People Are Reluctant To Admit Wrongdoing In These “Am I The Jerk?” Stories

"I am my dad's 'affair baby', and I live with him and my stepmum. My dad is basically your stereotypical rich jerk, who was unfaithful to his reasonably aged wife with a younger woman, my mum, and my stepmum decided to stay with him.

My mum was unaware of my dad's wife or my older siblings when she had me, however, despite this, rather than direct her anger at my dad, my stepmum chooses to direct it at my mum and at me.

Honestly, I'm pretty indifferent to my dad's jerkiness, sure he's a bad person, but he's a good father.

My stepmum doesn't interact with me much and treats me with indifference mostly, we exist in the same house but we don't care for each other. I don't mind this, but what I do mind is her occasional comments on my mum.

Earlier today, while I was in the conservatory studying (I like natural light), she came in on her phone, talking to her friend, and basically called mum an ugly woman of loose morals in a 'look at what he was unfaithful to me with' way.

I interrupted, and said if mum was so bad and dad was unfaithful to her with mum, what did that say about her? She went red in the face, cut the call, and then tried to yell at me, but I essentially called her a jealous bitter old lady, took my books, and went up to my room.

I don't know. I can't focus on physics properly when I'm feeling bad about saying all that and making fun of her for getting two-timed. My exam's later today and I'm gonna fail at this rate. AITJ?"

Another User Comments:

"NTJ - I don't know what this thing is where the kid is expected to act like the adult in the face of ridicule and abuse from an adult, but you could make her life difficult.

Catelyn Stark got what she deserved. PS: Your mom likely knew he was married with a family. It's almost impossible to keep something like that hidden unless she just met him, was with him, and got pregnant all in the same week. Rich, powerful men are very attractive to young women, and he probably made promises of leaving his wife and to be with her to seduce her. Later on, women often say they didn't know so that people don't judge them as harshly while the man gets off scot-free." IslandMist

Another User Comments:

"Sorry, if your dad has stayed married to someone who is resentful of you and treats you badly because of his mistake, then he isn't a good father.

He didn't love her enough to not be unfaithful to her so why is he pretending to love her now and put you through living and growing up in this environment? It's his responsibility to make sure that his selfishness doesn't affect you. If he was a bad person but a good dad, he would have left her after he realized she was going to hold his affair against you. He has it pretty perfect right now. You're both taking your anger out at each other and nobody is giving him any trouble." UnhappyDare5806

Another User Comments:

"Everyone's a jerk. First of all your dad is not a good father. He’s a primary source of the hostility you’ve had to live with.

Also, your stepmom is a jerk for lashing out at you and your mother, rather than your father, who is the main person deserving of her ire. I can’t blame you for feeling the urge to defend your mom. If she truly didn’t know your dad had a family, she really doesn’t deserve to be trashed. That said, it’s EXTREMELY unlikely that your mom didn’t know, and if she did, then yeah, shame on her. But your stepmom also didn’t deserve what happened to her so rubbing it in isn’t the way to go. Your dad is living comfortably, while everyone around him is bickering with each other because of his behavior. And he’s remained in a relationship with a person who is abusive to his son. He a horrible father." Mhunterjr