Reddit Stories - Betrayed my daughter chose wealth over family demanding i surrender my parental voice

Episode Date: June 4, 2025

#redditstories #askreddit #aita #familydrama #parentingadvice #wealthvsfamily #betrayalstory #parentalrights  Summary: A parent faces a tough choice between family loyalty and financial gain, leading to a heartbreaking decision that causes rifts in relationships.  Tags: redditstories, askreddit, reddit, aita, tifu, familydrama, parentingadvice, wealthvsfamily, betrayalstory, parentalrights, toughchoices, familyloyalty, financialgain, heartbreakingdecision, relationshiprifts, parentingstruggles, difficultdecisions, familyconflict, moralquandary, emotionalturmoilBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/reddit-stories--6237355/support.

I hope you enjoy this story. My child left me for her wealthy stepfather when she was 12, requesting that I relinquish my parental privileges. At present, she is 22, financially struggling, and is seeking reconciliation with me following her mother's departure. Died and stepdad kicked her out. Ex-wife, then 41F, and I, then 45M, got separated 12 years ago. She found solace in a rich man's pants.

Sorry, this couldn't be said in any better way. She was a stay-at-home wife slash mom. She never was interested in working or earning money. She wanted to stay at home and take care of the house, and our daughter after she was born. Though my finances were tight, I never forced her to work. I was working two jobs and was earning okayish to put a decent meal on the table. However, my earnings could not cover the luxurious lifestyle that she wanted. I won't get into the details about my relationship with my ex.

This post is about Laura, Laura. Details about my ex-wife, I might cover in some other post. When Laura was 10, my ex-wife confessed that she had been sleeping with some rich dude. She moved out on the same day and we filed for the divorce. We became the co-parents for Laura. Since I had two jobs and she had none, we agreed that I would be getting Lara for weekends. I shared a good bond with Laura. We managed some great adventure trips together.

Though the divorce was hurting, spending time with her made me feel so much better. As time went on, I realized Lara was stalling the meeting. Earlier, every Friday I would look forward to her email with details of what are the activities she wants us to be doing the following weekend. The content of the mail gradually changed to Sorry, I can't make it this weekend. We are going out skiing or other fancy sports slash trips with Stepdad. Initially, I let this slide thinking that he was trying to keep Lara happy and I shouldn't be jealous of that.

Eventually, I realized that Lara didn't want to meet me that often. Our weekly meetings got twice a month and then it became monthly once and that two just one day of the weekend. I noticed she wasn't enjoying our time together like she used to do it before. When it became evident that she was intentionally trying to ignore me, I confronted her. I tried to make her understand that I was trying the best I could do to keep her happy. I was even overstretching myself. Even after that, she would continue to skip our weekend time, but now she started lying to me.

Now she won't tell me the truth that she was going out with her stepdad, but she would make an excuse that she has school homework or projects that need to be completed on the weekends. Sometimes, it sounded genuine, but most of the time, it was all made up. Whatever little time we spent together, she would always rant about how going out with her stepdad is so much better because he doesn't look at the price table every time before ordering something. Even when I take her on trips, she would always compare how it was so much fun going out with her stepdad. She started whining about every minor inconvenience that hardly mattered to her earlier. But she never stopped bragging about the new PS her stepdad gifted or the new

bike her mom brought. I thought maybe she was too young to understand that showering materialistic stuff is not love. The situation got worse when she ghosted me for over three months, even after multiple calls and texts. I called up my lawyer and told him the entire stuff. He told me I had the option to file against my wife for alienating Lara, but Lara was 12 then and she might confess in the court that she didn't want to spend time with me anymore. He said it could get worse. Lara can say that she wanted more money to live the life of her standard and that meant increasing the child support. Yes, I was paying the child support despite her rich stepdad doing so much fun stuff for her. I backed off from the idea of suing my ex over custody.

There was no point. My lawyer suggested we can have a formal out-of-court conversation with them. It would give me the clarity of what they wanted. I agreed to follow this route. My lawyer sent them a notice with detailed allegations. He mentioned we wanted to have out-of-court settlement. I had an eerie feeling that my ex-wife might not agree to talks because she had enough money and time to burn in a court case. To my surprise, she agreed to address and close this issue in front of the attorney.

