Family stories have a knack for drawing out laughter and good memories, but this daughter-in-law had a very different reaction.

After beginning to cry uncontrollably over a cat she’s never met, this parent was fed-up with their daughter-in-law’s hysterics bringing down the mood once again.

Read on for the whole story.

AITA for Telling My Daughter-in-Law “OMG, Not Everything is About You” When She Got Emotional Over a Cat?

I have had ongoing issues with my daughter-in-law (33F).

She tends to make a lot of situations about her, even when it doesn’t seem appropriate.

Really, she is very sensitive, and it happens almost every event.

My son (35M) and she have been married for five years, and while I’ve tried to get along with her, this habit is becoming harder to deal with.

Then everything came to a head again.

Recently, during a family gathering, we were talking about our old family cat.

This cat has been dead for 12 years. She has never met this cat, and I don’t even think she has seen a picture of her.

The conversation was lighthearted, with us sharing fond memories of the cat, mostly about how dumb she was (she was an orange cat and had a single brain cell).

But the DIL then started raining on everyone’s parade.

Out of nowhere, my DIL started crying and talking about how sad it was that the cat is dead. She got really emotional, and the whole conversation shifted to comforting her.

People were either trying to get her to calm down or standing around confused and uncomfortable.

At this point, the parent is recognizing a pattern.

This has happened before, and multiple people have brought it up.

Usually, she ends up crying, and my son is very overprotective of her at this point. I think she has cried at almost every event.

So they lost their temper.

In the moment, I was frustrated and said, “OMG, not everything is about you. You didn’t even know the cat.”

My son immediately got defensive and told me I was being insensitive.

Now things are even worse than before.

She started crying harder, and now both of them are upset with me.

My son thinks I was a jerk and that I need to apologize.

AITA for saying that when she got emotional over a cat?

It’s hard to be empathetic when you notice a pattern.

Let’s see what Reddit made of this story.

There’s a time and a place for tears, but this wasn’t it.

This commenter is downright concerned about this woman’s wellbeing.

This redditor suspects the DIL’s outbursts aren’t as genuine as they might seem to some.

This commenter offers a potential script on how to address the discomfort in the future.

Emotions can be unpredictable, but sometimes you just have to learn to pull it together.

There’s a time and a place for everything.

If you enjoyed that story, read this one about a mom who was forced to bring her three kids with her to apply for government benefits, but ended up getting the job of her dreams.