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My mother-in-law lives with my husband and I. He and I have recently been trying to conceive (first child for both of us). We’ve been talking about turning the spare bedroom into a nursery, and my mother-in-law said that there was no need, as the baby would be sleeping in her room with her. I told her that no, it wouldn’t.

She then became angry and said that my husband and I sleep too soundly to hear a baby crying. I said that unless she plans on breastfeeding my baby, there’s no way she’s keeping the baby in her room. She answered, “Fine! then I’ll be the one to pick the baby’s name.” Um, that’s not how this works!

53. An Overbearing In-Law

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The first time I realized that my mother-in-law was overbearing was when she dropped off my husband at work and then slowly drove a bit backward to watch him go safely. Then she turns to me and proudly said, “I always did this when I dropped him off at school.”

The one thing that pushed me over the edge was after I had a stillbirth at 33 weeks and she told me I had to get pregnant again and that I owed her grandchildren and that it would be selfish to keep her son and not give him children.

52. She Wants It BIG!

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I was at the grocery store with my husband and his mom. In the check out line, she looks at my husband and says, “Honey, do mommy a favor and go back to the pharmacy aisle and get mommy some rubbers (the contraceptive thing).” We were on the way to her new boyfriend’s house. He says, “Ugh. Alright,” and starts for the aisle.

Well, when my husband was about six check-out lanes away, she yells his name (in front of many people) and he turns around. She holds her hands about 18 inches apart and yells, “The big ones!” This was a 45-year-old woman.

51. “It’s Not Like We Had A Choice”

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Shortly after my engagement, I had to send my ring in to be resized because it was a little too big. My MIL asked me where my ring was and I said it was being resized because it was half a size too big. She answered, “Why make it smaller! You’ll get fatter anyways and it’ll fit fine!”

And a few years after, I was telling them (my husband’s family) how much I appreciated them in my life and my children’s lives. My MIL quite spitefully replied, “Well! It’s not like we had a choice. We never had a say in who he married!”

50. Never Leave Your Children Alone With The In-Laws

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My MIL comes to stay with us for two weeks when our first baby was born. She sees my son for the first time, waits till my husband leaves the room and says, “How did you convince the doctor to let you carry this baby for so long? He’s obviously four months old. Don’t worry, I won’t tell my son it’s not his baby.”

I was like, seriously?! But not just that; while she’s there, she decides completely against our wishes and doctor’s orders to give him a bottle filled with whole milk and banana cereal. It’s something our parents did but is no longer recommended until kids are 4-6 mos old. So since we told her not to do that; she hid the bottle under the couch so that I wouldn’t find it and kept feeding him with this dirty bottle. About a week later, I notice my baby had white stuff all up inside his mouth on the inside of his cheeks. We took him to the doctor, and he told us that he has bacteria called thrush from a dirty bottle. We go home, and I freak out! She tells me, “Oh, all my kids had thrush. Just scrape it off the inside of his cheeks with a Brillo pad.” Oh, God!

49. The Break-Up Contracts

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My first husband (back when he was my boyfriend) and I were given contracts by his mother (after knowing that I came from a low-income family) spelling out the financial benefits of us breaking up. If we agreed to break up and sign the contracts, he would get his college paid for and a new car and I would get $10,000.

Even after we both refused, she actually came to the house we were sharing and explained that I was an unacceptable girlfriend for her son and offered me additional money and a new contract for $20,000. Yeah. She was my mother-in-law for nine years after that.

48. She’s Good At Calling Me Bad Names

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My mother-in-law was the WORST! She would call me Heather or Rachel. My name is Amber. I was with her son for six years. She called my son a mistake.

When I met her, she called me “exotic” because I have dark brown hair, light blue eyes, and olive skin. Apparently, she meant that I looked like a stripper. Not just that, she also said that I’m a gold digger, but hey, your family is not even rich, so how come?

