Wife Discovers Her Husband Forced Her Struggling Sister & Nephew To Live In A Homeless Shelter — And Lied About It
The sister had been staying with them to escape her toxic relationship.
Grigvovan / Shutterstock An upset wife went to Reddit to share a distressing conflict she’d been going through with her family.
The woman wondered if she overreacted after her husband kicked out her sister and baby nephew.
In her Reddit post, the woman shared that her 20-year-old sister had just gotten out of a bad relationship, so she and her husband both willingly opened up their home to her. She explained that, following the breakup, her young sister had been left with a 5-month-old son as well as mental struggles such as PPD and Depression.
The wife made it very clear that, in the beginning, her husband was enthusiastic about letting her sister stay with them when she asked, and he even picked her up and brought her to their home. Soon after her sister moved in, however, the husband began to see it as an issue.
The woman's sister had only been staying there for two weeks when her husband began complaining about the new living situation, especially frustrated with their nephew’s crying, which she wrote her husband claimed “causes him stress.” Understanding that babies are likely to cry, the wife didn’t really have much consolation for the complaints, but she “suggested he put on earbuds” to block out the noise. He suddenly dropped the issue, and the wife stopped worrying for a while.
That was until she went out of town for a friend’s funeral, while her husband stayed back with her sister “to make sure she's okay.”
When the woman returned home, her sister was gone. She shared that her husband claimed that she had decided to stay with a friend, packing and leaving that morning. He even gave her a letter, claiming it was from her sister, but upon discovering all this strange information, the woman wrote it all "felt so odd." Even her other relatives knew nothing of her sister’s whereabouts — until the woman's sister called her. It was during this conversation that the wife realized she’d been lied to.
Her sister hadn’t left of her own accord but had been kicked out by her husband, telling her to “take responsibility for her own decisions.”
In her post, she explained that she "was in shock as she explained that she's not with a friend but at a shelter and she has no money.”
She blew up at her husband when he got home, furious that he would do that to her sister and lie to her about it.
Meanwhile, she explained, “he said I was being unfair and wrong to lash out at him for wanting peace in his home.”
But she couldn’t understand how he justified his side. While he kept accusing her of prioritizing her sister over him, she felt that it was justified to keep their baby nephew safe at least.
She didn’t want to leave them in the shelter, so she told him that she would pick them back up tomorrow, but he threatened to change the locks on their home while she was gone, saying her sister was not allowed back. Now, she is lost in the situation and closes with an update saying that she is going to stay in a hotel for the night and try to meet up with her sister and discuss a plan as soon as possible.
Many people said the husband exposed his own red flags.
Leaving a toxic relationship is difficult and scary. While many women don't have anywhere to go once they decide to leave, this woman was kind enough to welcome her sister and the baby into her home. While not an ideal situation for anyone involved, the husband's actions are undoubtedly heartless, calling into question how he treats not just his wife but women in general.
This was a common thread throughout the top comments: many gave the wife more to think about than she probably bargained for. Whereas she was mostly just trying to figure out where he was coming from and if she had overreacted, many commenters pointed out that these behaviors from her husband should not be acceptable, no matter where he is coming from.
“He went BEHIND YOUR BACK to do this to your loved one. He FAKED A LETTER. He HID HER PHONE FROM YOU. This is completely out of proportion to anything that happened," one person pointed out. "This was unwarranted cruelty and a breach of trust."
Once trust is broken in a relationship, it's extremely hard to lay down that foundation again and "needs to be addressed immediately,” love coach Ronnie Ann Ryan has told us. “Keep in mind liars tend to continue to lie because it’s how they operate. So it’s hard to be in a healthy loving relationship with mutual respect when one person lies often.”
The family could have worked together to come up with a plan and a timeline for the woman's sister to get back on her feet — but instead, the woman's husband revealed his true colors, which called for many people to tell her to "divorce him. Immediately."
Amanda Hartmann is a writer who covers human interest stories, relationships, parenting, and more.