'AITA for exposing MIL’s secrets and revealing to my husband that he’s not his father’s biological son?'

A woman took to Reddit's "Am I The A*****e" (AITA) forum titled "AITA for telling my husband he's not his father's bio kid and revealing MIL's secrets?" to ask if she was in the wrong for telling her husband that he's not his father's biological child and for exposing her mother-in-law's secrets.

The now-deleted post has gained significant traction, earning thousands of upvotes and hundreds of comments, as reported by Someecards.com.

Wife exposes MIL’s lies about husband’s paternity

In her post, OP explains the challenging relationship with her MIL, who never fully accepted her, often citing OP’s foster care upbringing as a reason for her disapproval.

The OP explained, "My MIL doesn't like me. She apparently never did though she was good about hiding it for a while. About two years ago she made a lot of comments about me not being the right choice for her son because I came from foster care and had nothing, not even a real name (I was named in foster care without much consideration or love)."

Two years ago, OP and her husband had no contact with MIL after she made cruel remarks about OP’s background.

"We took a six month break from her where we had zero contact. My husband refused to subject me to that unless his mom apologized and meant it. The thing was before she made those comments she had appeared to accept me. But then she unleashed all her true feelings on me/us."

MIL later apologized, claiming regret, things took a turn when OP became the target of her MIL's calculated revenge.

"She did eventually apologize and we both believed she meant it so we started having contact with her again. My FIL was never no contact. We'd see him away from my MIL and he would apologize that I had to hear her hate. He was considering divorce over it and only didn't go ahead because my MIL did (appear to) regret it."

OP reveals that during her first pregnancy, MIL dropped a bombshell.

"My husband and I had our first child together and that's when my MIL did something that put me in the worst position. She told me she'd had an affair and my husband wasn't my FILs child. Not even my FIL knew. Nobody did. She wanted to take it to the grave. But she saw telling me as a way to punish me for coming between her and my husband. He was the only one of her and my FILs kids she admitted this about."

According to OP, this was MIL’s way of punishing her for “coming between” her and her son.

"She even showed me letters between her and the bio father and how he knew he was my husband's bio father, or suspected, and she told me I couldn't tell my husband because I knew how much it would devastate him, which I did. My husband adores his dad. I knew it would crush him."

MIL insisted OP keep the secret, arguing that revealing it would devastate her husband and his father. OP agonized over the decision but feared her husband would never forgive her if he learned later that she had known all along. Despite weeks of attempting to get MIL to tell the truth, OP ultimately shared the information with her husband.

The revelation shattered the family. OP’s husband, devastated by the truth, shared the news with his father, and the two confirmed the paternity through DNA testing.

"He was crushed and I also think he worried his relationship with his dad would be forever damaged in some way by it. He was also incredibly mad at his mom. He ended up telling my FIL and they confronted my MIL and she tried to paint me as a liar."

The confirmation led to further heartbreak, and OP’s father-in-law has since filed for divorce from MIL. The family’s once-perfect image was irreparably damaged, with MIL trying unsuccessfully to paint OP as a liar.

"But ever since there has been a very deep feud going on. My FIL is divorcing my MIL, my husband and my FIL confirmed the whole thing through DNA which devastated them both even more and my husband's siblings are all upset at what my MIL did but also at the end of what they considered a perfect family."

"A couple of them have implied that I'm to blame for exposing it. None of them have said it outright but comments about how it would have been better kept a secret while looking at me and the two who said those things have become more distant with me, and with my husband because he says I did the right thing. I hate the hurt. I also hate my MIL for putting me in the position she did. AITA?"

Reddit weighs in on wife disclosing her husband's paternity secrets

The post received an overwhelming amount of support, with commenters unanimously agreeing OP is Not the A*****e (NTA).

One commenter wrote, “You had to tell your husband, that’s your person, you shouldn’t feel guilty. The blame lies solely on her," while the other user wrote, "You didn't expose it, MIL did. Next time tell them she's the one who should have kept her mouth shut."

Another user commented, "Your MIL took 'family secrets' to a whole new level! Who knew that Thanksgiving dinners would turn into episodes of 'Maury'? You definitely deserve a medal for handling that drama."

"She thought she could destroy the OP's marriage with her son. If she was ever caught, or ever told her husband out of spite, she could have then thrown the OP under the bus by saying that she'd known about it for however long it had been. Her little plot blew up in her face," a user said.

Another pointed out, "That is the dumbest plan ever. There are 3 people in this story whose lives were negatively impacted & changed forever. OP is not one of them. MIL apparently decided to use OP to blow up her own family."

Another user commented, "NTA. It would have been a fun game, though, to buy genetic tests for the whole family. Tell them how you thought it would be fun to find distant relatives. Your MIL's head would have probably imploded while you watched."

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