47. “Devil’s Spawn”

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My mother-in-law is crazy religious. When I told her I was planning on educating my three boys on all religions when they were old enough and let them decide if they wanted to practice whatever they chose, she called me the devil’s spawn and threatened to take my kids away.

She also accused me of stealing her husband’s social security check because we were receiving a mail of theirs when they first moved up here. We later found out that they never sent the check in the first place. I’m still waiting on that apology.

46. She’s Putting Words In My Mouth

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Before the wedding, it came to her attention that I’m pro-choice (my in-laws are evangelical Christians who don’t believe in birth control and have 12 children) and she tried to persuade my husband to break off the engagement.

When I asked her why, her reason was that, “I believe in abortion and would kill any children we might conceive.” As you can imagine my mother-in-law and I don’t have much of a relationship!

45. Babies and Money Talk

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My mother-in-law is obsessed with having grand-kids and is in complete denial that my husband and I aren’t planning on having any. The last time she visited, she stole one of my birth control pills.

Well, I guess she thinks that I wouldn’t notice. And he’s not even her only kid! He’s just the only boy so his sister’s kids wouldn’t matter. She recently said she’d pay me $30,000 to have a kid. I say raise it to $100,000 and get back to me.

44. What A Nice Spy Cameras

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My creepy mother-in-law has security cameras all around the outside of her house, but I didn’t realize she was doing surveillance inside as well until one day she said, “You keep complaining about how hot my house is.”

When I looked surprised, she finished, “I was listening to your conversations through the vent.” Um, creepy much? I freaked out and would only talk to my husband in whispers outside for the rest of that trip!

43. Yearly Diet Pill Supply

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Each Christmas, the whole family (10-15 people at least, plus their guests) would get together and exchange gifts. Each year, I would get the same themed gift from her. I am overweight (just chubby), so she felt the need to emphasize it by doing things like giving me individually wrapped cans of slim fast, or a box of diet pills.

But my most favorite was, one year she gave me one of those neoprene waistband things that are supposed to make you sweat like a goat until you have a slim waist. Like, come on! Is my fat hurting you that you’re that bothered by it?

42. Evil On Another Level

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My mother-in-law asked me why couldn’t I be normal after having a miscarriage. She went on about how having babies was the most natural thing in the world and there clearly must be something wrong with me.

She also went around telling people she was pregnant on my wedding day. She wasn’t. It was the start of menopause. She also constantly made comments about how I was fat and I should wear more make up and fix my hair. She wasn’t particularly nice to me.

41. Healing “Expert”

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My mother-in-law is super into holistic healing stuff. So one day, she grabbed me and looked deeply into my eyes and said: “Your liver is toxic, that’s why your eyes are brown.”

When I protested that my eyes have been brown since I was born she answered, “Then you were born with toxins and they made your eyes brown. Blue eyes are a sign of a clean liver, like mine.”  I then asked, “So will detoxing my liver change my eyes from brown to blue?” She grinned and said, “Exactly!” I rolled my brown eyes so hard I think I heard them hit the back of my head.

40. A Total Blabbermouth

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When we were at a family event, I started bleeding very heavily and my mother-in-law was the only person who knew we were pregnant. My husband and I just immediately left and asked her not to say a word and just say I had an emergency in my family and had to go. Instead, she threw herself on the floor in front of the entire family, and friends of, and starting crying that I was having a miscarriage.

Like we didn’t even know if I was miscarrying at that point! And we made her promise not to say anything! Then while I was miscarrying, she kept telling me I had to understand how hard it was for her so I couldn’t be mad at her. It’s gotten worse from there. She never apologizes for anything she’s done.

39. She’s “Always Right”

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My wife’s mother is a horrible individual. She goes out of her way to belittle me in front of people. She does not like me and has made it very clear. It’s gotten to the point now where I just stay away. I’m missing family functions and get-togethers as I hate being around her. She argues with everyone about anything and everything and she’s “always right.”

My son awhile back was diagnosed with cancer (years ago, he’s doing amazing now). She tried to tell me that I don’t feel about him like she does because she is his grandmother and I will never understand. As if we were having a who is more sad competition. I just don’t know what to do anymore honestly. Talk me off a ledge.

