A strained family relationship can be difficult enough to bear as it is, especially with all the negativity and stress it often entails. But some people manage to make it even worse for those involved by doing something as absurd as starting a ridiculous rumor.

That’s what this redditor’s aunt did when she said that the OP—her niece—had a crush on her. But instead of taking such accusations to heart, the netizen decided to retaliate by using malicious compliance.

Bored Panda has reached out to the redditor and she was kind enough to answer a few of our questions. You will find her thoughts in the text below.

Some family relationships never seem to take a turn for the better

Image credits: djile (not the actual photo)

This redditor’s relationship with her aunt got even worse after the latter started a ridiculous rumor about her niece

Image credits: LightFieldStudios (not the actual photo)

Image credits: Karolina Grabowska (not the actual photo)

Image credits: spinaticc

Lying wasn’t the only concerning thing the young woman’s aunt has done

The OP seemingly has a good relationship with family members that are close to her, including her sisters, her mother and her grandmother, but the rest of her kin was referred to as a “chaotic dumpster fire for a family”, likely for a reason.

In an interview with Bored Panda, the redditor revealed that she used to be on okay terms at least with her aunt in the past, but that was no longer the case. “I never got very close with her due to distance physically and family-wise, as she is not blood family and isn’t married to my uncle even though they’ve been together 15 years. I always thought she was nice. We had civil conversations before this, nothing unbecoming. That is why I was so surprised she thought this of me.”

She continued to share that the thing that annoyed and worried her the most was not knowing how long or to whom the aunt has been spreading the lies. “I was most upset by the idea that she had convinced at least one person it was true (albeit they are a child) and was trying to convince another person in my family that it was true.”

“I would like to add that this woman is insane,” the young woman told Bored Panda. “Even though this was the first ever real issue I had with her, she brought out a bat when I was originally confronting her for bullying my 13-year-old sister through her daughter’s phone. She has also threatened my sister and mocked me about a disease I had, and that’s just the PG stuff I can get into.

“Due to the way she handled the entire situation, and then following up by trying to convince my cousin that I had a crush on her, I can’t look at her the same. Even if we have another 15-year span of civility before we are to clash again,” the redditor shared.

Family relationships can significantly influence both one’s mental and physical well-being

Be it good or bad, family relationships can significantly affect a person of any age, but their influence is arguably paramount during the individual’s formative years and their youth. Research suggests that a safe and supportive family environment tends to provide the offspring with the emotional security and social integration that is essential for their healthy development. Such relationships also have a great deal to do with the child’s opportunities to lead a healthy life.

According to said research, unsupportive and neglectful family relationships, on the other hand, foster an environment that may lead to worsened mental and physical health across the lifespan. That is due to the stress, emotion processing, social competence, and risky health behaviors of such detrimental relationships, which are reportedly linked with the odds of developing chronic pain.

Unfortunately, even if not reaching such a detrimental point, family relationships seem to be headed downhill in countries all over the world. According to Pew Research Center, the majority of people globally believe that family ties have become weaker over the last two decades. This rings true in virtually every surveyed country, including the U.S., where such beliefs were expressed by 64% of respondents (for comparison, the median across 10 European countries stood at close to 60%.)

Image credits: Lisa Fotios (not the actual photo)

Sometimes fixing a relationship is impossible even with those of your kin

According to assistant professor of family and community medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center, Sarah Woods, family relationships tend to be long and emotionally intense, as members of one’s kin are the people they are connected to forever. “If you are sensitive to emotional stress, then being bathed in that stress would over time wear and tear on your body,” she told CNN, adding that sometimes such relationships can be worked on and improved, no matter the age of those involved.

However, in the comments under her post, the OP pointed out that when it came to her aunt, and the rumor specifically, there was “no helping it”, adding that it’s impossible to “make sense from nonsense”. That implies that trying to fix their relationship would likely be a lost cause, as sometimes, the effort of improving the relationship with someone in the family proves futile, which leaves the individual with no other choice but to cut it off.

According to licensed psychologist Sherrie Campbell, cutting ties with family is one of the hardest things an individual might have to do in life, but sometimes they have to do it for their own good. “The facts are that family members are just people and not always healthy people, and if these people weren’t family, we would never choose them to be a part of our lives due to their poor treatment of us,” she pointed out for ABC News.

But the OP had other plans. Instead of cutting ties with her aunt, she decided to engage in malicious compliance and went along with her rumor. “I engaged in malicious compliance because I didn’t know what else to do,” the redditor told Bored Panda. “I never see her, and I thought to just never talk to her again, blatantly ignore her but then… I tried, and I couldn’t. I just can’t ignore people when they directly talk to me. So, that left me with the idea of messing with her by falling into the very idea she had of me.”

Image credits: Felipe Cespedes (not the actual photo)

The OP shared more details in the comments

Fellow redditors offered their two cents on the matter, too

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