Pregnant Woman Compares ‘Mean’ Mother-in-Law to ‘Cruella de Vil’

A pregnant woman says her mother-in-law has been “mean” to her “at every visit,” sharing her frustration in a candid Reddit post titled, “My MIL = Cruella De Vil.”

The anonymous poster explained that she’s currently pregnant and hasn’t seen her mother-in-law since earlier this year — even though the older woman moved just 45 minutes away after the couple married. “She used to be seven hours away,” the woman wrote, adding that she decided to cut contact after two years of strained interactions.

She listed several examples that highlight the tension between them, calling her message “an extended rant of recent events.”

“Tells everyone she is afraid of me. Poked my boob asking if they were mine. Upset [my husband] doesn’t want to go on solo trips with her (she is remarried, but has an unhealthy attachment to DH),” she wrote. “She said she should go above his wife, and that the mom comes first. She said I’m strict because she can’t give our dog, who is allergic to chicken, chicken…”

After more unpleasant encounters, the woman said that when she announced her pregnancy, her mother-in-law suddenly wanted to “work on their relationship before the ‘little munchkin’ came.”

The poster declined. Since then, her mother-in-law has been bombarding her husband with messages — asking to visit and requesting ultrasound photos.

“He doesn’t tell her no, he just doesn’t respond — which honestly is great, because she rarely reacts if you don’t say no to her,” the woman explained. “Then when you see her in person, she’ll ask why. So he didn’t respond and she sent another text and said, ‘Well can you at least send me pictures of you? I haven’t gotten any in two years’… we got married two years ago, so lol. Also, your son is 30.”

The poster admitted she doesn’t want her mother-in-law “to know anything about me or our baby” and feels anxious about her finding out the baby’s sex.

“I was trying to tell [my husband] that I think his mom is evil — which honestly is rude of me — but then told him I see her as Cruella De Vil trying to take my baby away from me when the baby hasn’t even exited,” she wrote.

Although she acknowledged that things “could be worse,” she still struggles to find “redeeming qualities.”

“I’ve asked [my husband] before if he could minimize the talk about me to her — what I’m doing, how I’m doing, etc. Or to keep it short if it’s about the baby. Is it a crazy ask to say don’t talk about me or keep it short?” she asked.

Reddit users largely sided with her, urging her husband to set firm boundaries.

One commenter wrote, “Your husband needs to say, ‘Mom, stop asking or worrying about [you]. You know you’ve never liked her, so what did you expect? You can’t mistreat people and then, when it’s convenient, want to repair the damage.’”

Another advised, “He just needs to be direct. One uncomfortable conversation now could save him a lifetime of continued struggle. He can say, ‘Mom, you know the status of your relationship with OP and why. I’m not going to talk about her with you. The impact this has on your relationship with your future grandchild(ren) has been explained, so I’m not discussing that either.’”