Spouse Who Kicked Sister-in-Law Out of the House at Midnight Applauded

A post about a person who threw her sister-in-law out of her home because she made her "drunk husband feel like s***" has gone viral.

The post was shared on Reddit under the username QueasyReserve2981 and has received 18,000 upvotes since June 23. The user wrote that her sister-in-law, her husband and their 14-year-old child are staying at her home because of a family funeral. All the local hotels were booked.

The poster added that her sister-in-law "turns into a b**** whenever she sees anyone drinking, especially people in her family," because her late father was "a massive alcoholic." When the poster's husband came home "drunk" one night, his sister was allegedly "screaming about how he was going to turn out 'just like dad', etc etc...." The poster later told her "get out of my house."

Was the poster being too harsh toward the sister-in-law? Psychiatrist Dr. Carole Lieberman told Newsweek that "both the sister-in-law and the poster are overreacting" in this situation.

Psychotherapist Amy Morin told Newsweek: "If you don't like the way someone is behaving, it's well within your right to ask them to leave," but it's important to consider the impact of doing so.

"Alcohol use disorder (AUD) and the family are inextricably bound," according to a May 2021 study in the peer-reviewed journal Alcohol Research: Current Reviews. The disorder harms both individual family members, as well as the functioning of the family as a whole, the researchers said.

A 1998 study published in Alcohol Health and Research World found that, among all age, race, and gender subgroups studied, "people with a family history of alcoholism had a higher prevalence of lifetime alcohol dependence than did people without such a history."

The poster wrote that her husband and her sister-in-law have different fathers. "Her dad died from liver failure 10 years ago and his death date just passed by not too long ago," she added.

The poster "encouraged" her husband, who "isn't a big drinker," to go out with his friends for a last "hoo-ra" because the couple are expecting their first daughter in about a month's time. When he came back home around 11 p.m., he was "very drunk" and walked in the door, dancing, spinning his wife and "laughing the whole time as he was tripping all over himself."

The poster wrote: "My dad is an alcoholic too. So I get it, but honestly, I was having a f****** blast with my drunk husband."

That was until the sister-in-law came into the room and started "laying in" on her about the drinking. "At this point my husband's mood is dead. He's crying. I lost it," the poster added.

She told the sister-in-law: "how he can he turn out like a POS [piece of s***] when that POS isn't HIS father? Get out of my house right now and don't ever come back."

'Poor Planning'

Lieberman, who is based in Beverly Hills, California, said the sister-in-law is "still undoubtedly triggered every time she sees family drinking because it reminds her of the pain she feels from losing her father to alcoholism."

While the sister-in-law's "emotional reaction does seem a bit excessive," the psychiatrist added that "it's only because she doesn't want to lose other family members she loves."

Knowing the sister-in-law is triggered by this, Lieberman said it was "poor planning" on the couple's part to arrange to celebrate their upcoming baby with friends when the sister-in-law was staying in their home.

Be 'More Sensitive'

Morin, who is also a licensed clinical social worker and the host of the podcast Mentally Stronger, said there were "more sensitive ways" to handle the latest situation. It could have led to "a healthier conversation when everyone is calm and sober."

Asking the sister-in-law to leave the room would have been an alternative that could have been "safer for everyone."

If the sister-in-law didn't leave the room, "then certainly kicking her out could have been a logical next step," Morin said.

'Needs to Keep Her Mouth Shut or Leave'

Several users on Reddit were sympathetic toward the original poster.

In a comment that got 25,500 upvotes, KenGriffinsMomSucks wrote: "It is also obvious [your husband] doesn't have a drinking problem, that he just had fun RESPONSIBLY...so your SIL [sister-in-law] needs to get some help with her very obvious mental issues and not equate one night of your husband having fun to what her dad was."

Rumpelstiltskin-2001 commented: "she's visiting YOUR house, if she doesn't like what you allow under your roof then she either needs to keep her mouth shut or leave...the only thing I would've done differently was to tell her she needs to leave by the end of the next day, that way she has time to figure out where she's gonna go..."

Newsweek couldn't reach out to the original poster QueasyReserve2981 for comment as the account has been suspended.

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