38. “We Had The Dog Put Down”

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We knew that our dog Ruby wasn’t able to see any more, and she had fatty tumors all over her, but otherwise, she was a happy dog and could tell when the family was home to visit her. She even knew me by smell and I had only been around a couple of years.

So, one Tuesday night, her mom calls about something inane and just drops it in the conversation like, “Oh! By the way, I bought some cantaloupe, and we had the dog put down.” My wife was absolutely crushed. I knew she would be sad when it was the dog’s time to go but what the heck? Just call drop this crap on her and leave me with an inconsolable wife. Hey thanks, Ma.

37. Thinking In Advance

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My mother-in-law abused her children verbally their entire life and when my husband and I met, he learned that it is NOT normal for your mom to treat you like you owe her for birthing you and that you are in debt to her for your life.

I gave her chances for years, but she really went too far and said she would call child protective services on us and lied so that she could take our kids away if we did not let them go sleep at her house whenever she wants. We don’t even have kids. She was just planning for the future. Crazy!

36. A Moment When You Want To Melt Into The Floor

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My significant other had recently gotten separated. My now soon-to-be MIL wears hearing aids so she frequently talks really loudly. The first time I met her, she yells out, “Can I ask your girlfriend about your wife? Does she know her?”

The looks I got from other people at the restaurant made me want to melt into the floor. Plus, we were having lunch with some of her friends from church. So much for first impressions.

35. The Mice Ate It

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My mother-in-law has a huge house with plenty of storage room, so she offered to keep my wedding dress in a spare closet for me. Years later when I had daughters, I asked if I could have it back. She informed me that the entire dress had been devoured by mice.

Apparently, the mice didn’t touch any other item in the house – only my wedding dress. My sister-in-law later informed me that my mother-in-law got rid of it out of spite. I would have loved to have been able to have some of the material to share in some ways with my daughters. I would have gladly taken the dress back if she no longer wanted to store it. She could have just asked.

34. Disney Disaster

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When I got married my mother-in-law told me I had to pick a favorite cartoon character because all the women in the family had one as their ‘signature thing’. I told her I didn’t really like cartoons, so she ‘assigned’ me Winnie the Pooh since I have a big tummy.

Now, every year, I get Winnie the Pooh-themed gifts for my birthday and Christmas. So far I’ve gotten embroidered overalls, pajama pants, numerous stuffed toys, a stamp set, wall decals, ornaments, earrings, a stencil to use to paint him on my walls, and even a gift certificate to a tattoo parlor to get the ol’ bear and his honey jar inked on my skin.

33. Third Time’s The Charm

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My husband was married before marrying me. His mother kept their wedding pictures on her living room walls. When asked why, her response was, “We knew her before you and she will always be a part of this family. Isn’t she beautiful?” Oh, okay.

During our marriage, my mother-in-law also made sure that her son’s ex-wife attended family functions where we were present as well. Needless to say, he remarried again after I divorced him. Third times the charm, right?

32. Seems A Bit Extreme

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I sat around having dinner with my husband’s family one night and the father-in-law asks my husband and I if we wanted to have a child. We both said not as of the moment, to which the mother-in-law replies “But what’s the point of your marriage? If you don’t want children.”

I then told her it was because I wanted to commit to her son and spend my life with him. I could tell she totally didn’t get it. After a few minutes of silence, she pipes up with “To be honest, if you’re not going to have children, what’s the point in being alive?” They’re a big part of the reason we’re not together anymore.

31. Rudeness Level: 1000

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My mother-in-law didn’t allow me to have WiFi or data on my phone and would randomly check my phone to make sure I wasn’t talking to boys or sending any nudes. Like, really? As soon as I came out, my husband knew something had happened, so he went back in and asked his mom to not cause any problems today.

