Having a terrible relationship with your mother-in-law is a common occurrence. But having an atrocious relationship with your sister-in-law, too? Good luck! These family members share insane accounts of what led to their breaking points with their SILs.
“I Couldn’t Understand How Someone Could Be So Hateful”
“I have three brothers, and I am the only sister in my family. I got along great with two of my sisters-in-law, but the third SIL wished she had married an only child. She absolutely despised my family. By the way, at this time we were all in our fifties and sixties.
She had always been standoffish toward me, but the last few years have been the worst. I live six hours away from my family, and only visit about two times per year. The last three times I have visited, she was very obviously rude to me.
She got mad at my brother and me for ‘gossiping,’ about the Real Housewives of New York. Yes, the television show! I let my brother handle the situation and decided to spend the night at another sibling’s house. Later this night, my SIL texted me and asked me for forgiveness. She begged me to come back to the house the next day to celebrate my birthday. I agreed, and I came back to the house only for her to completely ignore me. She barely sang happy birthday to me and had a sour look on her face the entire time.
My next visit with my SIL was just as bad. Despite my efforts to engage with her, she wouldn’t speak to me at all. When I visited, I was excited because she had just started a new job which was in the same field as mine. I asked her about the job, and she only gave me one-word answers.
My SIL finally said, ‘Our jobs have nothing in common. Stop questioning me about my job!’
The next day, the entire family had gotten together and she barely spoke to any of us. After dinner, we noticed she didn’t join us in the living room. Everyone became engrossed in conversation, and the hours flew by. When everyone was getting ready to leave, she decided to make an appearance and join us to say goodbye. The next day, I texted her and asked if we could chat.
I asked, ‘What happened last night?’
She played dumb and replied, ‘What are you talking about.’
I responded, ‘Your disappearing act. It was rude, and the fact you aren’t speaking to me is rude, too.’
This was all she needed to hear before she started to unload how horrible my siblings and I are to her. I had been there for her emotionally and financially throughout the years, but it seemingly wasn’t enough. I didn’t understand where she was coming from, so I just sat there quietly crying. I couldn’t understand how someone could be so hateful.
The next day, she went home and told my brother, her husband, that I was the one who verbally attacked her. She claimed was the person spewing hatred, and she made up tons of disgusting things to tell him. Because I didn’t wish to blow up their marriage and still don’t, I have been reluctant to tell him exactly how his wife feels about his siblings. Unfortunately, throughout the entire situation, my brother has taken her side. He is convinced I have it out for his wife.
A couple of weeks after our meeting, I emailed my SIL and told her I was glad we had a chance to talk. I wanted to further clear the air because my family is extremely important to me. I didn’t receive a response from her for at least three weeks.
The day after Christmas, I received an e-mail from her stating, ‘At the end of the day, I forgive you. However, you truly bring out the worst in me. I forgive you for making me attack and lash out at you.’
Seriously? She was now blaming me for her actions! I didn’t know how to handle it. Should I have told my brother the truth, or should I have kept my mouth shut? I really believed we could have moved past our prior arguments, but she proved we couldn’t. Her twisting and turning stories about me to my brother had left me heartbroken.
Over time, I started to recognize a pattern of rudeness with my SIL that I could no longer ignore. I got along great with my other in-laws, and I only wished I could have the same relationship with her.”
The Wicked Witch Of The West
“My sister-in-law is truly the Wicked Witch of the West. She acted rudely toward me ever since my husband and I’s engagement. She threw a fit on the day of our wedding ceremony, and threw huge tantrums two months before our wedding, too! She and her husband demanded money from her parents for taking care of her own mother. She encouraged her parents to throw her own brother out of the house. The following day, she asked for shares in the property.
One time when I was with her, she yelled, ‘If you and my brother get married, I will never step foot in your house!’
She would still come to our house nearly every day after she said this to us. My husband and I kept our cool until after our wedding in hopes we wouldn’t have to deal with her anymore.
