A woman punched her mother-in-law after weight-shaming comments. Is her husband in the wrong?

Husband questions whether he was wrong to kick wife out after fight with his mother (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

A man is asking for advice after he kicked his wife out of their home after a large fight between her and his mother.

In a recent Reddit post shared to the popular “Am I The A**hole?” subreddit, the man explained that his wife and mother never had a problem with each other until she got pregnant, at which point his mother started to become “clingy” and “avoided” his wife “at all costs.”

“I threatened to go no contact with her when my wife was about seven months along and after that she snapped out of it for the most part and stopped being so ignorant. The comments 100 percent stopped, at least. Though she still was clinging to me,” he explained in the post.

The couple was recently invited to a family dinner, but before his wife could eat, she had to deal with their fussy newborn baby. During that time, his niece admitted she was still hungry. By the time his wife had returned, his mother had given away her portion of food to his niece.

“As I was walking inside, I heard my mom say ‘looks like you can afford to skip a meal’ and slapped my wife’s stomach. Right as soon as I get ready to step in (literally fast walking toward them yelling ‘enough’), my wife winds back and punches my mother square in the face and drops her,” he wrote.

The fight resulted in the husband telling everyone in the house to leave, including his wife. He later texted her, explaining that he needed space and time alone to “process” what had happened but she never responded.

Eight days later, after still not responding to the message, he said his wife showed up and handed him divorce paperwork. He was quick to clarify that he never wanted to separate from her, but only needed time to himself.

AITA for kicking my wife out after she punched my mom in the face?
byu/OkOrganization9552 inAITAH

“I don’t want to separate. I just needed time to process her punching my mother in the face. She said ‘you needing time to process gave me time to process the fact that I refuse to be in this situation any longer. I defended myself. I initially felt bad and remorseful but you making me leave when I needed you made me see more clear. I’m done. I’m sorry for what I did but there’s no fixing this,’” the post concluded before the man asked commenters to give their opinions on if he made the right decision by kicking his wife out to begin with.

After posting, many people took to the comments to express that he never should have kicked his wife out because she was only defending herself from his mother, who started the fight to begin with.

“So... to recap: You allowed your mommy to verbally abuse your PREGNANT wife for MONTHS (but still invited her into YOUR WIFE’S home). You stood there while your mother insulted and PUNCHED YOUR WIFE in the abdomen where she’s been growing YOUR CHILD for the past nine months. Then when your PROVOKED wife defended herself from your bag of garbage mother you put your wife and child out of their home so you could process. SERIOUSLY, you put your wife and infant child out of THEIR HOME instead of YOU leaving to pull yourself together and stop being a mama’s boy,” one comment began.

“You showed your wife who you truly were that night. A ‘less than’. Not a real husband, not a real father, not a real man. How is she ever supposed to ‘unsee’ that?”

Another commenter agreed, writing: “Processing what happened is one thing. But not supporting your wife and kicking her out is another. Your mom is out of line, if you would have checked her a long time ago it wouldn’t have gotten to this point. Your mom treated your wife poorly because YOU ALLOWED IT.”

His wife even went on to make her own separate post on the forum, where she explained that his mother had texted her, threatening to sue her for assault and to stay out of their family’s lives.

“My soon-to-be ex-husband wants us to do marriage counseling, to which I have refused to do so because I am done with him,” she wrote.