When I walk back in past her, she mutters under her breath, “You sneaky brat,” I whirl around to get out a “What did you just call me?” As she reaches the front door to start screaming on the front porch, “Oh screw you! I will not have you treat me like this in my son’s house. I knew you would take him from me. You brat!” I yelled back, “Don’t bother coming back in until you apologize.” She then sat in her car for two hours refusing to speak to her son or me while telling everyone else there that day that I had started it all.

30. Just So You Know!

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When I had my daughter, my mother-in-law came to visit us in the hospital. She held my baby for a moment, handed her back to me, and said, “Just so you know, I’m a grandmother, not a baby sitter.” I’m pretty sure my jaw was still on the floor when she left five minutes later.

My favorite one is – she would regularly walk around the house in just a bra and thong, even when we’re visiting. Since my husband witnessed it growing up, he thought it was normal until I pointed out that it definitely isn’t.

29. Am I Not Part Of The Family?

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My mother-in-law always says how cute pictures of my nieces are but never says that about my son. I know. I sound petty. But the difference in her reaction to my nieces and my child is so stark; you can’t help but notice it.

This weekend she said my son has “sleepy eyes” and looks like “a cute sleepy Donald Duck.” I don’t know if she was saying it as a compliment, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t. She also proudly showed me a family photo album, all of the other family members are there, expect my son and me.

28. The Wedding Wrecker

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Less than 10 minutes before we were all supposed to walk down the aisle, my mother-in-law comes rushing back to tell me the toilet paper is out in the ladies’ restroom and then asks me to go fill it. Sorry, MIL, I’m already wearing a big white dress.

Also, she recently flagged one of the wedding photos on Facebook as “offensive” because she “never liked how she looked in that photo”… five years after the fact. She also continually insinuates that I’m fancy and she’s not good enough.

27. That’s A Very Sweet of You, Thanks!

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My mother-in-law told me about how her one good friend passed away and her friend’s SO remarried. I said If I were in her friend’s shoes, I’d be sad cause I would feel like I was replaced because I hoped to grow old with my SO.

She then said she would hope my SO would find a nice woman to remarry so my toddler would have another “mom” to take care of her grandchild. She said it like it wasn’t a big deal. It makes me want to bawl to this day.

26. Stop Talking Already

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Shortly after our wedding, my mother-in-law said, “Are you still on the pill? I hope you are, I’m too young to be a grandma!” Three years later, “Why oh why won’t you give me grandchildren?!”

During pregnancy, I received so many weird tips from her and she told me, “It’s your fault if something goes wrong.” Two days after the baby was born, she said, “Are you sure there isn’t another one in there? That belly sure is still big. Mine went away immediately.” And in general, she knows it ALL because “I’ve seen it on TV.”

25. Excuse Me, It’s OUR Wedding

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My step-MIL made me cry within the first five minutes of meeting her by instantly challenging me on why our parents were not listed on the wedding announcement. Short answer: both of us have divorced/remarried parents… for a total of eight parents. We kind of wanted OUR names to be the memorable thing on the announcement, not the list of people at the top.

Secondly, we are in our 30’s and paid for our own wedding, so it’s not like they threw the party. It’s not hideous, but it set the tone for our relationship and I’ve been terrified of her since that first “chat.”

24. Too Matchy-Matchy

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My mother-in-law is nice and well-meaning, but kind of crazy and unstable. When we were planning the wedding, she was obsessed with having her pantyhose match the tablecloths at the rehearsal. It didn’t matter that I didn’t care what color the tablecloths at the rehearsal were or even if there were tablecloths. She just kept asking me what color and I just kept telling her whatever she wanted. Eventually, I just passed it off to my wedding planner.

She also keeps giving me and my husband matching underwear, like Superman boxers for him and then Superman bikinis for me. I have told her to please not give me underwear anymore but she just keeps doing it; I haven’t even told her they are the wrong size because I never wear them. I just think it’s really weird she insists on giving me underpants multiple times a year against my wishes.