In that meeting, ex-wife's husband was also present a lot of, along with ex-wife and Lara. They both said that they were out of this. They had no business to do if Laura is ghosting me. They confessed they had no role to play in this. They stepped aside and let Lara talk for herself. Lara then dropped the deadliest bombshell one could ever experience in life. She said she wanted me to give up my parental rights. That was 10 years ago, but the memory of that harrowing moment is crystal clear to me. I was dead silent for I don't know how long. My lawyer nudged me for a reaction.

I kept staring at everyone. What should I say? I looked at ex-wife and she curled her lips and smiled as if she knew what was coming. I held Lara's hand and said, Baby, I hope you know what you're saying. Giving up on my parental rights would mean you cannot call me dad. You would no longer be my daughter. She shrugged off my hand, looked dead into my eyes, and said, yeah, that's what I want.

I was flabbergasted. I ran short of words to make her understand the implications of her decision. My lawyer tried to make her understand what would happen if I disown her, like property matter and stuff, but she didn't change her mind. She turned to her stepfather and asked, once he disowns me, you'll be able to adopt me as your daughter, right? He nodded with wide eyes, surely, darling. Words cannot describe the bitterness I felt at that moment. My world shattered. To say the least, I lost my purpose in life. After getting cheated by my wife

of 15 years, the only sunshine in my life was Laura. She was the only one I was looking up to after my hectic two jobs. I didn't date any woman even after two years of my divorce. Neither I had the time. nor I wanted to. I wanted to give my undivided love and attention to Laura. This is what I got in return. She wanted to get rid of me. My condition was so pathetic that I wasn't able to think straight. My lawyer borrowed some time to get back to them. I am sure my ex and her husband would have a satisfied sleep that night after seeing me in such a vulnerable state. My lawyer drove me home. After he left, I howled like a baby for hours in my empty house. All kinds of emotions were pouring out from my heart.

I called my parents and told them about Lara's demand. They were absolutely petrified. They rushed to console me. My parents, particularly my mom, was very close to Lara. She took care of her for more than a year. My wife had to undergo surgery and she was put on bed rest for a year. During that period, my mom took care of both of them, Lara and ex-wife both. Mom gave it a shot, but Laura was adamant that I give away my parental rights.

She desperately wanted to be his stepdad's daughter. He had told her he could not adopt her until I gave up on the parental rights. I asked my lawyer what options I had. He said we could sue them for manipulating Laura. Since Laura was 12, it would be hard to prove she was being manipulated. Besides, they had money to fight a long court case, but I didn't. Plus, what's the point of fighting? The one I am fighting for is already sold on their side.

It's a lost battle. I was left with no choice other than to swallow the bitter pill and give up on my fatherly rights. For the next one week, I was curled up inside my bed. I left my second job, who do I earn for now? I lost all purpose to wake up in the morning and go to work. I took so many leaves in my full-time job and faltered so much that I was eventually fired. I moved to a different town, slept at a subway station, and wandered like a maniac for days. Gradually, I came out of this.

Found a new job, hit a gym, and enrolled in therapy. It took me a good two years to come out of it. I didn't ride on the dating wagon, but I took many solo trekking trips as a healing therapy. On one of those trips, I met my current wife, Brianna. She had a daughter, Emma, who was five back then. After dating for a while, we have moved in together. When Brianna introduced me to Emma for the first time, I broke down. She reminded me of Laura.

I desperately wanted Emma to call me dad, but I backed off. I didn't want to hurt myself again. I maintained a very healthy yet distant relationship with Emma. It came to a full circle when on her 12th birthday, Emma asked me to adopt her. I was so overwhelmed. So, now I have two daughters, Emma, and a three-year-old toddler, Amy with my second wife. I think I have given enough context about my situation. Now fast forward to a week ago.

I was returning from work and I saw a familiar face smiling at me. As I came closer, I realized it was none other than Laura. I got shivers as if I saw a ghost. She got taller, leaner, and way prettier, but it wasn't difficult for me to recognize her. She ran towards me and hugged me saying, Dad, I'm your daughter, Lara. Finally, I found you. I looked at her with dead eyes and said, I have two daughters, but it's not you.

