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Relationships

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

Tell me your narc dm's most outrageous stunts.

480 replies

oooz · 04/08/2018 13:04

I'm in therapy decades after an abusive upbringing and the penny's only just dropped that my dm was a narc! Watching videos on narcissism I'm going 'Yes, yes, yes!' - it's all my experience. Playing the guilt card. Taking your successes for their own. Gaslighting. The control. It's SO refreshing finally learning my own truth. Now I've found this I want to learn as much as possible. Please share your experiences.

OP posts:
nosaltedgarlic · 26/08/2018 20:42

Reading this thread with interest & horrified by some of the posts. I have such a difficult relationship with my mother & find it so draining. She’s so so critical & has always pulled me apart & blamed me for everything. Recently been told “I’ve let myself go” & because I got frustrated last week as I was doing her a favour & she was massively running late so I upped & left her to it. I text her apologising but explaining it’s frustrating to waste half a Saturday, her response was I can’t bear to see anyone happy & my husband should divorce me & he will one day.

Last summer she took up close unflattering pics of me in my swimsuit, clearly she wanted to show me at a later date how disgusting she thinks I am. When I found them & confronted her, she screamed that I should have photos with my children, etc. Strange how the ones she took only had my children’s arms in & not even my head. Surely it’s not normal?

nosaltedgarlic · 26/08/2018 20:45

Also was told recently that I’ve always hated my sister & had a problem with her, news to me. How do people block out the fact their own parent/parents think so little of them?

Tara336 · 26/08/2018 22:05

@TrippingTheVelvet an ex friend was diagnosed with histrionic pd the behaviour and lies were something to behold! There were lots of awful evil things she has said and done I recently found out she had told all our mutual friends that my DH mentally and physically abuses me!

TrippingTheVelvet · 26/08/2018 22:55

Some of her stunts have been so mad that I never tell them because it sounds so unbelievable. Then I get paranoid people might think I'm a fantasist! Is your friend still in contact with her mother?

TrippingTheVelvet · 26/08/2018 22:59

Sorry Tara I read that wrong in my haste. You have no idea how much your post means to me. I've never came across anyone else who knew someone with it before and to hear it's not just her hatred for me because but probably her illness is very comforting.

Tara336 · 27/08/2018 16:45

@TrippingTheVelvet yes she still sees her mother, although has told some mutual friends her parents are dead! They are very much alive and well! I am still reeling from the fact she told mutual friends I’m being abused (they were too embarrassed to mention it and didn’t know how to approach the subject). Her grandest lie though was when I’d not spoken to her for a few weeks (no reason just busy) I had a call out of the blue and she asked what I’d been up too? I mentioned I’d just got back from a weekend away helping my friend move some of her possessions to safe storage as she was about to have some builders in, I thought no more of it.

A few days later I had a phone call from a mutual friend asking if I’d enjoyed my weekend as she had spoken X I said yes thanks etc I was then told what an awful person I am, how could I be so nasty?? I was absolutely bewildered and asked what on earth she was on about?

After calling me out of the blue X concocted a story about my weekend away... she must have rung the mutual friend straight after calling me.. I apparently had been having a torrid affair, forced her to cover for me constantly and had bullied her into saying I was with her when in fact I’d been with this man!!!

I was stunned apparently X had been crying the lot and saying how nasty I was! Luckily mutual friend listened to reason in that I’m happily married, not having an affair and not have I ever and just the fa t that X had no idea I was away as we hadn’t spoken for ages and it was a coincidence she had actually called me the evening I had got back. I was even willing to prove my innocence by giving her my friend who I’d been helping number to call and verify what I said.

There were lots and lots of other incidents and I’m now NC but I do worry that she’s still telling lies about me (and others)

Tara336 · 27/08/2018 17:22

@TrippingTheVelvet I do agree that you feel like no one will believe you if you actually spoke out, I felt like that when I found out X had been telling people I was being abused, the only person abusing me was her really by telling so many lies.

Besides the stories above here are some of the other lies she told:

She had kidney failure and needed an urgent transplant

Her parents were abusive and had kicked her out on Christmas Day (these are the same parents she told someone else were dead)

She had been drugged and raped by two brothers

Had been sexually assaulted on a date

Made a pass at DH

Had witnessed employees stealing from her brothers business

Attended a conference and actually picked up the name badge of someone she knew (who had cancelled at last minute) and pretended to be that person all day

Said she was being blackmailed and had received death threats

Created a huge fuss after being invited to the cinema with a group of us and the. Decided she didn’t want to go, I started receiving texts when I got home claiming none of us wanted her there because she didn’t have a daughter (out of the group of us that went 3 didn’t have children)

butterballs9 · 27/08/2018 18:06

Narcissistic father - cannot relate to his children as people but objectifies them and places them in rigid roles - e.g: golden girl, scapegoat, clever one, etc. Often the roles are completely arbitary and bear no relation to reality.

