My partner's mother is a sociopath. She has mentally, emotionally, and physically manipulated him for his entire life, and was the worst kind of controlling. She controlled what he wore, his hairstyle, how he acted, how many minutes of computer time he could use per day, when he slept, what he ate, everything. Around the time we got together, he was getting into a bit of a "rebellious" phase, and moved in with my family shortly after we got together at age 16.
My partner's ex-girlfriends were all white, from upper class families, conservative, religious, etc, whereas I am from a lower-middle class family, half Filipino, and I am an atheist. I always used to see her adoringly hugging and complimenting his ex's, and she knew all about their lives and cherished them like daughters. She despises me, every time my partner has visited her since he left her home, she tells him how terrible I am for him, how I have destroyed his life and their family, etc. In reality, she's gone through a nasty divorce, all her kids/extended family rarely get along with her, and she's had numerous boyfriends/friends who refuse to speak to her now, yet she's extremely successful and somehow manages to be popular and loved among the community she lives in.
She guilt trips my partner as though he's always doing something to hurt her poor feelings, or act inappropriately. She has a lot more money than she can use, yet she demands he gives her money from his student loan, so she can pay for her daughter's (his younger sister) braces and sports. Yet she has never supported his choices to go to university or to work toward becoming a musician. He is such a sensitive, sweet, and thoughtful person, but she brings out the absolute worst in him.
The worst part is, she makes elaborate posts on Facebook to make it seem like she has a perfect family who she loves and who love her back. She even mentions me in the posts, as if she misses me, though she hasn't even bothered to say hello to me in 3 years. This woman has cultivated self-esteem issues, anxiety, confrontational and defensive behaviors, and relationship issues in my partner throughout his entire life. She absolutely refuses to do anything remotely nice for him unless he sacrifices his happiness and dignity just to appease her. Even when she is CLEARLY in the wrong, she has never apologized in her life, and she often just glosses over her faults while holding on to grudges for months, years.. forever. She currently hasn't talked to him for 5 months because she "calculated" how much money he spent in one year, and didn't think he needed to spent it.. Thinks he should give her 2,000+ dollars.. He lives with no support in the most expensive city in Canada and goes to university full time while living in a tiny apartment with 5 people while she has multiple properties, gets her hair/nails done weekly, and buys insanely expensive gifts for her daughters all the time.. We moved across the country to get away from all the bullshit, yet it persists. Goddamn she is a disgusting excuse for a mother. I'm always relieved when they aren't speaking.. My partner is considerably less unhappy in such times.