Before she said anything, I started walking away. She followed me, but I looked back and said, Quit following me, else I'll report you. I didn't see her after that. The next day, she showed up at my house. As soon as I opened the door, she said, I am sorry, I am sorry. I know you are mad at me, but please hear me out.

Mom's dead and dad, I mean stepdad has brought his mistress home. He doesn't love me the way he used to when mom was alive. He has cut me off financially and says I need to earn my own money now. When I pestered, he said he's going to disown me. I heard her rant and then replied with a straight face, so what? She started pleading with me for another chance. I screamed at her to get out and slammed the door in her face. She then went to my mom and apologized to her.

She was able to manipulate Mom with her tears and now Mom wants me to reconcile with Lara for the sake of the family. The pain she has inflicted upon me is not letting me reconcile with her. Am I in a whole? Update 1, addressing the comments. Some of you asked about my ex-wife if she was a gold digger to judge whether she was the one who manipulated Lara or if it was something to do with me. So here's a brief context about my ex-wife. We dated for two years before getting married. While we were dating, she was waiting tables at a local bar.

I was a regular there and that's how we started seeing each other. She was living with her co-worker. I had one full-time job and was living in a studio apartment. That's when I got another job, saved up more, and got a house to accommodate her. We got married and she left her job. For the first six to seven years of marriage, she was happy and content with my earnings, but then she started whining about how her friends got so much better, earning, husbands than her.

She would even say to my face that she should have waited for some more time to find a richer husband than settling with was offensive and we would get into a fighting match. Of course, I cannot stand there and take all the cat shit she would throw at me. Eventually, our relationship got cold and distant and one fine day, she dropped the bombshell that she had been sleeping with a rich man and would be moving out to live with him. I didn't beg her to stay, but I cautioned her that these rich men take women like hers to be toys. They play and then get rid of them when they are done with it. She said this time, she didn't rush into things. She had been seeing that guy for two years and now she trusts him enough to move in with him. After that, I had nothing to say.

I remained quiet and sucked it up. Some of you said that Lara was not an adult, she was 12, when she asked me to disown her, so maybe I should have fought for her. And since I had my own reasons to not fight for her, I shouldn't be so harsh on her now. I should accept her. In my defense, I would say, you guys are right in saying she was a minor when all these happened. I am not denying that she was not being emotionally manipulated. She was also financially manipulated. However, when she turned 18 or became an adult, she could have contacted me, but she didn't. She is now 22 and she has contacted me now only because her stepdad has cut her off financially.

There was one question from someone asking how did my ex-wife died. Well, I didn't ask Lara about this, but she had told my mom that X died of a terminal illness. Laura had a liver problem. She even underwent surgery for that when Laura was an infant. Anyways, now the thing is Lara is now emotionally manipulating my mom to help her reconcile with me. Instead of discussing it over a call, I visited Mom. I got to know that Lara has fed her sobbed stories to Mom to win her back. She has said that she was homeless and had no job or any money and that she has been living on the street since her stepdad had thrown her out.

Mom insisted I meet her once. I agreed for my mom's sake. Mom called up Lara and she showed up within an hour. I grilled her so badly that all her truths came out. It came out that her mom and stepdad had pampered her so much that she never made it to high school. She was so busy vacationing and dining with them that she forgot that education and school existed in life. I don't know what that man was thinking that he spoiled her this much. Forget about that man, God knows what her mom was smoking that she spoiled her daughter's life this way. I don't know how true this is since her mom is no longer here to validate.

Laura claims that whatever she did slash told me was all her mom's plan to humiliate me. that parental right thing and the ghosting phase before that. I asked her why would her mom do that to me? She said that since I was not earning enough, I was not able to get premium-branded clothes and accessories for her mom. That had caused many embarrassing situations for her in front of her friends. Laura told me that my ex laid this plan to embarrass and humiliate me in front of her husband. Listening to this was not at all easy.

