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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To have confronted DH's cousin for flirting with him?

543 replies

Temporaryusernamename · 05/05/2026 13:56

My husband and I have been together for 18 years, married for 12. We have two children, aged 15 and 13.

Years ago, long before our relationship, when DH and his female 1st cousin were teenagers, they had a brief, secret relationship with each other.

At first, I thought they just slept together, but over the years DH confided in me that he had slept with her once while staying at her house for a week during the summer holidays when they were both 16, but that they also wanted to be together but knew they could never tell anyone.

They lived in different parts of the country and rarely ever saw each other.

My DH has told me he's actually quite angry with his parents for putting them in this position. They were teenagers, who didn't grow up together, rarely saw each other, and yet when the family would meet up once or twice a year, they would always stay over and the kids would be put in the same room, on bunk beds and camp beds, without any thought of the fact that they were developing and going through puberty, just assuming they were innocent kids. He says the curiousity and strong feelings were inevitable and his parents and other adults should have been more responsible.

Anyway, noone at all knows what happened except DH, the cousin, and me.

When they reached young adulthood, the cousin emigrated to a different country and DH and I have only seen her twice in the last 15 years.
However, we are all currently all Holiday together! MIL recently won a large amount of money and took the whole extended family, 17 of us in total, away on a huge Holiday. Cousin is here.

We have been drinking every night and cousin, who is now in her late 30s, and doesn't have a husband or kids of her own, keeps relentlessly saying flirting with DH. Telling him he looks great in shorts, whistling when he takes his top off on the beach, making silly sexual jokes, and hugging him by coming up behind him and resting her head on his shoulder. Noone else seems to notice and DH says not to worry about it as he doesn't feel anything for her and nothing is going to happen and she's just being playful.
But I've noticed she's not like it with any other males here. Just DH.

The final straw for me came last night when she sat on DH's lap while we were all sitting around drinking and put her arms around his neck, and kissed his cheek.

DH just laughed and told her to get up then got up himself and went to the bar.

Again, we had all had quite a lot to drink.

A few minutes later, I went off to the toilet and she was coming back towards me. She was quite drunk and came over with her arms out in front of her to give me a hug. I stepped away and looked her right in the face. I said "Stop flirting with my husband. Don't think I don't know your history. If you come anywhere near him again, I will tell everyone about you two." She looked utterly shocked. I walked away. She must have gone straight to bed.
Today, she's been really quiet all day. Everyone's commented on it but they've just assumed she's really hungover.

MIL and I were sitting on the beach and she commented that this trip has been good for her. She's had a hard time lately as a bloke she was going to marry cheated on her with his ex wife and then went back to her. She's really benefitting from being with family to support her as she's so alone out there.

I feel really guilty for saying that to her last night. I just got so jealous seeing her sitting in his lap, looking amazing in her tiny sundress, knowing their history and she was probably his first love, and felt so insecure. The stupid fling they had was so long ago and they were young and I know at least DH deeply regrets it and is embarrassed about it.

I'm worried I've now ruined her holiday. I didn't know she was going through that. I've been chatting to her to be friendly and get to know her but she never mentioned it

Was I unreasonable?

OP posts:
ItsNotMeEither · 05/05/2026 14:31

If you want to smooth things over a little, for the sake of family harmony, pull her aside, just say sorry you were so harsh/or sharp with her, you know they were only teens and that you’d like to move on and enjoy the holiday.

It’s not saying you’re happy for her to flirt, just sorry for being sharp about it.

it give you both a chance to enjoy the rest of the holiday, but she will still know that you’ve fired a warning shot.

Wiseplumant · 05/05/2026 14:31

She definitely overstepped the mark, she acted as though she was laying some kind of claim on him . Given the fact her own love life is not going well, she maybe did it to bolster her ego but given their past she was playing with fire and you rightly confronted her. If booze was a factor in you having it out with her, maybe take her aside today and although I don't think you owe her an apology you could reassure her that you spoke in the heat of the moment under a lot of provocation and that you wouldn't carry out your threat. She probably feels foolish . Your husband doesn't seem remotely interested.

clearlyy · 05/05/2026 14:32

So your DH was shagging your sister? What???

Temporaryusernamename · 05/05/2026 14:32

Dollymylove · 05/05/2026 14:28

I'm a bit confused here. Lots of replies deleted. Who was shagging who?
Your DH and his cousin or your DH and yoir sister?

FFS 🤦

Someone thought they had caught me out because a while back, I posted a story involving MY cousin. Totally unrelated to this post.

The PP was trying to say I am some wierdo that makes up cousin related stories.

I was saying no, the two are unrelated and the cousin in the first story wasn't even my cousin, she was my sister, I had changed details to avoid being recognised.

Ignore the whole sister thing. All details are in the OP. My husband shagged his bloody cousin, many years ago.

This is what happens when people think they have caught someone out with their stupid snooping and "gotcha!" Posts. It details threads and confuses everyone. So annoying.

OP posts:
TheOtherBear · 05/05/2026 14:33

Putting aside the stuff about your other post, you are definitely not being unreasonable.

It's not actually about being cousins. It's also not about her having been cheated on recently and having a hard time (though actually, surely that makes it even worse for her to behave like this).

She's flirting with a married man, right in front of that man's wife.

You were right to say something (and your DH should have first, so you shouldn't have had to).

Temporaryusernamename · 05/05/2026 14:34

clearlyy · 05/05/2026 14:32

So your DH was shagging your sister? What???

