I have a mother in law who feeds on pity. She's realized I'm too polite/nonconfrontational to call her out so there are some real doozies...
She's had 36 miscarriages, her first pregnancy was age 8 when her stepfather raped her and she claims her mother knew and did nothing.
She married an Israeli millionaire who had many enemies. He was subsequently murdered and she wrote a song for him that went to the top of the Italian charts. Years later, back in the states, she heard a song while shopping...it sounded strangely familiar. Michael Bolton had stolen her song, "How Am I Supposed To Live Without You" .
She's also a hypochondriac with no less than a dozen diagnoses. She's periodically " healed" of them depending on what she feels like/doesn't feel like doing.