It brought back all the harrowing memories. of the past that I had tried so hard to forget. I said whatever has happened that was past. Her mom was gone. So what is it now that she wants from me? She said she wanted me to accept her as my daughter. I asked what would change after that. She promptly replied, it means I would be your daughter and you would have my back. I said, okay, I'll accept you as my daughter, but you don't get anything from me but love. I'm going to give my property, my insurance money, and my savings to Emma and Amy, but I'm going to love you as my eldest daughter. Will that work for you? She froze. After stammering for some time, she said, yeah, we can talk about

money stuff later. You are not going to make a will now. Are you? I said yes, I have already named Emma and Amy in my insurance and savings account. I have also bought a house in the new city which I have given to my second wife, Brianna. I am not going to change it for you. If you are okay with it then, get that paper that I signed for you giving up my parental rights and I'll ask my lawyer to make another one overturning the earlier one. She said yes, sure. She was silent for the rest of the time. My mom offered her dinner, but she pushed off saying she had something to take care of. Two weeks have passed since then and she hasn't shown up. I pointed this out to my mom that it was all about money.

Since I told her that I wouldn't be giving her any money, she backed off. What a useless piece of shit she is. Update 2. Oh, I told you it was all about money and yes it is. Two weeks back, Lara showed up at my mom's place again. Mind you this is four months after we had the last conversation. She looked miserable with red puffy eyes covered in dark circles. she had rashes all over her body, maybe by consuming some allergic stuff. She was crying and pleading for help.

She wanted money from Mom. She said ever since her stepdad had disowned her, she had been living with her friend and now that friend has also thrown her out. She has sold most of her stuff to buy food for these many months, but now she has no money and no stuff. Mom asked her why she didn't get a job. She said she was a school dropout and no one would give her a job. job. Mom said she could speak to her friend who runs a bakery and get her a cleaner's job or something.

Besides, there are so many jobs that don't need a school degree. Lara remained silent to that. She just sobbed and asked Mom for some money. Mom gave her some packed food and $100. She asked her why she didn't bring that document to overturn the disownment. She said it was in her stepdad's house and she would get it next time. She took the money, and food, and left. Mom didn't tell me about this visit. She thought I would get mad at her. Three days back, Lara again showed up at Mom's place with the same sob story. Mom asked her what did she do with the money? She said she used that for food. Mom asked what about the job? She didn't give any straight answer. This time Mom didn't give her money.

Mom said she didn't have the money, nor any extra food. She just gave her a loaf of bread. She took it and was about to leave and Mom asked her if she had changed her mind about being my daughter. She replied, What's the point of having him as Dad when he is not going to give me any money? He has given away all his stuff to his beggar stepchildren. Mom was astonished at her words. Mom chased her out and threatened her to not show up again at her house. Mom called me immediately and told me about both of her visits.

I did get mad at her for helping her the first time. I asked Mom to be cautious while answering the door at night. The way Mom described Lara's appearance, it seems she's with bad company. She can be a threat to Mom as she is living alone after Dad's demise last year. We are going to get a restraining order against her in case. she comes back again and creates trouble. Today, I came to Mom's Place. I went out to see if I could find Laura around, but I didn't see her anywhere. I'll be living here for a week. I don't know what to do, but I do feel sad about her. If what she said about my ex was true, then my ex

went too far to humiliate me, and while doing that she ruined her own daughter's life. And if If Laura is lying about it then she's already paying the price of her evilness. By the way, someone commented in my last post that everyone has a right to make a choice for themselves and Lara was not evil for choosing her stepdad over me, just that she was on the wrong side. I guess, you are right. She made a choice ten years ago and now she has to live by it for her whole life. Now on to the next story.

Story 2. Shy G.F. who hates social media has a seat. secret eight-year-old Reddit account where she bullies people daily. She gets upset when downvoted and lies about her appearance to bring others down. I, 35M, and she is, 37F. So I came home from work today and noticed my partner just sitting at the desk laughing to herself with her headphones on, so I assumed she was watching a movie or something and left it at that. Not long after I poked my head round as I was going to ask her what she wanted for dinner and to my surprise she was on Reddit, which was odd to me because she is anti-social media,

etc., but I thought it was nice she was trying something as she suffers from agoraphobia and doesn't get out much without me. I briefly got a glimpse at her name and thought it would be interesting to see what she had posted, yes, I know this was an invasion of privacy, and to my shock, the account was eight years old. This means it's predated-out relationship by a couple of years. What even more shocking was the stuff she had said on there, so much hate towards random people, for seemingly no reason at all. This was not just one comment here and there either, literally just an account dedicated to hating on people and she seemed proud of it in her comments. One recent example was she spent an entire day just hassling someone. It doesn't

even stop there because she will make up stories, fat shame people, bullying those with disabilities. This one hurts as she knows I have autism and claims everyone who tell her she needs is projecting. I would sometimes come back from work and she would be in a bad mood but wouldn't tell me why. Upon looking at her comment history, a lot of her bad moods seemed to line up with days she got downvoted a lot. She even goes as far as to lie about her physical appearance just to bring down others, it's sick. How do I even approach this? This stuff is just downright hateful and I don't want her to freak out at me. What do I even do? I'm scared she is one argument away. from someone coming to find her.

