There’s awkward, and then there’s having your biggest insecurity brought up in front of a crowd you’ve never met, awkward.

So what would you do if you walked into your partner’s big family gathering, only to realize your mother-in-law had shared something incredibly personal about you, and now relatives you’ve never met are discussing it out loud?

Would you go along with it? Or would you protect yourself and get out of there?

In the following story, one woman finds herself facing this exact decision and, with her husband’s help, opts for the latter.

Here’s what happened.

AITAH For leaving great grandmas birthday dinner?

Last weekend, my husband (32M) and I (29F) attended the first big family get-together as a couple.

It was my Great-Grandma’s 95th birthday, and we were at a restaurant with about 30-40 people in our group. I’m being introduced to the cousins, aunts, in-laws, etc.

Then comes (fake name) Aunt Ellen, she looks at me, hugs me (okay, ask next time, but whatever), welcomes me to the family, and then goes ‘Mother-in-law (MIL from now on) has told me about you and your wig looks amazing. I wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t been told.”

She froze because everyone was talking about it.

I kinda just froze up.

I do my best to hide that I wear wigs. I’m ashamed and embarrassed by it; it’s my single biggest insecurity. Only a handful of people know, including my mother-in-law, in case she ever came to our house and saw me unexpectedly.

So I’m standing with this woman whom I’ve just met, who is now asking questions, but because I’m the newest member of the family, people are walking over to meet me. Hence, they are also overhearing this.

When her husband heard, he was very upset.

I have bad social anxiety, so I went mute as a gaggle of older women started talking to each other and me about the wig. Some were rude, some were respectful, but the fact that they knew, and the only way they would have been told, was my MIL.

My husband returned from getting us drinks. He sees and hears what is happening and ushers me away quickly. We go to the smoking area, and I start crying. He’s mad because the only way anyone knows is MIL.

He can tell I’m having an anxiety attack, so he orders an Uber, tells great grandma we are leaving, and sends a strongly worded text as to why we left.

Then, the family started contacting them.

And that was that, or at least I thought.

The next day, we got inboxes, calls, and texts from a few family members, including MIL, saying we were rude and disrespectful for leaving so soon into the night, that we made idiots of ourselves, and that the relatives were just curious.

I feel like terrible now, so does my husband, and maybe we should have just sucked it up, but my brother-in-law is saying we did the right thing.

AITA?

Eek! It’s easy to see both sides of this, but some things are better left unsaid.

Let’s check out how the folks over at Reddit feel about what happened here.

This reader thinks the BIL has more stories.

For this person, it’s great that her husband defended her.

Here’s a good point.

For this person, her husband is a keeper.

Her husband is a hero!

He did the right thing by stepping in and rescuing his wife from the embarrassment.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a daughter who invited herself to her parents’ 40th anniversary vacation for all the wrong reasons.