This story has gone viral after being shared by a Reddit user. It has stirred up a lot of reactions, with people having different perspectives on the mother’s actions. So, let’s take a closer look at what had the internet buzzing…
On July 24, 2023, a 55-year-old mother anonymously shared her story on Reddit. Going by the username ‘Throwawayme4158’, she vented her shocking experience, which caught the attention of many online.
The mother explained that she had been married to her current husband for four years. Interestingly, her current husband is also her child’s step-father. Her daughter, now 23 years old, had been diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder (DID) due to the fallout of her parents’ divorce.
When her daughter confided in her about being bullied at school, the mother didn’t take any action. She believed that children are innocent and thought her daughter confronting her ‘bullies’ would only result in an adult harassing a child.
Unfortunately, her daughter’s depression led to neglecting her hygiene, and as a result, she became a target for bullying. The mother’s solution was simply to suggest that her daughter shower and get new clothes. However, her daughter couldn’t forgive her for not stepping in earlier.
Even though her daughter’s bullies were eventually suspended and expelled, the strained relationship between mother and daughter continued. The daughter even went as far as saying that a volunteer at the school’s clinic advised her to fight back physically against her bullies.
Feeling the need to repair their relationship, the Reddit user decided to let her daughter live with her until she graduated college and found a job. She believed that witnessing her mother in a healthy relationship would positively impact her daughter.
Unfortunately, her daughter struggled to get along with her new step-father. She was introverted and preferred being alone, so she found it irritating when her step-father joined her for meals.
Soon, the mother noticed her husband’s distance and became suspicious when her daughter told her that she felt uncomfortable around him. In a heated confrontation, the husband admitted to feeling “attracted” to his step-daughter and considered her presence a constant temptation.
Deeply upset by her husband’s revelation, the mother didn’t blame her daughter for his attraction. However, she needed time to process everything. Therefore, she gave her daughter some money to stay at an extended hostel for a while and encouraged her to access emergency resources from college for financial and housing support.
This decision upset her daughter, who then turned to her biological father for support and shared the distressing situation. The ex-husband, in turn, portrayed the mother as the villain on social media for abandoning their child. But the mother explained that she knew her daughter qualified for emergency resources due to the ex-husband’s unemployment and mounting debt.
Deciding against leaving the house with her daughter, the Reddit user wanted to figure out whether she could salvage her marriage. Many Reddit users strongly criticized her for asking her daughter to leave instead of her husband.
Another user even labeled her a ‘terrible’ mother for not protecting her daughter from her bullies and then from her husband.