Appallingly misogynistic - makes personal comments, is incredibly disparaging about any woman who is overweight. Places a value only on their appearance.

Divide and rule - particularly among his children. Plays his own children and even grandchildren off against each other. Will deliberately send out mixed or conflicting messages, saying one thing to one and something else to another.

Cannot give a compliment or say something nice about someone. Literally cannot do it. Narcissistic brother is the same. A backhanded compliment is the best they can do. But happy to compliment someone else (often a complete stranger) in front of one of his children. My father's speciality with me is to lavish someone else with praise or compliments right in front of me. Presumably to watch my discomfort and upset. I suppose it gives him a big kick.

Contrary, duplicitous and lies for no obvious reason. Perhaps to confuse? I presume because he enjoys watching people get worked up. Because he cannot allow himself to get close or show genuine emotion or empathy, he makes do with manipulative games.

Would openly boast about his affairs with other women while he was married to my mother. He honestly thought other people would be 'impressed' by what I presume he thought was a show of virility and cunning. Brother is similar finds it amusing to 'pull the wool' over women's eyes, assuming they are thick when in reality he is the unintelligent one. Brother loves dangling carrots in front of me but then pulling them away at the last minute. For example: telling me about a lovely party that is coming up which sounds like fun then not inviting me and phoning me a day afterwards to tell me what a fantastic time he had. Or, even better, he or his narcissistic wife will invite me around the day after the party, when they are both hideously hung-over and brag about what a fantastic time they had. (His wife is liable to go off into another room while this is going on and phone up a friend, rolling her eyes, to tell the friend that her sister in law is around and it's such a bore having to entertain her.) This last antic is a favourite - it is the sister in law who makes the arrangements but she then behaves as if it is such a chore having to see me. Incredible - can't she think of better ways of spending her time?

I could go on. The constant marginalizing, trivializing, gas-lighting, bullying and sheer spite is endless and exhausting. It's also crazy-making as they will outright deny things that are blatantly obvious. E.g: calling someone obnoxious when they are obviously not. This of course is the oldest trick in the book, you accuse your critics of doing what you are doing.

However, as I exit from a controlling marriage (to another narc - or at least has strong narc tendencies) I am finding myself become less and less affected by the narcissistic family members (father, one sister, brother and his wife) and I can almost find their behaviour amusing. It's so helpful to try to emotionally detach. Expect the worst behaviour and then you won't be disappointed.

Education is very important. Every time you find yourself being pulled in by the games and triggered, take some time out to read about narcissism and examine your own responses. Don't keep expecting different behaviour. It wont' happen as narcissists don't do self-reflection.

Reach out to people who genuinely care about your welfare whether friends, neighbours, support groups, counsellors. Build strong support networks so the narcissistic family members become less important to you. They are hoping you will keep trying to get what you want from them - love, attention, validation etc - and they get a kick out of denying you this. Don't give them that pleasure. Be bright and breezy or alternatively 'grey rock' - dull and boring. They will move on eventually to new sources of supply.

Yes, it's the pits when one or both parents are narcissists but they are responding to their own wounds and unmet needs from their own childhoods. It is possible to break the pattern though so that it does not continue through the generations. Shine a light into the dark corners and the skeletons in the family closet and they start to lose their power.

PurpleDaisy2114 · 28/08/2018 15:16

Mine keeps hinting about us a living together!!! 😂

lolaflores · 29/08/2018 13:35

butterball9 i needed your reality check following a distressing day with my mother which ended up feeling like a month.
I cant forgive her anymore. I just can't deal with it and as of yesterday adopted the grey rock position. It rattled her no end. I could hear her temper starting to fizz as she realised she wasn't going to get "anything" from me. I am certain she then tottered off to shred me to pieces with my sister.
The weekend was so bad, I actually couldn't even articulate the horrro of it to anyone who asked but it created enough pain to prompt me to put as much distance as possible between us. One of the biggest prompts was her attitude to my youngest DD. Its like she doesn't exist yet she wittered on at length about the rest of them. At the end of the event, as I was chatting to someone, she expressed amazement taht I had other kids.

