My mother-in-law is committing 'emotional incest' with my husband - she calls him 'babe,' rubs his thigh, and even slaps his BUTT in front of me

A woman has accused her mother-in-law of committing 'emotional incest' with her husband - revealing that she caught her calling him 'babe,' 'rubbing' and 'squeezing' his thigh, and even slapping his butt.

The woman, 30, who did not share her name, opened up about the situation on Reddit in the Am I The A**hole? thread last week, while asking people on the internet for advice.

In her post, she explained that her mother-in-law's 'weird' behavior began after she and her husband, 31, found out that they were expecting their first child together in December 2022.

'These signs were not present prior to my husband and I finding out we were pregnant,' she shared. 

'I've been a part of this family for six years and my MIL was never weird to my husband. It's like as soon as she found out I was pregnant, her behavior shifted.'

She said it began with her mother-in-law 'showering her husband with gifts,' such as jewelry, money, and 'literal romance cards.'

The woman added that her mother-in-law told him that she wanted to 'spoil' him because he wasn't going 'to be able to buy himself anything' once he became a dad.

And things only got worse after that. The Reddit poster said her mother-in-law then started referring to her husband as 'babe,' 'baby,' and even 'daddy,' as well as discussing the couple's sex life and asking questions about 'how they got pregnant.'

She also said the woman didn't show any excitement over the impending arrival of the new family member.

She added, 'My MIL told everyone she was 'indifferent' about the pregnancy. All her other kids have several children but she was acting [so] weird about our baby.'

When the Reddit poster went into labor, she said her mother-in-law 'showed up' in the delivery room and forced her husband to sit with her rather than stay by the poster's side because she wanted to 'make sure he was good.'

'I then watched her rub/squeeze his inner thighs multiple times,' she wrote. 'Every time she did, he immediately moved away from her and you could tell it was bothering him but he didn't say anything.'

The woman explained that the final straw came two days before her post, when her mother-in-law showed up 'unannounced as per usual.'

She said she was overly touchy with her husband during her visit, which prompted her to finally confront her mother-in-law once and for all.

'When she shows up she immediately smacks my husband's a** which is completely out of character for her,' revealed the woman. 

'He says, 'WTF mom,' and she laughs and says, 'What?' Then he was sitting and holding the baby and she comes up behind him and starts hugging him from behind with her full body pressed to him.

'She said, 'She looks just like us' (him and his mom look NOTHING alike). He just kind of looked at her and then looked at me and without thinking, I said, 'Hey MIL, have you ever heard of emotional incest? If not, maybe look it up and correct your behavior because if this continues you won't be allowed back here.''

The Reddit poster said her mother-in-law 'played dumb' but 'ended up leaving 10 minutes later.'

She added that her husband is now furious with her over the comment, and asked others if they thought she was in the wrong. 

'I don't want her near my kid if she's acting this weird. She makes me uncomfortable,' she concluded. 

'[But now], my husband won't talk to me about it at all. He literally refuses. Am I the a**hole here?' 

In a follow-up, the woman added that she had talked to her husband about how uncomfortable she was 'twice' before she brought it up with her mother-in-law. 

'I told him I was going to say something if he didn't. That was months ago, prior to having the baby,' she added. 

'He obviously didn't think I was serious. I don't want this behavior around my child at all.

'And at the end of the day, she's being weirdly sexual toward my husband and if he won't defend himself, I will.' 

The post quickly went viral, gaining thousands of likes and hundreds of comments.

In the comment section, many people quickly came to her defense, with some branding the mother-in-law's behavior as 'gross' and 'creepy.'

'Not the a**hole. No, she doesn't get to sexually harass her son in front of you and expect you to be quiet or polite about it,' one person wrote.

'That's seriously gross and she should not be allowed back until she apologizes and stops the behavior.'

'NTA, MIL's behavior is really disgusting. Your husband is probably too freaked out and embarrassed about this he doesn't want to discuss it, but he needs to,' someone else agreed. 'This needs to stop.'

'NTA. As soon as she found out you were pregnant, she realized her son was a 'sexual being,'' another user theorized.

'And that kicked off tremendous jealousy because, 'Oh my gosh, my baby may like her more than me!'

'That's what I'm seeing anyway. Husband needs to shut that down and make sure there's plenty of (physical) space between them.'

Others suggested that the 'sudden change' in her demeanor might be a sign that something is wrong.

'If this is a sudden change, she needs to be evaluated. She could have brain cancer or the early stages of dementia,' read a fourth comment.

'She could also have been abusing him as a child. Either way, she needs to stay away until there's an answer for her behavior.'

A different commenter said, 'A radical shift in inappropriate behavior on occasion can be from illness or brain tumor.'