This past August, we were supposed to go on vacation for a couple of days. Prior to our trip, my father-in-law celebrated his birthday. On the day of his birthday, we spoke to him and tried to plan festivities for the day. He wasn’t interested in celebrating his birthday, and my husband and I didn’t make anything of it. The same weekend, we left for our trip. At the same time, my SIL visited her parents. While we were out, she called their entire family to celebrate her father’s birthday. She kept uploading pictures on social media strictly for my husband to see.
My husband was so upset. He had asked both his parents if they wanted to make birthday plans, even before we left for our trip. They never mentioned anything about his sister coming or the entire family coming. A few days later, he called his father and they got into a big fight. After this incident, we decided we will never do anything for them again.
When we came back from our vacation, my SIL and his parents fought with him for calling and yelling at them just because they celebrated his father’s birthday. In a fit of anger, my SIL pushed my husband and hit him.
Both of his parents were staring at her, and told my husband, ‘Watch it! You need to learn how to control your anger.’
While this was happening, they didn’t utter a single word to their daughter.
For six hours, she kept telling her parents about they made a mistake bringing my husband and me back home, and how it would be better if we all stayed separated.
My SIL whined, ‘Dad, remove them from the house! They don’t belong here anymore!’
After the argument, my husband and I went to our room. We decided we needed to move out of the house immediately. When his parents realized we wouldn’t be staying with them, they quickly changed their tune. This angered my SIL even more.
Since the incident, my husband and I have completely cut ties with his sister. If she comes to the house, we both stay in our room. Just recently, she threw a huge tantrum on Diwali when she found out about my pregnancy. She insisted we invite her to our baby shower, and my family members actually listened to her. I decided I no longer wanted to have a shower at all if she had to be there. I asked my side of the family to hold a get-together for me, and ignored my in-laws altogether.”
“My Husband And I Never Spoke To Her Again”
“At the time of this incident, my mother-in-law was dying. She had advanced cancer in her liver and she only had a few weeks to live. The doctors operated, saw the extent of her condition, and sent her home. There was nothing more they could do.
My husband was off work due to a back injury and I had time off, so we both drove to his mother’s house to get it ready for her return from the hospital. It was late, we were exhausted, and he was in immense pain laying in the back of the car. When we arrived at the house, the lights were already on. We walked in to find my sister-in-law, my husband’s sister, there stealing their mother’s silver souvenir spoons off of the wall.
The house hadn’t been cleaned in forever and it smelled of cats. The carpet was stiff, and it was obvious she just let the cats go to the bathroom on the floor. The house was in a truly unsanitary condition and was unfit for a woman to live in who had just gotten surgery. Not to mention, we were supposed to sleep there this night! We didn’t. We spent the night in a motel and tried to arrange a schedule to clean and see his mother.
I went with my husband to his mother’s house the next morning. When I got out of the car, I was greeted by some crazy relative of his.
The relative sharply said, ‘I don’t want you to be here right now.’
It seemed his spoon-stealing sister had said some bad things about me while we were gone.
I ignored her and continued walking inside the house to clean up a bit. My mother-in-law was a lovely woman, but she wasn’t a house proud kind of person. I began cleaning at the back of the small home and pushed whatever was on the floor out the front door. There was a huge pile of junk laying at the front door.
During this time, her neighbors came in and seemed surprised to find I wasn’t some arrogant city girl, but someone in jeans with a scrub brush in my hand. It took two days of solid work to get the place washed and cleaned. I rented a carpet cleaner and took down the filthy curtains, washed everything made of fabric, and hit Walmart for some cheap valences to cheer the place up. I also replaced the rug next to the sink, polished the furniture, and washed the windows. I went to make dinner for her before she arrived home, and found an old pan of meatloaf in the oven.
When my mother-in-law came home, it was the cleanest her house had ever been. I was resting quietly when the evil SIL came in, dropped her bag and keys on top of her mother, and began to upset her with talk of her crazy son.
We couldn’t find my MIL’s checkbook, and it turned out my SIL had taken it, too. My MIL’s pharmacy wouldn’t give up her pain meds until they had paid, so my husband and I had to leave our cards.
My MIL passed away a few weeks later. At the funeral home, my SIL told the home she was supposed to have her mother’s rings.
The rings were supposed to go to her younger daughter.
My evil SIL also made the funeral arrangements and then didn’t pay for them.
