Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To detest partner’s mother. Help me before I explode!

55 replies

RLOU88 · 21/02/2018 17:16

Firstly apologies for any typos, I am on my phone and shaking with anger. I’ll try to keep it short.

DPs mother is pretty much a liability. Never around, never calling to see how he is and extremely self cantered. Tbh I think she is a bit unwell so I have so tried to be reasonable and offer her help. She is obsessed with having a man in her life and when she has one DP won’t hear from her for weeks on end, until she is too much for whatever man she is with and he blocks her and she goes into a mental state and needs my DP to “help her” crying and begging him to contact the man in question for “answers”. She has been known to beg my DP and call him 30+ times to come over while he is at work.

We are expecting our first child his mother never calls to ask how we are getting on and has absolutely 0 interest in her upcoming grandson.

My mum has kindly given us £10,000 to see us though our first year rent etc I will pay her back. DP Mum however has constantly asked him for money. She never pays him back. It’ his wage but IMO the priority should be to give my mum a gesture ? Maybe I am wrong ?

Anyway, this morning DPs mother has called and said she needs money now and if he doesn’t give it to her don’t bother speaking to her again. I am in shock and very upset for DP. She has even gone so far to say that it’s his fault she needs the money because he moved out and she can’t pay rent. AIBU to message her this:

“I have just heard from (DP) about the situation of money. As you know we are expecting a baby and my mum is putting up thousands of pounds to secure us rent for the year I am not working. we simply have no spare money. To say you won’t speak to your son if he doesn’t give you more money is ridiculous and I am honestly shocked that you would treat him like this. It is not his fault you need to make rent, he is an adult and entitled to move out. Rent your spare room out, my Mum had to do it when she fell on hard times. DP and me need to pay my mum back some for the £10,000 my mum has kindly given us to take the stress of DP's wage and that’s the priority here, as welll as our forthcoming child. Contact citizens advice for help. I am sorry if you find my message rude but I simply can’t understand your logic and am devastated for (DP) in this situation so had to say something. I understand you can’t help us with our baby but to ask (threaten in this case) for more is terrible in my opinion”

To be clear, I am not suggesting she feel bad that my mum is in the position to help (to be honest my mum isn’t actually made of money I will just make sure to pay her back every penny).

What would you do?

  • [NB: Posted edited by MNHQ to remove DP's name]
OP posts:
Yambabe · 21/02/2018 17:19

Way too much. All you need is for DP to message her "no".

Sounds like not speaking to her would be a bit of a relief!

RedHelenB · 21/02/2018 17:20

It needs to come from him

RLOU88 · 21/02/2018 17:21

Tbh I probably would never of sent it. Just had to write it down to get it out of my system. Thanks guys

OP posts:
RLOU88 · 21/02/2018 17:21

The thing isn’t DP won’t message her “no” he emotionally blackmails him which is why I felt the need to step in Sad I get that it’s too much from me though!

OP posts:
Tainbri · 21/02/2018 17:25

Totally get your sentiment. She sounds awful, but like the others I think your DP needs to stand up to her and say no.

Raffles1981 · 21/02/2018 17:27

She will never stop with this emotional black mail. Ever. Personally (as someone who has done this) walking away from her is the best option. I agree with above - no long essay (she sounds unstable and won't read it anyway - or she will just take from it what she needs) just a simple no will suffice.

Tainbri · 21/02/2018 17:27

Just read the bit about the emotional blackmail. She behaves like a brat because he's letting her get away with it. Sadly he needs to step up and decide what's important. His partner and baby or sponging drama queen!

Raffles1981 · 21/02/2018 17:28

Just read your new posts OP, sorry! I really think you just have to tell her no. She will always do this. Your child will have to witness the madness unless you cut her out x

Aprilshowerswontbelong · 21/02/2018 17:29

Imo /e no need for you to have her number /her yours.
Make tomorrow the day you stop mentioning her at all. Leave her +her drama to dh. He will see the light without you having to do anything. Make your home a mil free zone. Ours is and life is blissful!!

Movablefeast · 21/02/2018 17:30

My MIL is like this, always begging for money, emotionally blackmailing and very volatile.

snewsname · 21/02/2018 17:31

Your mum is in effect giving his mum the money. Point this out to him. You have a DH problem.

RLOU88 · 21/02/2018 17:32

You’re all completely right. I just think my guard is up for him because my dad was the same for years until I had to cut him out. I’ll definitely not send the message!

