Is this man the worst husband ever? A Reddit user asked for insight in the popular AITA subreddit, and pretty much got eviscerated in the comments by other users when he shared that he refused to compliment his wife for the pettiest, most manipulative of reasons.
The user called VainWifeThrowaway posted that his wife had always been beautiful, but never someone who put a lot of effort or thought into her looks. That seemed to change, however, after she started questioning her identity outside of being a mom.
“She went through this crisis of feeling like she didn’t have a personality outside of being a mom. Something like that,” he wrote.
That’s when his wife began paying more attention to her appearance and getting involved in various groups. Over the span of two years his wife had sort of a glow-up and suddenly she started getting the attention of others. OP lamented about his wife gaining validation from others, including other men, which improved her confidence. She was also becoming more popular with other women and started making friendships.
“I never realized how much of a difference it would make but people treat her completely different. She is constantly getting complimented, told she should be in magazines. She’ll come home and happily tell me about the random stranger who was so nice to her. She randomly gets gifts, lady at her job brought her an an book series she was interested in. She gets hit on. When we go out, all these dudes want to buy her drinks. Even my family has noticed, and all of a sudden it seems like their wondering how I ended up with her. Honestly it’s a bit overwhelming for me and something I’m just not use to,” OP wrote.
OP called the entire situation “annoying,” and decided that he wasn’t going to compliment his wife anymore. Things came to a head when his sister was visiting while his wife was getting ready to go out with some of her friends. When she asked how she looked, he would only respond that she looked “fine,” still refusing to compliment her or gas her up. His sister piped into the discussion and said that he should be complimenting his wife. The author of the reddit post says that he told his sister that he doesn’t need to compliment her when “the whole world does,” and that he didn’t want her thinking too highly of herself and “becoming more vain.”
OP’s sister, like most of the commenters on the thread, think that OP is being abusive — and without a doubt, he absolutely is. This giant manbaby is throwing a tantrum because his plain-Jane live-in babysitter and maid has found a life outside of the tiny bubble he built around her. Now that other people are noticing her beauty and she’s found confidence, he’s feeling less control over the marriage and therefore losing control over her. This idiot thinks that his refusal to compliment his wife will prevent her from becoming more vain, but in reality all he’s doing is making it easier for her to find someone who will compliment her. Hopefully this woman finds someone who actually loves and respects her, and leaves this giant baby to his own misery.
Chelsea Hoffman is a true crime writer with over a decade of professional writing experience. She is best known for her coverage of missing people including the tragic disappearance of Madeleine McCann as well as the heartbreaking cases of Dylan Redwine, Heather Elvis and many others.
