Every now and then I stumble on a Reddit post that makes me realize exactly how lucky I am that my family is, by and large, friggin great.
My parents are supportive, my brothers are cool, and yeah, we have Family Drama because everyone does, but we all love each other and want the best for everyone.
Not so for poor u/Born-Problem-8280 who took to Reddit’s AITA sub to wonder if she was in the wrong for not helping her parents “even if they end up homeless with serious medical conditions,” basically because they disowned her for being a stripper.
Here’s what she said:
I (28F) was raised by super religious parents. It was a fight to be able to go to a normal college and not a Christian one with weird rules. When I did that they said they will not he paying for my schooling untill I “come back to the right path”
Religion busts another one. Her super religious parents did not approve of her school and cut her off.
After struggling for a couple of months a friend told me that the strip club she was working at was hiring. I have been dancing my whole life and have a good figure so I was hired pretty fast.
A few months in I dropped out of college because I was making serious money ( about $3k for a bad week and up to $11k for a really good one). When my parents found out they disowned me. The same goes for all of my extended family except for 2 cousins.
OP became a stripper to help pay her bills — the ones her parents wouldn’t pay. And while her parents are under no obligation to pay for college, she did what she needed to do. OP dropped out to make more money than she ever dreamed of making
Fast forward 9 years, I own my house outright, a Tesla, don’t have debt, I also own an appartement building that I rent (stripping has a short lifespan) and investments.
She’s also smart about it and has made sure to invest that cash well. And here comes the family …
Now my parents contacted me. Apparently my father lost his business during COVID, my mom has always being a SHM, they declared bankruptcy and are really struggling (they live in an old camper). Also apparently my mom is diabetic now and my dad has always had heart problems. They wanted my help.
I said no, I don’t have parents anymore. And furthermore according to their religion and church my money was earned while sinning so to use it is to damn your soul to hell and I really didn’t want that for them. My mom started crying and my dad said that they didn’t know where they went wrong with me.
OP’s parents are in a very bad spot — health and financially — and asked OP for help. She refused, citing that she does not have parents anymore.
That was the last of it from them, a couple aunts and uncles called but they changed their “family helps family” tune very fast when I asked why they weren’t helping them themselves.
But now a couple of weeks later I am starting to feel like I was an AH to them. Because a month’s income from stripping would make a really big change for them but I won’t even miss it that bad.
So AITA?
Now OP isn’t so sure if she’s the assh*le; should family help family no matter what? It wouldn’t hurt her to do so.
Here’s where Reddit landed:
NTA
NTA
NTA
You get it.
Not the assh*le at ALL. Good luck out there, OP!