Fiance's family is against me

My fiance's family is against me for some reason..... Like no, I'm not cheating on him or abusing him. I love and want to marry him.

The problem is his family is different from my "calm, but tell me if something is wrong" parents.

First his mother calls me fat; which I am overweight, but doesn't give her the right to make it obvious. She used to be really cool until something screwed up in her brain last year.

Next, his father, while nice in public, is easily angered. He is very strict,so much so that he followed my fiance and I one time on a date. Now I can see this if we were both young teens, but we're both adults who are aware of our surroundings. He lectures my fiance if he said something and it came off wrong. If his father gets angry at me, my fiance usually doesn't stand up to me and my anxiety flares up.

Even my parents find this situation ridiculous cause they know what kind of person I am. The way they antagonized me is uncalled for! At least I am starting to stand up to myself thanks to my parents support.

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Based on 5 votes (1 yes)
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Comments ( 6 )
  • litelander8

    Your fiancé should start sticking up for you too. Make him understand how truly terrible it is for you to be around them. You can love the person they made him to be without loving them.

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  • RoseIsabella

    Don't marry this one, honey.

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  • FromTheSouthWeirdMan

    I would almost be more mad at my fiance than his parents. He should take up for you 100% if he really loves you.

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  • Boojum

    When you marry someone, you're also marrying their family. Sometimes that works out wonderfully for all involved. Sometimes that doesn't matter much if the person you're marrying recognises that his or her family is screwed up and they limit contact or avoid it altogether. But money problems and in-law tensions are probably the two biggest causes of stress in the early years of marriage. If one of the people feels constantly torn between being loyal and supportive to their spouse, or continuing to play whatever role the family they grew up with believes they should, things can become very messed up.

    I obviously know little about your fiancé's family, but what you do say makes it sound toxic. However, this is not just about your relationship with your in-laws to-be, and I think you'd be wise to think very carefully about marrying the guy. For most people, what they see going on between their parents as they grow up forms their mental model of how relationships should work, and we all have a tendency to slip into the roles we saw enacted by the parent of our sex.

    Maybe your fiancé has done enough work to move beyond the poor model provided by his father, but you should be aware that he might just slip into that way of behaving when stressed.

    The fact that your fiancé isn't willing to stick up for you is also a red flag, since it suggests his is a family with an autocratic father who expects to have his outbursts tolerated, and it's also a family where anyone else's feelings are not discussed, and no dissent or disagreement is permitted.

    If your fiancé doesn't recognise that his family's dynamic is not healthy and he's one of those guys who insists on spending a lot of time with them because that's what is expected of him, then I think you should consider very carefully whether you want to get hitched to this guy and become entangled with his family.

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  • clitoriajustice

    that's not good and i'm glad you and your parents know that you deserve better. your fiance should stand up to them and you shouldn't have to talk to him about it but it sounds like you guys need to have that conversation.

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  • Meowypowers

    Tl;dr Boojums personal novel aside... if you have have no obvious issues with yourself, insist your partner curtail his busy body parents.

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