To tuck, or not to tuck…that is the question…

Well, at least it’s the question in this story that someone shared on Reddit’s “Am I the A**hole?” page.

Take a look at what they had to say and see if you think they are wrong in this situation.

AITA for being the one to pay for my niece’s tummy tuck after years of her parents telling her no?

“Jenny went through a trauma as a kid and ended up becoming an emotional eater, obese, held back a grade, socially stunted etc. Her parents, with a lot of pushing, put her into therapy, and she was able to heal from the trauma, and then gain control of her eating.

Because they waited so long to take the problem seriously, after she lost the weight her skin didn’t bounce back and she was left with a saggy belly and protruding abdomen. She had a “double roll” belly where there’s a roll above and below the navel, and the bottom one tends to stick out in clothing.

Before the body image brigade rains down on me, this is NOT just the fat that naturally gathers there for a lot of women. This is overhanging fat that is almost always visible in clothes.

Nothing she did would fix it. Her parents are very much anti plastic surgery, and given that she was a teenager I totally get it. But she was miserable in her body.

Jenny stays with me during the summers because I live near a beach and love spending time with her. Over the years she would cry and cry and cry to me about how much she h**ed her stomach and how she just wishes she could look normal and her parents would just let her get a tummy tuck.

Last year I decided that I would give her the tummy tuck for her 18th birthday as long as she cleared it with her counselor. The counselor agreed that this was something that would truly help. She had it done late in the summer, healed while staying with me and then went to college.

I can’t tell you how different she was. Confident, happy, she finally wore clothes that didn’t hide her body, the whole nine yards. She even asked out someone at the beach.

She came home for Spring Break and finally wore something that made her mom take notice, and I’m guessing mom saw the scar. She hit the roof and started yelling at Jenny for what she did, asking her if she really spent her college money on something this frivolous, etc etc. Jenny came crying to me about it and I knew I couldn’t let her mom “blame” her, so I fessed up.

I’m blacklisted. My sister basically thinks I’m Satan, warping her kid’s self esteem and self image, that I should have told her to learn to love her body instead of giving into diet culture.

Jenny is happier than she’s ever been. She’s healthier. Furthermore, she was 18, and this is something she has wanted since she was 15 years old. It didn’t lead to her wanting more surgeries, it led to her sobbing happy tears after she tried on a curve-fitting dress for the first time. I don’t see how what I did was wrong. At all.

At the same time I know she’s not my kid. We went behind my sister’s back. Plastic surgery IS a big deal. So I don’t know.”

And here’s how Reddit users reacted.

One reader said this person is NTA and they were just supporting their niece mentally and physically.

And this Reddit user agreed and said the person’s sister is the one who is actually being an a**hole.

Another individual also said they’re NTA and said this surgery is actually recommended for people who lose a lot of weight.