Mothers-in-law can sometimes be the source of tension and unexpected drama in a marriage, often leaving their daughters-in-law in baffling situations. From overbearing advice to outrageous behavior, these women have a knack for creating moments that are as surprising as they are amusing. In this collection of stories, we dive into the bizarre and often hilarious encounters that unfold when mothers-in-law take things a little too far.

• My MIL always insisted that I should “stop trying to change my husband.” One day, she was visiting us and went on a rant about how I was too controlling. As she spoke, my husband walked in wearing a new shirt and said, ’Hey, what do you think of this one?’ She immediately praised him, saying, ’Finally, he’s dressed like an adult.’ I casually said, ’I picked it out for him.’ Her face froze. I added, ’So, I guess I do know what I’m doing after all.’ From that day on, she stopped questioning my influence on him.
• “My mother-in-law once took my husband’s keys to our house and made copies for herself without telling us. She believes firmly that houses should stay unlocked, so family can walk in and out uninvited as they please.
  My husband and I do not adhere to this so our doors are always locked, so my mother-in-law’s reaction was to take my husband’s keys and make copies so she could come and go as she pleased. She was not happy when we changed the locks.” Unknown author / Reddit
• “My in-laws invited us to go on vacation to visit my husband’s extended family on the other side of the country. We politely declined, telling them that we were planning to visit some really good friends for our vacation that year. My MIL asked if we’d made firm travel plans yet, we said no and that we were waiting for our tax return to buy the plane tickets.
  Her response was, ’Then there’s no reason you can’t go with us because we bought your tickets to fly out with us!’ She legitimately thought it would be okay for us to change our vacation plans just because they’d purchased our tickets without asking us first.” Unknown author / Reddit

• “My ex-boyfriend and I had been saving up to take a long road trip together. About a week before we were set to leave, he tells me that his mom spent hours crying to him about how much debt she has. He decided to give her our road trip money.
  A few days later, I visited his mom, and she showed me a huge, elaborate ceramic water fountain she had bought the day before for her garden. It was ridiculous. I muttered something like, ’Must have been expensive.’ She patted me on the shoulder and said, ’Road trips are dangerous. It’s better this way.’” hazelk / Reddit
• “My boyfriend’s mom and dad helped us move into our new place, and she put all of my BF’s stuff (clothes, books, etc.) in one bedroom and all of mine in another. Then, genuinely confused, she asked why we had only brought one bed in the moving truck and asked if we had ordered another one for him. No one had the heart to tell her.” Unknown author / Reddit
• “My MIL is extremely nosey. She loves to do our laundry and clean our house. She goes through all my drawers, socks, underwear, bra, etc. She folds everything nice and neat, whereas I usually just jam everything in.
  She then goes through my walk-in closet and organizes everything by color. She also goes through all my suitcases where I store personal items (in my closet). Who in their right mind would go through other people’s suitcases in their closets?” Karnishkah / Reddit

• “My ex-MIL threw a screaming fit right before my wedding started because I had forgotten the crystal cake topper that she had purchased. I believe the line ’You did this on purpose to embarrass me!’ was the one that rang out the loudest once people were stunned into silence by her behavior.” clydiebaby / Reddit
• “My boyfriend’s mom came up to me at dinner at her house one night and handed me something. It was a pair of cotton ladies’ underwear. I dropped them immediately and said those weren’t mine. She handed me a pair of underwear in the middle of dinner because she found them in her laundry. My boyfriend lives with his parents.
  It turns out they were his sister’s who accidentally left them when she came for a visit. Even if they were mine, why on earth would I leave them lying around? And why on earth would she hand them to me in the middle of dinner?” almanzo / Reddit
• “Going to visit my MIL on our way home from my graduation ceremony (8 years of part-time study — working for the first 6, and having and raising a baby for the last 2). She casually replied, ’Well, at least now you can put all that study and nonsense behind you, and get on with things.’ The ’things’ were doing a better job of keeping my place as a wife.” Unknown author / Reddit

• “My MIL seems to like me up until the point where she tells strangers (in front of me) that I took her good child away from her. We live across the country from his parents and he moved here for me, so she’s not wrong. She’s also not wrong that he’s the good child.” piacocco / Reddit
• “Shortly after my husband and I got engaged, we were making up our bridal registry and the topic of china came up. I had been thinking of something fairly simple and minimal and elegant, maybe in white and gold.
  It then came out that his mother had purchased both my husband and his brother china sets when they were quite small, which had been sitting in boxes for decades. Both china sets were exactly like hers, the old country roses pattern. She’s a wonderful woman, but that situation definitely struck me as more than a little ridiculous.” Zifna / Reddit
• My MIL is obsessed with family heirlooms and constantly guilt-trips me about not appreciating them. One day, she gave me a box of old silverware, telling me it was a ’family treasure’ and that I should take better care of it. When I opened the box at home, I found that the silverware was in terrible condition, tarnished and broken. I decided to get it professionally restored. When I returned it to her weeks later, she couldn’t believe how polished and shiny it looked. She beamed and said, ’See, you do care about family treasures!’ I smiled and said, ’Actually, I had to pay a lot to fix these.’ She never mentioned the silverware again.

Strained relationships with mothers-in-law are not uncommon, and sometimes they take unexpected and shocking turns. Here’s the story of a woman who, much to her horror, caught her mother-in-law stealing her underwear.