Stripper Backed for Not Helping 'Homeless' Parents Who Disowned Her

The internet is backing a woman who chose not to financially support her estranged parents, after they cut her off as a teenager.

Posting to Reddit's AmItheA****** forum on Wednesday, 13 April, user u/Born-Problem-8280 asked: "AITA for refusing to help my parents even if they end up homeless with serious medical conditions?"

In her post—which has been upvoted over 15,000 times and received more than 1,700 comments—the user explained that she had long been estranged from her conservative parents, and that their support had always been conditional.

She wrote: "I (28F) was raised by super religious parents.

"It was a fight to be able to go to a normal college and not a Christian one with weird rules. When I did that they said they will not [be] paying for my schooling until I "come back to the right path."

After her parents refused to help Born-Problem-8280 pay for college if she chose a secular school, she began stripping to cover her bills—which led to a lucrative career.

She explained: "A friend told me that the strip club she was working at was hiring. I have been dancing my whole life and have a good figure so I was hired pretty fast.

"A few months in I dropped out of college because I was making serious money (about $3k for a bad week and up to $11k for a really good one).

"When my parents found out they disowned me. The same goes for all of my extended family except for 2 cousins."

Almost a decade later and the Redditor has bought her own home, drives a Tesla, lives debt-free and even owns her own apartment building that she rents out as an investment. Meanwhile, her parents' lives have taken a downturn, leading them to get in touch with Born-Problem-8280 for financial assistance.

She continued: "Apparently my father lost his business during COVID, my mom has always being a SHM [stay-at-home mom], they declared bankruptcy and are really struggling (they live in an old camper).

"Also apparently my mom is diabetic now and my dad has always had heart problems. They wanted my help."

After they cut her off as a teenager, the poster decided not to financially support her parents, and wondered why they would want her "sinful" money to begin with.

Born-Problem-8280 explained: "According to their religion and church my money was earned while sinning so to use it is to damn your soul to hell and I really didn't want that for them.

"My mom started crying and my dad said that they didn't know where they went wrong with me.

"That was the last of it from them, a couple aunts and uncles called but they changed their 'family helps family' tune very fast when I asked why they weren't helping them themselves."

Despite being certain she'd made the right decision, the Redditor began to feel guilty.

She concluded her post with: "I am starting to feel like I was an AH to them. Because a month's income from stripping would make a really big change for them but I won't even miss it that bad.

"So AITA [Am I the A******]?"

According to research by sociologist Karl Pillemer, 25% of people in the U.S. are estranged from a family member—that's 67 million people. Of those Pillemer surveyed for his 2020 book Fault Lines: Fractured Families and How to Mend Them, 10% said the rift was with a parent or child, 8% said a sibling, and 9% said an extended family member, such as a grandparent or cousin.

Pillemer's research found that some of the key reasons for estrangement began in early life, such as severe parenting techniques, favoring one sibling over the others and divorce. Other reasons cited include arguments over money or inheritance, fall-outs with in-laws and differences in values.

Fellow Redditors were quick to applaud Born-Problem-8280.

In a comment that was upvoted 26,000 times, user No_Rope_8115 said: "Former conservative Christian home-school child turned pagan lesbian witch here!

"I also don't talk to my parents, but wasn't smart enough to get into stripping while I was young enough for it to be profitable! You have absolutely NO obligation to help them if you don't want to.

"Under their belief system, you are now an evil sinning child who is making money in a terrible way.

"Ask them to reconcile the fact that you are the fallen one but you had more compassion for them in their time of need than they, the god-fearing saints, had for you in yours."

InShapeTrucker agreed, commenting: "They disowned you. And now they're only contacting you because they need help.

"No to make amends for their horrific actions.

"If the rest of the family lived true to their words they used to guilt you, your parents would have help and a place to stay in a heartbeat. They're hypocrites."

Remotegrowthtb added: "OP ask yourself, if they didn't desperately need the money, would they be contacting you or even thinking about you at all?

"They sound like they would have been happy to continue the disownment for life if they'd been doing well.

"If they'd shown a little remorse or apologized for anything maybe, but this just sounds like a money grab on their part."

Reddit has long provided a space for people to vent about their family's financial disputes. Users recently praised a woman who refused to pay her absent father's medical bills, and slated a man who demanded his wife pay for his family's meals at a restaurant. Redditors also supported a teen who canceled the party she planned for her sister after she stole money from her, and slammed a woman who threw out $1,000-worth of her sibling's food without asking their permission.

Newsweek has contacted Born-Problem-8280 for comment.