Noooooooo

OP posts:
Katemax82 · 05/05/2026 14:34

How did your mil win the money (asking for a friend)

ArtyFartyCrafts · 05/05/2026 14:36

I don’t think you were unreasonable to ask her to tone it down a bit, though your DH should have been the one to do that really, but I think you could have been less aggressive in your approach towards her. Threatening to tell everyone their secret was a bit much.

Temporaryusernamename · 05/05/2026 14:37

Katemax82 · 05/05/2026 14:34

How did your mil win the money (asking for a friend)

£26k on a scratchcard! No joke!

OP posts:
clearlyy · 05/05/2026 14:37

Temporaryusernamename · 05/05/2026 14:34

Noooooooo

I am with you now!!! 😅

outerspacepotato · 05/05/2026 14:38

Your husband didn't shut her flirting down, you did.

I think you were fine. She was being really sexually inappropriate with him while they supposedly want to keep their teen hookup secret. Something's not sitting right here.

I think your husband should have shut her down unequivocally. He seems to have very weak boundaries, at least where his cousin is concerned.

ArtyFartyCrafts · 05/05/2026 14:38

ItsNotMeEither · 05/05/2026 14:31

If you want to smooth things over a little, for the sake of family harmony, pull her aside, just say sorry you were so harsh/or sharp with her, you know they were only teens and that you’d like to move on and enjoy the holiday.

It’s not saying you’re happy for her to flirt, just sorry for being sharp about it.

it give you both a chance to enjoy the rest of the holiday, but she will still know that you’ve fired a warning shot.

I agree with this.

honeylulu · 05/05/2026 14:38

I think you were totally justified in what you said. She was behaving really inappropriately and in front of you in that "haha we've got a naughty little secret" way. Yuck. And very foolish of her considering she definitely doesn't want anyone to know. (Did she know you know before this?)

Anyway she's stopped now so it worked.

TallagallaPenguin · 05/05/2026 14:41

I think you were reasonable to tell her to stop flirting with your husband. But I think it was unfair to threaten to tell anyone - would you really do that to your DH? He’s right to some extent that they shouldn’t have been regularly put in one room as teens - that’s exactly why most people on here say it’s not a good idea for opposite sex teens to share rooms.

If I could summon up the nerve, I would perhaps try to talk with her again today and say “look I’m not going to tell everyone, that wouldn’t help anyone. I hope you’re ok and heard about your breakup. I know you and DP used to be close but things are obviously different now”. Or something like that. Argh I don’t know!

AppleTheStoolasMom · 05/05/2026 14:41

Whether he still fancies her or not, your husband has been enjoying the situation too much to tell her to back off - you have a husband problem.

With regard to cousin, anyone could have noticed the flirting and told her to put a sock in it. She’s out of order and you did right calling her out, however your husband should have made sure at the first hint of flirting that cousin knew her place. It shouldn’t have been a job left for you.

Temporaryusernamename · 05/05/2026 14:42

honeylulu · 05/05/2026 14:38

I think you were totally justified in what you said. She was behaving really inappropriately and in front of you in that "haha we've got a naughty little secret" way. Yuck. And very foolish of her considering she definitely doesn't want anyone to know. (Did she know you know before this?)

Anyway she's stopped now so it worked.

Going by the look on her face when I said what I said, I am 90% sure she had no idea I know.

OP posts:
HideousKinky · 05/05/2026 14:43

I agree with posters who are saying your husband should have firmly shut her down immediately. It should not have been necessary for you to say anything

Purplewarrior · 05/05/2026 14:44

YANBU

However, DH should have shut her down rather than leaving it to you. I would be very angry with him.

StephensLass1977 · 05/05/2026 14:44

Nope, you sound perfectly measured and reasonable. She absolutely asked for that. A lot of women would have punished her a lot worse.

RedLightYellowLight · 05/05/2026 14:44

Temporaryusernamename · 05/05/2026 14:12

And before anyone starts like things like children's ages are different, people don't want to be recognised. They change details.
Both stories are 100% true!!!

I vary the sec of my child when I talk/move the age by one or two numbers sometimes if I think I’m going to be recognised by my SIL. Who took my open phone one day to try and find my MN username! The reason ive now had about 200 names…./

Temporaryusernamename · 05/05/2026 14:49

RedLightYellowLight · 05/05/2026 14:44

I vary the sec of my child when I talk/move the age by one or two numbers sometimes if I think I’m going to be recognised by my SIL. Who took my open phone one day to try and find my MN username! The reason ive now had about 200 names…./

Exactly, it's a normal thing people do to avoid being outed x

OP posts:
TheBlueKoala · 05/05/2026 14:51

YANBU @Temporaryusernamename . She was flirting with your husband, sitting in his knee and complementing him. Vile. Don't feel guilty for standing up to her but why didn't your dh put her in place? Because now she might think that he's in to her but you're standing in the way🤷‍♀️

ChirpyTealFox · 05/05/2026 14:52

Good on you for calling her out op but honestly your dh should've put a stop to it himself. Its weird that he let her keep doing it imo

P.s need to start buying scratch cards!

pinkyredrose · 05/05/2026 14:54

He says the curiousity and strong feelings were inevitable and his parents and other adults should have been more responsible.

Your poor husband being put in a position where he had no option but to shag his cousin.

How bloody pathetic.

orangegato · 05/05/2026 14:54

Your DH is spineless for making you watch her draping herself over him without stopping it. She pushed her luck deliberately thinking you didn’t know and a little shock was what she needed to back the fuck off.

You did the right/only thing you could do, which has stopped it in its tracks. Now focus on your wet wipe husband. I’d be fucking furious.

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