23. Recycled Gifts

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I am divorced now, but my ex-MIL was a strange bird. For starters, the ex-in-laws liked shopping for gifts months or even years in advance, such that for the first several holidays with my ex, I received gifts that they had picked out for his ex-girlfriend. It didn’t go so far as to have her name on the items, but they were very clearly intended for her with her favorite colors and motifs all over everything.

I guess they assumed the items were generic enough that I wouldn’t know, and maybe it was my ex’s fault for telling me so much about his ex-girlfriend, but I knew these were leftover gifts from his last relationship! I dutifully and diligently wrote polite thank you notes and then either sold, donated, or gave the items to my ex if he found them useful.

22. “So He Could Make Up His Mind”

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A month before our wedding, my MIL offered to pay my husband to leave the country, so that he could “really make his mind up.” We didn’t have any contact with her for five months after that until our son was born.

Well, suddenly she decided it was just “a lot of misunderstandings,” and we should “just leave it in the past and start fresh.” Funny what a baby will do to people. And just to clarify, it wasn’t a shotgun wedding. We’d been engaged for three years, and got married on our 5th anniversary.

21. “I Know What I’m Doing. It’s Much Better This Way”

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We asked her (mother-in-law) to feed the cat while we were on our honeymoon. We returned to discover that she had rearranged (literally moved) the furniture, pictures on the walls, kitchen cabinet, and drawer items, etc.

When I asked her why did she rearranged everything, her answer was “I know what I’m doing. It’s much better this way.” To clarify, she is now my FORMER in-law. And while reminiscing on this long Thanksgiving weekend, boy am I thankful for that!

20. That’s So Rude, Mate!

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My in-laws are the complete opposite of myself and my family. They are brash and don’t hold back. When we moved into our home and we had asked for their help. I knew something was off that day, so I was trying to be as polite as possible.

When she entered our house, the first time anyone had been in there, she yelled out from the bathroom, “Oh mate, you forgot the toilet paper, knew you’d forget something!” I walked in and let her know, “It’s all good I have some in the car,” Her reply: “Look, what’s your problem mate? You’ve had the craps all day.” I just shook my head and walked out, not worth the fight.

19. I Was Just Being “Dramatic”

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My husband’s parents both said (when I had briefly left the room) that it was stupid how I was upset over my childhood pet dying because he was “just an animal” and that I was clearly just faking sadness to get attention and sympathy from my husband.

They clearly don’t understand how hard it can be to lose a pet. I still miss that cat seven years later. I am so glad that my ex’s witch of a mother (she controlled the family basically) is way out of my life. I never regret getting divorced because I don’t want to be part of their family.

18. The Unwanted Designer

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My MIL did not like some of the things that were on our wedding registry. Since she changed some of it, my mom requested changes too; NOTHING on there was stuff I liked by the end. She bought similar items for her son’s birthday just a couple of months before the wedding. She didn’t like the couch pillows so she bought different ones. She hated the throw rug, so bought a different one of those too (that was too big for the space we had).

They had keys, so sometimes I would buy stuff only to see it replaced by things they liked more. My husband said they had always done that, and had always bought things that were like what he asked for but cheaper or a different brand that they liked more. It was completely maddening and overstepped all the boundaries I wanted to have in my home.

17. Crazy Rich Grandma Wanna-Be

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My MIL asked my wife how much my mother makes. This was not a usual topic of conversation, so she made up an arbitrary number of $100K and told this to my MIL. Well, about a month later, my MIL came back to my wife and said: “There is no way that your MIL can make that much money.” Apparently, she called my mother’s place of employment and asked if anyone made more than $100K. She claims that my mom’s work told her that no one makes that much money and it is supposedly impossible for her to make that much. My mother works at a university as an experienced web developer so of course there are people there that make more than $100K and there is no way someone relayed this information.

After this conversation was about finished, she finished by saying that she was glad that my mother didn’t make that much because she “wanted to be the rich grandma” and it was her job to spoil the kids. That gets kind of hard when she has no money and doesn’t even work! This woman must be crazy.

