Woman Praised for Tossing Husband's Dinner After He Ditched Her for His Mom

Thousands of commenters praised a woman after she revealed that she threw out the dinner she made for her husband after he chose to eat at his mother's house instead.

The anonymous woman, known as u/AquaF6374, posted about her situation to Reddit's popular subreddit r/AmITheA**hole where it received nearly 13,000 upvotes and 3,000 comments in less than five hours, with many calling out the woman's husband for prioritizing his overbearing mother over his spouse.

In the post titled "AITA for throwing out my husband's dinner after he went to eat at his mom's house?" the woman, 26, explained that her mother-in-law calls every night to ask what she is making for dinner.

"Then she brags about what she's cooking to make me look bad, especially if we're getting takeout," the woman said in her post, adding that her husband often asks her to make dinner before deciding to eat at his mom's house, which is approximately 10 minutes away, by saying she made his "favorite meal."

In the post, the woman explained that she wanted to surprise her husband by cooking one of his favorite dishes. Even though she was busy, she said she went grocery shopping and took off work to make time to cook.

While she was setting the table, the woman's mother-in-law called and the husband answered. Over the phone, the woman asked her son what they were having for dinner and sounded surprised when he told her.

The woman said her mother-in-law said she cooked a different meal and he agreed to come over, which shocked her. She said as her husband was getting ready to leave, he told his wife "no offense," but the meal his mom cooked was "even more of a favorite" than what she prepared.

"I felt awful. I took his plate and threw it out then ate my portion," the wife's post read. "As I was about to put the plate in the dishwasher, he got home looking angry saying his mom lied about cooking that favorite meal, and used it as an excuse to force him to eat dinner with her."

The woman's husband then sat down and told her to "go ahead and reheat dinner," but she told him she threw his food out and that he disrespected her time and effort by choosing to eat at his mother's house instead.

"He began yelling at me asking if I really did that then called me petty and horrible then went upstairs saying what I did was 100 times worse than what his mom did," her post read. "I definately [sic] feel like I let my anger and frustration get the best of me but it really felt unbearable having to live like this for so long."

Experts warn that having a spouse that prioritizes a parent more than their partner can be a sign that boundaries need to be set.

Diana Kirschner, a clinical psychologist based in New York, told digital publication Brides that healthy communication is necessary in order to avoid resentment. "You can't happily be both a husband and a mama's boy, because you're always torn in two directions," she said.

It is important to set clear limits and communicate, however, Kirschner also said that sometimes a break is necessary to give the partner time to figure out their priorities.

Thousands of users flocked to the comments section of the woman's post, with many calling out her husband's disrespectful behavior and calling him a "mama's boy."

"I wasn't going to say it because I feel it's obvious, but I can't help myself – this is much larger of an issue than dinnertime," one user commented. "There's a profound lack of respect in your relationship. Husband needs to snip the apron strings at the very least, but really needs to spend some serious time thinking about what a marriage and partnership actually means."

"Why are you married to a mama's boy who is ok with disrespecting the hard work you put into your relationship?" one user asked.

"It almost seems like your husband values his relationship with his mother over you and she constantly uses food to reinforce the same," another user mentioned. "Why are you in this marriage still?"

Other users pointed out that the woman's husband has her warm up his dinner when he is capable of doing so himself.

"I thought that wasn't relevant, but noticed few have mentioned it. I reheat his dinner whenever he's busy like working from home," the woman added in the comments section, which received hundreds of downvotes.

This prompted many users to tell the woman to know her worth and to stop catering to her husband, who obviously "disrespects" her.

Newsweek reached out to u/AquaF6374 for comment.