OP posts:
GreenFingersWouldBeHandy · 21/02/2018 17:33

Anyway, this morning DPs mother has called and said she needs money now and if he doesn’t give it to her don’t bother speaking to her again

Great opportunity to say NO and she if she follows through (and gives you guys some peace). It has to come from your DH though.

RLOU88 · 21/02/2018 17:35

Snewsname - that’s how I’ve viewed the situation but don’t want to make my DP feel worse saying it because I’m sure he knows. I hope he makes the right choice!

OP posts:
Dustysparrow · 21/02/2018 17:40

Didn't want to read and run. Your situation with your MIL sounds similar in a way to mine, so I totally feel your pain. It is really awful to see your love one treated like total shit by their own mother and the damage it does to them emotionally is massive and permanent. In my case my MIL is incredibly selfish, abusive and doesn't spare a single thought for anybody else but herself, she is self obsessed, will leave endless messages and phonecalls for my DH talking about herself and her problems (she doesn't even say hello if he picks up the phone, just launches into a rant). She is obsessed with money, spent years coveting the money of her partner and now that he is dead and she has his money she accuses others of trying to get their hands on it (not true) because she is paranoid and judges others by her own low standards. She will be horribly abusive and cruel to my DH and then on another day totally forget it and act like nothing has happened. She definitely has mental health issues but there is no chance of her ever admitting it or seeking medical assistance.

The point I'm trying to make is that with somebody like that you can point out to them until you are blue in the face how unreasonable and vile they are being but they will NEVER get it - they will never see that they are in the wrong, they will always point the finger of blame at somebody else for their woes and never accept responsibility for their own situation. You can tell your MIL a few home truths if it makes you feel better, but the chances of her actually taking it on board and feeling sorry for what she has done is really unlikely, because if she had that kind of empathy for others then she would never have behaved like that in the first place. Even when nobody wants to know them anymore and they end up being all alone because they have treated everybody around them like shit they will still blame the rest of the world, it will never occur to them to take a look at themselves and wonder if they brought it on themselves.

I wrote my MIL a seven page letter (years ago now) listing all of the foul things she had said and done to her son (it was a long list) and why she should be ashamed of herself and apologise - all it did was make her rant more than ever. Totally pointless!

With an emotional vampire like her your DH is better off putting some distance between her and himself, and going low contact, maybe even no contact. In fact going no contact may be the only thing that actually makes her sit up and take notice. And although your DH may feel guilty about it he shouldn't, because he is not the one responsible for the situation. Eventually he may actually find some peace in his life because she is no longer in it.

Bluelady · 21/02/2018 17:41

Essentially if you give her any money, you're giving her YOUR mum's money. How does that sit with DP?

Hortonlovesahoo · 21/02/2018 17:42

He has to say no. I also wouldn’t mention the money from your mum as she’ll think that you’ll have plenty to give her. You could always prepare a polite but firm message and just get your DH to send it?

Btw, don’t know if you want to message HQ as your original message includes your DPs name?

RLOU88 · 21/02/2018 17:50

I didn’t see I left the name in whoops thank you for that I’ll do it now!

OP posts:
Whiskeywithwater · 21/02/2018 17:51

Definitely don’t tell her how much money your DM has lent you ... you’ll never get her off your back if she has a sniff that there’s £10k around as yet unspent ...

Gazelda · 21/02/2018 17:56

I think you need to spell it out to him. She is taking money that your DM gave you. Did he agree to the loan from your DM? If he did, then he is being rude and disrespectful to your DM by giving his DM cash.

I think that it would be reasonable for him to offer to go with her to CAB to check she's getting all the benefits she's entitled to, but then he should be saying that he has debts to honour so is unable to loan her more money.

But I suspect he won't say any of that to her.

RLOU88 · 21/02/2018 17:59

I won’t mention the money from my mum it won’t make any difference she isn’t going to change.

DustySparrow: thank you for writing to me I am sorry you seem to have been through the mil with this too. Your advice and words and invaluable x

OP posts:
fia101 · 21/02/2018 18:09

Does she know you've been given £10k of your mums money? I wouldn't tell her

Allthebestnamesareused · 21/02/2018 18:15

I wouldn't tell her about the money from your mum as she will see this as spare money.

Your DP should merely respond that your joint financial circumstances at the moment means you are not in a position to help at present. Perhaps CAB may have some suggestions.

Shampaincharly · 21/02/2018 18:18

Agree with others. Do not say how much loan was . I hope it is in an account that you have control of if your partner is persuaded to give some to his mother.
It needs to be him who says “no”.
Good luck with your birth!

NewYearNewMe18 · 21/02/2018 18:23

You might want to remove your DP's name