16. The Ticket Trap

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My in-laws invited us to go on vacation to visit my husband’s extended family on the other side of the country. We politely declined, telling them that we were planning to visit some really good friends for our vacation that year. My MIL asked if we’d made firm travel plans yet, we said no and that we were waiting for our tax return to buy the plane tickets.

Her response was, “Then there’s no reason you can’t go with us because we bought your tickets to fly out with us!” She legitimately thought it would be okay for us to change our vacation plans just because they’d purchased our tickets without asking us first.

15. Mom Knows Best

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My mother-in-law, I mean ex-MIL, never accepted me and told me that I was taking her baby away (my husband was 30 at that time); she even said that I was “making him” marry me.

She would also send mail to us addressed to me using my maiden name. The worst part is that my husband never defended me or made her respect me, because according to him, “his mom knows what she’s doing.” When we split, he went back to live with his precious mother.

14. She Managed To Convince Him, Eventually

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My ex-mother-in-law used to give me things to decorate our home with. Then she would come over when we weren’t home and take them back when she wanted to redecorate her house.

But the main reason for our divorce was when I found emails where my ex-MIL was trying to convince my husband that I didn’t love him and had a mental illness. It worked, eventually!

13. The Makeout Session

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My mother-in-law showed up to my wedding reception inebriated, with cans of brew hidden in her purse. She then proceeded to stumble, slur and make-out with her date for two hours until she was ushered home.

This happened in front of all my extended family, who had reservations about my husband, to begin with. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t terrible, but it was mortifying at the time.

12. No Hearts For Me

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My mother-in-law said I was ruining her son’s life at one point. I think the worst thing, though, was last Christmas, when his dad, step-mom, her two sons (with one’s wife and one’s girlfriend there), my SO and I were there.

They gave us all cards with our names on the front, and mine was the only one without a heart around it. The new girlfriend of her son got this heartfelt message and I just got a “Merry Christmas, love x&x.” I’ve been around the longest and I don’t know why that stung so much. I had to go to the bathroom to cry.

11. What If?

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While I never met my SO’s mom because she always refused, the most memorable quote I know that came from her was after she hacked into my significant other’s e-mail to discover we were spending a weekend together in New York City.

She forbid us from not only staying in the same room, but from even staying in the same hotel because, “What if your future wife gets upset because she’s not the first person you spent a night in a hotel with?”

10. “Privacy” Isn’t In Her Vocabulary

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My ex-mother-in-law has a problem with locks. She has a firm belief that family should never have to knock and should be allowed to arrive and walk in uninvited. We do not believe this, and she would nag us about it. So, my significant other was at her house one day and accidentally left her keys there. Luckily, I was in the house, so it didn’t really matter. My SO called her mother up, asked the keys and arranged for it to be dropped off. Three days later, the keys arrive.

A week after, we’re sitting playing games when our front door swings open and her family walks in. It turns out that my mother-in-law had taken my SO’s keys and made copies before giving them back. This woman doesn’t seem to understand what privacy is.

9. Tolerating His Childish Behavior

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When my ex-husband was unemployed, which was often and by choice, my mother-in-law would call every single day. “Is he looking for a job today? Because he needs to be looking for a job!” Meanwhile, she would continue to enable his childish behavior by paying all of our bills and never saying anything to him directly.

During our divorce hearing, she said this about my parenting skills during her deposition, “I found evidence that she kept her child in a cage.” The “cage” she’s referring to was a playpen. She was clearly delusional and my favorite is something she told my ex-husband when he was a child. She told him not to go near a praying mantis because they would spit acid into his eyes. What the heck is wrong with that woman?

8. Hey You!

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My MIL insisted on being called Mrs. [X] while we were dating. As soon as we got engaged, she sat me down at her kitchen table and said, “Now, we can’t have you calling me Mrs. [X] anymore. That’s too formal for family. What do you want to call us?” I answered that I would be happy to call them by their first names. She replied that “the mister and I do not do first names.” I then responded that I was uncomfortable calling them “mom” and “dad.”