Someone once told me they never knew I existed......
Its over. Its enough. There is no further explaining I can do. It is what it is now and I have come to the end of the road.
Why do all Narcs have such an issue about people being fat and making it seem like it is the worst thing in the world to be?
Anyway. I know all of you wil lunderstand how I feel.

SeaEagleFeather · 29/08/2018 14:30

Why do all Narcs have such an issue about people being fat and making it seem like it is the worst thing in the world to be?

I wonder if it's because they're obsessed with appearances over what's genuine?

SeaEagleFeather · 29/08/2018 14:31

I mean, obsessed with conforming to appearances rather than valuing substance (sorry, switching languages clumsily)

AdoraBell · 29/08/2018 14:56

Father here too. Didn’t speak anyone for four years prior to my mother finally leaving. I was 16 when she left.

He was frequently violent throughout the marriage so all of us where subjected to it.

I actually built a relationship with him during the decade before he died. It became clear that was a mistake on my part because of the panic attacks I suffered when he was around.

lolaflores · 29/08/2018 14:57

That makes sense. My DM equates weight as intrinsic to a person's worth. Fat is bad. Filthy. Awful. Thin is good. Worthy. Eating food is bad and to be punished yet she binges and discusses how disgusting it is. How disgusting she is and the horror of it.
I was told my whole life I was fat yet when i look at photos...i wasn't fat. Or ugly. Or stupid and a weirdo.
None of those things.
But as an adult I can't tell you what I am the very basic sense of myself has been corrupted. It's as though her narc has fractured me completely or that's how it feels eight now.
Thanks for replying

mintich · 29/08/2018 20:42

My mum is obsessed with people's weight and looks in general. Amazing really as she isn't slim, but constantly like to talk about how slim she was (as a teenager!!) while saying that I needed to lose weight.....which I don't.

lolaflores · 29/08/2018 21:34

Dear All,
Posting here has really, really helped me recover from the weekend with M. Nearly all of my life I haven't felt understood or believed and not had the energy to try and convince anyone. I have sat a d watched her in mute disbelief hoping someone would come along and stop her

But the person to stop her is me. I can do it by not letting her in my life anymore. Now I know other people have felt as I do and they aren't liars and making it up. Neither am I. It is true and it isn't right. Simple as that

HotHandle · 01/09/2018 06:52

@lolaflores MN really helped me too. It all began to make sense. It’s reassuring but hard too.

DM is making more dramas right now. Showing herself up and attention seeking. I’ve laid a lot on the table, this will not be pretty. I don’t want to hurt her feelings but she cannot go round saying and doing what she wants without any repercussions.

Convoy2000 · 01/09/2018 21:27

interesting reading.

Like other posters, still not sure knew if I was imagining or being oversensitive.
Like other posters, still worry that I have these tendencies myself (always monitoring just in case as I'd be gutted if I ended up accidentally impacting people like my possibly nm did)
Like other posters, still not sure if maybe what I experienced was just normal for the time/culture I grew up in (Ireland 1980's)

Examples:
1)Violent temper, get it that lots of people struggle with temper - but it more that it was very hard to predict what would set it off. could have been anything from a jar of jam in the wrong place, to something that did warrent my being told off. Plus a super fast 0 to 60 like nobody I've known since. Screaming, shouting, hitting across the face from age 8. But never when there was anyone else there
2)Beaten in a temper with stick for having forgotten homework assignment, and then expected to be grateful that she'd 'made sure i knew my homework' so I didn't show her up in class. (I was 9 )
3) told it was my fault she was ill and that I was selfish because when cleaning the kitchen/cooking dinner I was too noisy banging spoons/saucepans ( I was 12)
4) told ' you will never be able to get married or live a normal life' - age 10/11 (I was an occasional bed wetter - later the bedwetting turned out to be for medical reasons and was fixable)
5) In university, money was controlled, was not allowed to get a part time job, and was told to stop my summer work a month early as my duty was to help her in the house before going back to university not to be making more money in a summer job.
6) when told of sex abuse (low level) - only mentioned it years later when grown up the reaction was 'thank goodness you did not tell your father as he would have been really angry and might have found the man and caused a scene' - (I was not even upset, actually thought this was very funny, but I have an odd sense of humour maybe :)
7) I could go on but feel I have sounded like a victim/whinge-mister already.

Happily I am now 45 and far far away with LC.

butterballs9 · 01/09/2018 22:19

It never ends....narcissists cannot change. If they can't do the dirty work themselves then they will enlist their 'flying monkeys' to do it for them. This is effectively 'bulling by proxy' which of course is what bullies excel at.

My father is a raging narcissist and also raging misogynist. For some reason I am particularly the target of both these delightful personality traits.