Comments. Mure Otter, this is the person you are dating. This is how she behaves when there are no consequences of her actions. She is not a kind person. Rounders underscore and underscore knickers. What do you think about having a partner who secretly likes to be cruel to others and thinks it's funny? Only you can answer that.

Successful underscore bitch 107, agreed, and the fact that her entire day slash mood can be ruined just because she gets down votes is concerning and extremely unhealthy. I mean if you need that level of validation for your self-esteem from internet strangers, I think that some therapy appointments are desperately needed. Add underscore OCH, especially when coupled with the fact that she's a troll-like. I feel kind of bad for two seconds if I get downvoted when I talk about something personal, but then I have the option of deleting it or ignoring it and going on with my life. If I knew I was writing something controversial, why would the downvotes bother me?

So she likes to be deliberately antagonistic and then the fallout can ruin her mood? So strange Cobald May Jen, catfish her and make her harass you. Then cry at the dinner table over the ablest redditor who ruined your self-esteem. Hope to find this on Bora in a few weeks. KMF-1017 I find it's so pathetic that she's agoraphobic, which implies she has anxiety around social interactions, being humiliated, etc. But she's being cruel to others online and that definitely affects their

anxiety slash mental health. This is a shitty person and I'd cut my losses TBH. Public underscore Pool 9736. Kind of creepy she has kept this a big secret for so long. It is also strange that she is capable of being mean to total strangers and enjoys belittling others without you having a clue. She sounds like she has some unaddressed mental health issues. That old saying mean people suck is still true. Update, I had a lot of message requests asking if the post was about them. If you thought that then I think it's time to stop your crappy behavior. I want to address some comments from the last post.

I'm pretty sure she is blocked from this subreddit as all of her comments on this sub were removed according to a remove Reddit site and I also blocked her account while slightly adjusting the ages. After sitting for a good hour last night looking down her profile in depth and bookmarking her worst stuff, I decided to bring it up with her. I was going to ask a mutual friend round, but I didn't want to embarrass her so I instead I put my phone on record in my pocket in case she was going to claim I did anything against her. I waited until after lunch and asked her if she could just stay there for a minute, set my phone to record and then brought up screenshots on a tablet. Her face dropped. She walked out of the room after a few seconds of scrolling. I was going to go after her, but I left it.

She came down and just said sorry. I asked why she was saying sorry to me to which she responded, I don't know. I asked why she did it and I just got another I don't know. I showed her one of the screenshots where she claims my friends love how much of a I am online and I asked if any of her friends knew, and she said no, just me. I brought up the fact that I couldn't wrap my head around why someone would dedicate so much time to this, and she said at first it was just a way to blow off steam, but then it felt nice because I saw people were agreeing with me, and it became a part of my daily routine, I guess. After some more talking,

I addressed how much she hurt me with her attacks on people with mental health problems to which she just said I doubt they even had any issues. They were just playing victim because they were losing the argument. I have packed my things and going to stay at a friend's house. I am going to block Reddit on the ISP and ask her to not contact me for a couple of days while I think. I have also asked her to find a place to stay as I can't stay at my mates for too long and I want to go on a break. If I'm honest, I don't know if I will ever want to see her again. I was going to ask her to apologize to everyone she caused shit for but at this point I know she won't mean it. Any further updates will be done via this post.

Comments Guilty underscore Board 933, the fact that you felt the need to record this conversation on your phone makes me feel like this is not a healthy relationship regardless of the Reddit trolling. A underscore year underscore of underscore storms, judge people by how they treat those they can hurt with impunity. She's an online bully, cruel to people when she is anonymous and there are no consequences. You're making the right decision.

Okie dokey 654, yep. Your character is how you behave when people aren't looking. I think being anonymous online is the same thing.