Meanwhile, she introduced herself to my siblings and friends by her first name and never once corrected them. Annoyed by the inconsistency, I called her by her first name. She called my husband and complained I had disrespected her. When we sat down to talk it out, what I thought would be an airing of griefs and reconciliation turned into a huge, heated argument. She finally screamed at me that I needed to “respect the pecking order of the human race!” My husband got involved at one point and asked her what I should call her and she said, “[husband]’s mother'” or “hey you!” and hung up. So, “hey you,” it was… until the day I got a divorce!

7. Her Son Is “Perfect”

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My former mother-in-law contributed to her son’s magnified sense of self and his firm belief that he was incapable of making mistakes. When we would face certain trials in our marriage, he would turn to her for advice.

Advice that was, unfortunately, given over FaceTime conversations one room over from me. As he relayed the fight of the week, she would cut him off a few sentences in, only to reassure him that he did no wrong. He was free from all blame. And the problems stemmed from one person — me.

6. The Peeping Tom

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At my rehearsal dinner, my mother-in-law told my mom, dad, sisters, grandma, and grandpa (I was sitting at another table) the story about how she caught me and my husband in bed.

She went into detail. I had to hear from my sister later what happened. Needless to say, I didn’t talk to her at all after that.

5. The Drama Queen

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Oh, where to start? She sent a card saying she couldn’t come to our wedding, then showed up two hours early. She accepted our invitation for dinner at our new house. I stayed up all night prepping and cooking. I got home from work, and find her leaving — just pulled out of the driveway as I pulled in.

After the birth of my first child, I had complications and was very weak. My husband was concerned for me, naturally so. Angry at the lack of attention directed at her, she pipes in with, “Well I had a heart attack yesterday.” At her husband’s funeral, she came up to me and said, “Everyone keeps telling me how good I look.”

4. How Dare You?!

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I am a photography junkie, so over the course of six months, I took professional quality pictures of her sons and grandsons. I also took one of me, holding my son. I had them printed, then framed and matted. This was part of her Christmas gift two years ago. She pulled them out of the box, and was just like, “Oh. OK.”

Later on, when we were cleaning up the boxes and paper, I found the one picture with me in it stuffed into a trash bag with other refuse from the evening. Needless to say, those are the last pictures she is ever getting from me.

3. She’s A Virus

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It’s more of an ongoing living nightmare than a story. She moved in with us to downsize and because it made good financial sense, but then blew her nest egg on HSN and cruises. She rearranges all the dishes in the cupboard, dishwasher, and all the food in the cabinets and pantry. She answers the house phone and refuses to pass it off. She downloads viruses on the computer.

She also burns food all the time, stinking up the house and constantly setting off the smoke alarm. She clips her toenails in the living room. She parks her car in the driveway blocking the garage, so I have to ask her to move every morning. It goes on and on.

2. Laundry Time!

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It’s a petty thing, but it drives me crazy still. Any time she visits, she insists on doing the laundry. Laundry is personal to me, even if it’s dirty socks, jeans or sweats. Let alone my underwear or husband’s boxers.

But when I had to do laundry when she was here, I would give her a basket of black/blue/white socks for her to match up. Wow, it was like giving a kid a tub of Legos. She loved it. But she got no more of our clothes. I just could not handle her touching my personal items.

1. The Game Wrecker

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One Thanksgiving, my husband, son, mother-in-law and I started playing Monopoly. In the middle of it, my mother-in-law says she needs to do something. She doesn’t say what, but she just gets up and leaves the dining room. We figure she’s gone to the bathroom, so my son continues playing for her. Little did we know, she went and took a nap!

So we are playing for a few more hours, and then mother-in-law returns. She’s all, “What are you all doing?!” Well, the fact that we continued to play for her while she disappeared for a couple of hours peeved her off so much that she violently shook the board — sending all the cards, money and pieces flying all over the dining room. I think we were all speechless.