My husband and I never spoke to her again.”
Father’s Day Fumble
“My sister-in-law and I still talk sometimes, but only at family gatherings.
Last year I didn’t go to my in-law’s house with my husband for Father’s Day. My husband went with me to my sister’s house instead. My sister was holding a dinner for my dad and grandpa, and I wasn’t planning on going to my husband’s father’s house. At the time, my grandpa lived in hospice care and wasn’t doing well. This was potentially the last time I would see him, so I wanted to soak up all the time I possibly could with him.
My husband wanted to stop by his father’s house for a bit, and he called him on the way to my sister’s house. We argued about our Father’s Day plans, but eventually, he understood the time I spent with my family at this point was important to me.
A few days later, I went to tag his sister in a post on social media, only to find out she had deleted me from her friend’s list. I was shocked, but I knew why she was giving me the cold shoulder. She was angry because I didn’t go to my husband’s father’s house.
My grandpa passed away three weeks later, and I have no regrets about spending the extra time with him. I care more about my immediate family than hurting her feelings. Nobody on my husband’s side of the family called to see how my mother and I were doing, simply because they didn’t care.
I’m used to it by now, but I could care less about them.
“She Decided I Would Be Her Next Victim”
“My sister-in-law enjoyed having a drama-filled life. She always started rumors about other family members to make herself look better. Most of the time, I could ignore it. I was a busy person, and I didn’t have the patience or time for drama.
One day, my SIL decided I would be her next victim. She was talking to my wife and she made a snide comment about something I apparently tried on her. The thing I allegedly ‘did,’ happened seventeen years ago.
When I got home from work one day, my wife asked me about it. She wouldn’t tell me everything her sister had said, only snippets, so nothing was making sense. Finally, she told me what her sister was accusing me of. It was the last straw for my wife.
I told her, ‘We are not having any get-togethers, vacations, or holidays with your family going forward.’
Most of the drama and rumors my SIL made up were silly and petty. They were things to make her think she looked better than the rest of the family. Most of the things she had said were derogatory and downright wrong. The accusation she made towards me was hurtful considering how much my wife and I had helped her out over the years.
A day later, my wife called her sister and said, ‘Forget our phone numbers and never contact us again. I know we are family, but I am done being your older sister.’
This happened four years ago. In those four years, we have unfortunately crossed paths at one wedding and one family dinner. Each time we have seen her, my wife and I have ignored her. Her husband still approaches me and is cordial, but that is the extent of our relationship.
I would be perfectly fine if I never spoke to my SIL again.”
“This Incident Was The Final Straw”
“It’s hard not to think about a time my sisters-in-law irritated me. Out of my six sisters-in-law, I am overwhelmingly done with the newest one. In the short time, she had been with her husband, she had successfully alienated her husband from his children and threatened the job of another sister-in-law in the family through wrongful accusations. She made a scene at the hospital during the birth of our niece and got thrown out, lied, cheated, insulted, and repeatedly rude to everyone in the family.
I had given her many chances and tried to just ignore her. But, at this point, I could no longer tolerate her behavior. Recently, she made a huge scene over something ridiculous at a restaurant. One night, we all went out to enjoy the company of my husband’s grandparents. They had traveled more than a thousand miles to see the family, and it very well may have been the last time they traveled a far distance. My SIL berated the server horribly over the order in which her food was brought out to her. This was not a fancy restaurant. We were a group of fifteen on a Wednesday. The server was already overwhelmed, and she couldn’t be even a little compassionate.
When the temper tantrum she threw was met with resistance by my husband, she threw her purse over him into the aisle and stood on the seat of our booth. She went to jump out, and thankfully the person sitting next to us was able to move to avoid an accident. It was my understanding she took a cab home and did not bother to wait for her husband.
I was done with my SIL, and this incident was the final straw. There will be family gatherings I won’t be able to avoid, but I will not be engaging her and all her nonsense.”
The Salty Sister-In-Law
“When I was seventeen years old, I met a girl through my high school rugby team. She was nice, outgoing, and an overall likable person. It didn’t take long for us to become friends. By the time rugby season was over, I had started dating her brother. At the time, her brother was twenty years old.
