Internet Hails Wife Outsmarting Mother-in-Law Over Cunning Trap: 'You Won'

An anonymous wife has been backed online after confessing to tricking her mother-in-law into revealing a cunning trap she had set to make her look bad.

The woman took to popular Reddit group "Am I The A**hole" where users head to receive advice on tricky situations. She explained in the post that her husband was in a car accident the week before, meaning he had to stay at the hospital for his broken leg, aided by both her and his mom. The wife added that she doesn't get along with her mother-in-law "at all," but that her husband doesn't believe her when she points out her alleged mistreatment.

The drama ensued after her husband initially complained about the hospital food to the two women, asking his wife bring in a home-cooked steak dish for him to eat.

"Once we went outside his room, his mom's tone changed. She suddenly seemed nice and said that she could see how exhausted I was and so I should go home and not worry about the steak dish because she said she'd make it for him. I asked if she was 100 percent sure and she said 'absolutely'," wrote the wife in her post ,which has since garnered over 20,000 votes in one day.

But, when they both showed up to the next visit, neither had a steak dinner with them. Despite explaining that her mother-in-law had reassured her that she would make it, the husband failed to believe it, aided in his disbelief by his mom.

Full Confession

"She acted confused and said that I'm his wife and she didn't know why I'd expect her to perform my duties for me. I was confused and didn't know what to do. My husband seemed upset the entire visit and I waited until his mom left to talk," she wrote.

After the mom left, she called her and secretly placed the phone to play out loud before quizzing her on what happened. Upon asking if she had really offered to make the food, the mother-in-law revealed all, confessing that she did, but she "obviously wasn't actually going to do it, I was just trying to help my son see how his wife is during the rough times and you took the bait."

According to the wife, the husband and his mother later had an argument over the phone, but his mom soon "blasted" her on Facebook, "saying I stopped her from seeing her son only because I couldn't get her to do things for me like cooking for my own husband. Now his family is criticizing me for this."

Such a tumultuous relationship between a wife and her mother-in-law should come as no surprise. In 2008, psychologist Dr Terri Apter completed her 20-year-long research on the dynamics of a family and found that 60 percent of women marked the relationship with their mother-in-law as causing them long-term unhappiness and stress.

It's because of relatability like this that most respondents on Reddit supported the wife for her choice to out her in-law, and expressed rage at the situation.

"I don't understand these people. How is making your own son, that you love and who is having a hard time, unhappy a win?" asked one user.

"The manipulative mom got exposed and didn't like her own medicine," added another. "Now she's trying to save face with family. I'm betting she has done similar stuff to others."

"She took the bait and you won," noted a Reddit user. "Now he knows what his precious mommy is really all about... good on her for making it easy for you."