What should I do?
My mother-in-law has been overbearing and boundary-stepping since the beginning of my relationship with her son. She constantly brings up his past with old friends he no longer contacts, reminding everyone of his teenage struggles with substance abuse. She frequently highlights eras of his life when I wasn’t around. Because she used to call and text daily just to gather information, bring up his past, or mention family-friend women his age, he eventually stopped answering her calls.
I am completely exhausted by this. Recently, I lost 43 pounds, which has become a weaponized topic of discussion. At a recent family get-together, I was told I 'had no ass.' The women in his family are larger, and my husband has openly preferred thinner women since childhood, so her comments stem from clear insecurity.
I try to keep a level head, but I am entirely over it. When she found out I was pregnant, she made it completely about herself. Despite my explicit request to keep it a secret, she told everyone. Because my husband and I were in a difficult position, I ultimately chose to terminate the pregnancy. Shockingly, despite having had two terminations herself, she ran around exposing my private medical business to everyone, including my husband's childhood crush—whom she constantly brings up.
My husband frequently lets her behavior slide because he believes she is simply slow or mentally ill. However, I know she is playing dumb; it is a calculation manipulative people use. I am just tired of feeling awful."