Example of typical interaction:

I turn up at his house or where-ever (having been invited) and he professes to not know I was coming. There is no meet and greet. No nice to see you or smile or welcome. Just: 'oh, I didn't know you were coming'. (Subtext: you are not welcome') Whatever I then comment on or try to discuss - in terms of what is going on in my life - he will then trivialize, minimize or blatantly put down. So, if I mention earning money (I'm going through a divorce with soon to be ex having taken me to the cleaner's financially) he will give a sadistic little smile and talk about 'my hobby'. I think he is hoping I will 'lose it' and start ranting and raving but I have stopped falling for that one. I just calmly tell him that my earning money is not a 'hobby' but a necessity. He literally cannot do or say ONE nice thing to me. Not one. If I try to talk about anything that matters he will walk off and turn his back on me.

One time, I started doodling on the weekend papers as I felt so stressed and after a bit he said: 'You are using up all the ink in my pen'. Even using up the ink in one of his 50p pens is taking too much from him apparently. It would appear I am not even allowed to stand in his garden.

Of course, I was the child who nursed him after he nearly died following pneumonia some time ago! Two of my narcissist siblings disappeared off the face of the earth. One (the very rich and very corrupt one) told me from the other side of the world to chuck lots of money into his care (needless to say, he did not offer a penny to help) the other (supposedly clever but quite thick really) became incredibly busy - always is busy, apparently she has an incredibly important job, so important she cannot ever speak to me, even to say: 'hi - how are you? That's how busy she is.

It goes on, and on, and on. Grey rock really is the answer. And don't give any information that can be used against you.

Even better - just play them at your own game. They find it amusing that people can be so naive. Don't fall for their tricks as it plays right into their 'game'.

Ultimately, you have to pity a person who has to resort to this kind of childish behaviour.

mintich · 03/09/2018 17:54

I'm currently pregnant with my second and my mother hasn't shown one bit of interest in my pregnancy. She showed quite a lot of interest with my first child but looking back, she always commented that she wasn't interested in my niece (her only other grandchild) She also like to comment that my brother and niece were jealous. It's so odd. My brother is normally the golden child but not in that instance.
How can you just not be interested in your family?

lolaflores · 03/09/2018 18:24

Narc is like a butterfly , is interested (or distracted) for the length of time it takes for the next shiney thing to come along. Not strong on empathy unless there is a social demand or personal need to make an impression.
Just examine the over the top reaction to someone who isn't their family and thus some one that must be charmed or generally over whelmed. That's my DM tactic. Are puts on this display for people who think she is wonderful and super. She wouldn't puss on me if I was on fire.
Tjere is that golden child dynam8c re the kids with her too.
Breaks my heart

iknowimcoming · 04/09/2018 07:56

My dsis is lc with dm and I am nc, the other day she announced on fb she's pregnant after a long battle ivf etc, I have known for a while but evidently dm didn't, her comments were all about her, how relieved SHE is, how excited SHE is to be a gran again (she shows no interest in her grandchildren at all). It's funny how with a big step back you start to see these things in a different light. Going nc with her is one of the best things I've ever done for myself.

LuckyDiamond · 04/09/2018 09:48

I'm currently pregnant with my second and my mother hasn't shown one bit of interest in my pregnancy. She showed quite a lot of interest with my first child but looking back, she always commented that she wasn't interested in my niece (her only other grandchild) She also like to comment that my brother and niece were jealous. It's so odd. My brother is normally the golden child but not in that instance.
How can you just not be interested in your family?*

I could have written that post 5 years ago before I went NC.

She actually called my (beautiful) year old niece “ugly” because she looks like (beautiful) SIL.

My DD1 was her golden grandchild and my DD2 ignored.

She doesn’t see my kids at all now so doesn’t know them. She must have been forced to change her tune with SIL’s kids.

mintich · 04/09/2018 11:09

My mum doesn't see me or my kids unless I initiate the visit. Always me who makes the phone calls.
She always said she'd be a good grandmother, not like she is with my niece. But no, its not interesting enough for her. She thinks sending presents is enough. I think she only sends presents to be in competition with her other grandparents as she always wants to know what they've bought her.
I've basically become low contact without even meaning to.

Pinkmonkeybird · 04/09/2018 14:08

Wow, I thought it was just mine that rolls out the 'cancer scares'. I think I've lost count. She's just had another one recently and thankfully my aunt and uncles are all in agreement with me that if it was indeed true, the way to announce it would be to do so privately and not via a passive aggressive post on Facebook.