As the years passed, I came to find out who she really was. She wasn’t a person I wanted to be associated with anymore. Over the last six years, she hasn’t done anything but takes from her family.
I previously had said some things to her on social media regarding her not taking care of her pets and made a rude comment about her on one of her posts. Trust me, the rude comment was warranted.
She had made a birthday post for my husband that read, ‘Happy birthday, ugly.’
Was she being serious? The rest of the post continued to degrade him and everything he had done throughout his life. After I commented on her post, she blocked me on every social media channel. Since the incident, we haven’t spoken in two years.
Her brother and I are now engaged. He is twenty-seven years old, and I am twenty-four. His relationship with his sister has also started to disintegrate. She has attempted to speak to him, but he ignores her every time.
Before she will even becomes my sister-in-law, we won’t be on speaking terms. It doesn’t appear we ever will be, either.”
“All The Family Cared About Was Money”
“My sister-in-law and I were never close. She was a boring person, and the only thing she ever talked about was her latest fancy purchases. My SIL was close with my own sister, though. A while back, the school my sister sent her children to accused her of abuse. My SIL sided with my sister’s version of the story that I backed up the school’s suspicions. She had twisted the story and told my sister I had reported her to Social Services for no reason. I didn’t, but looking back, I should have.
A few years later, my sister-in-law allowed her son, my nephew, to invite my husband and me to his wedding. I doubt she wanted us there, but he wanted to see us. We had always got along.
Unfortunately, the day of the wedding was very hot and I had a bad asthma attack. I didn’t want to suffer more outside, so I called and told them why I couldn’t come. My sister-in-law didn’t care.
The wedding was on a Sunday and amazingly, on Monday, I received something in the mail from my SIL. lt was a scathing, nasty letter. In the letter, she accused me of going back on a promise and wasting the spot given to me at the wedding.
No one had called to inquire about my health. All the family cared about was wasting their precious money and not showing up as commanded.
I phoned my SIL and chewed her a new one! My brother got on the line with her and gave me a list of his grievances, too. I sliced and diced him as well. It’s been about fifteen years and we have not spoken since.”
“She Is Such A Miserable Person”
“My in-laws and I got along fairly well. The only one who gets on my nerves at family functions is my youngest brother’s wife.
My youngest sister-in-law was a stay-at-home daughter who cooked, cleaned, and sewed for her parents and two brothers before she married and joined our family. She was ignorant, suspicious of new things, and generally a tiresome person. She covered her ignorance by acting supercilious, sneering, and downright rude. She constantly turned up her nose at our meals, and would only eat food she made herself. My SIL also refused to lend a helping at family functions.
I tried counseling her, advising her, and even persuading her, but to no avail. We all tried to talk to her but she remained stubborn. Her sneering attitude started to get to me, so I decided, for my own health, to barely tolerate her at family functions.
I did not stop talking to her completely, but I maintain having bare minimum exchanges with her. My husband and his younger brother completely ignore her, though.
Sometimes, I really do feel bad because she is such a miserable person.”
“She Isn’t My Favorite Person Anymore”
“I used to love my sister-in-law. I was very protective of her because I knew my brother could be a jealous and narcissistic person. He should have never gotten married to anyone solely because of his anger issues. However, she isn’t my favorite person anymore.
A few years back, my SIL got a new job. At her new job, she met an eighteen-year-old boy who she had worked with. She divorced her husband, my brother, to have a relationship with this kid instead!
My nephews were nearly his age, and it was extremely awkward to have family gatherings with them. The boy my SIL struck up a relationship with was fresh out of high school! My brother was furious, and it made everyone’s lives around him miserable. He would pick on my daughters, was mean to our mother, and was verbally abusive toward me.
To add insult to injury, when my brother passed away a while back, she did not bother to attend his memorial service, nor did she offer condolences to my remaining family or myself. Additionally, my nephew passed away a couple of years ago. In the newspaper, his name was listed under her maiden name. My brother was the one who raised him, not my SIL. There wasn’t even a mention of my brother in the obituary or any mention of anyone on my side of the family.
Since this incident, I haven’t spoken to her at all.”
