Husband Praised for 'Publicly Humiliating' Wife on Social Media

The internet has defended a man for "publicly humiliating" his wife on social media after she shared a false photo from their wedding.

Published to Reddit's r/AmITheA**hole forum, a man under the anonymous username u/Mean-Coconut-541 shared his story in order to get the opinions of the "AITA" community. The popular post has over 8,000 upvotes and 1,000 comments.

The original poster (OP) began his story by explaining that he and his wife have officially gone "no contact" with his mom. Due to his wife and mother not being "fundamentally able" to get along and a "vicious" fight, he decided that it was best for them to not speak any longer. He admitted that it wasn't an easy decision and that it was very "gut-wrenching."

While his mother is telling everyone in their family her version of the events in person, his wife is telling everyone her side of the story on social media. The OP admitted that her posting online about the family drama was "tacky."

While his wife has been posting true statements about his mom on social media, there was one post that he didn't like.

He explained, "she claimed my mom wore white to our wedding (she didn't) and she posted a picture to prove it. This picture is not from our wedding. It is from my mom's own wedding, and my wife labeled it the mother son dance. I was mortified. I don't even care about the white dress, but the man my mom was with was her husband not me (face was cropped out), and I felt humiliated."

"He was holding her very intimately, hand on her lower back, her head buried in his chest. My mom and I would never ever touch like that and it made me feel ick. Hell my mom was stiff during the actual mother son dance. I know some families are more affectionate, but I would just never do that. I asked my wife to take it down and she refused," he continued.

He decided to take the matter into his own hands and correct her by commenting on the post. He replied with, "honey think you are confused. That's *stepdad's name* remember that was their wedding. She actually wore green to ours." He even posted a picture for proof. He wrote that his wife was furious, hurt and ended up crying, saying that he "publicly humiliated" her and sided with his mom. She admitted that she wanted "a little bit of petty revenge" but wanted her husband to side with her.

"I'm feeling pretty guilty right now," u/Mean-Coconut-541 said in a comment to Newsweek. "I think a lot of people were right that I was asking my mom to lay down and take my wife's behavior by asking her to be the bigger person. That is something my mom had said to me and right now I don't see no contact lasting."

Newsweek has published several articles regarding conflicts between married couples including a man slammed as a "stupid ignorant man" for talking about his wife's uterus, how a wife was bashed for calling her husband "biased" over treatment of a live-in niece and a "competitive" husband has been slammed for reminding his wife that he earns double her salary.

What is defamation?

Defamation can be described as damage to a person's reputation. This could come into effect in this story as the OP's wife posted something on social media about the OP's mother that was false.

Per kppblaw.com, these are the five elements of a defamation lawsuit:

1. Publication of information is required - meaning the words were published
2. The person being defamed was identified by the statement - the plaintiff was identified in the publication
3. The remarks had a negative impact on the person's reputation
4. The published information is demonstrably false
5. The defendant is at fault

Redditors' response

"[Not the a**hole]. She publicly humiliated herself by acting like a petty teen engaged in a social media smear campaign," u/CrystalQueen3000 wrote, receiving the top comment of over 13,000 upvotes.

U/Ariesnation1990 said, "[Not the a**hole]. Your wife is immature for doing that. Why would she post such a thing, not considering your feelings about it, much less your mothers, even if you guys are at odds with her. She deserved being called out. Next time she'll be mindful of what she posts. Wife sounds like a drama queen."

"[Not the a**hole] on any level," u/straightaspasta wrote. "I don't understand people and their desire to post about personal stuff on social media. I understand even less the people who lie to try and stir up drama and be 'petty.' Your wife needs to grow up and learn to be the bigger person."

"[Not the a**hole]. Your wife's idea of petty revenge was attempting to humiliate you. Your reaction seemed less like defending your mom but rather more so defending yourself. Your wife needs to be able to distinguish between the two when going for petty revenge," u/Not-A-Real-Person-67 exclaimed.

"[Not the a**hole]. Sounds like your wife didn't need to resort to lying, but she did. I don't care that you outed her. She was wrong," u/pineboxwaiting commented.

U/LegendOfDylan exclaimed, "[Not the a**hole]. Get your wife some therapy. In fact therapy probably isn't a bad idea for everyone here."