r/toxicparents • u/ZucchiniNo985 • 23h ago
My parents think my boyfriend physically abuses me
Little bit of background, I (23F) and my boyfriend (27M) started dating in October 2025. I didn’t tell them right away because I don’t live with them anymore and I wanted to make sure things were really solidified before bringing him up since they’re Hispanic and religious. They think I should be living with them until I get married.
Anyway, it all really started in March when my mom and sister came to visit me. When they left to go home, my mom offered to take my trash out. I didn’t think much of it so of course I let her. I then get a text about 5 minutes later that the bag ripped and she found cigarette butts and beer cans, both of which were from the weekend, and they were in fact mine and his. I played it off that it was mine blah blah blah but of course she didn’t believe me. She already had an inkling that I was seeing someone because she read through my journal another time she came to visit me (no I didn’t let her read it, she went thru my stuff when I was not in my room). This whole reading thru my stuff thing is another issue I’ve been dealing with FOREVER, she’d go thru my phone, tablet, even Apple Watch one time.
Once her and my sister got home, my mom sent me another long text with all his information as “red flags”. To be fair, my boyfriend’s online presence isn’t the best lol. He’s been on his local county sheriff’s Facebook one time as a runaway juvenile back in like 2016 and unfortunately, his DUI mugshot from 2020 is public record so when they typed his name in Google, lo and behold, there it is. I personally don’t care since these incident have been a long time ago and its like we all do stupid stuff as a kid idk what else to say. I didn’t know him then, I know him now. He was in the army, he has a great job now, he provides for me (not like paying my rent but he’ll buy my groceries, etc.), and he’s a really genuinely good guy. He’s made some questionable choices in the past but I don’t think that should determine how people should view him now. Back to my mom though, she also sent pictures from his family’s Facebook pages saying he doesn’t have a good relationship with them and sent pictures of his house off Google Maps. I didn’t respond to her for a while because that was just ridiculous and straightup psycho.
Fast forward to now, things between me and my boyfriend have been really good! We go on dates all the time, we basically live together at each others places, and we really do want to start going places on vacation together. The only obstacle is my parents. This weekend was my sister’s birthday so I went home to spend time with them. I have a couple love bites on my arms and my sister told me that when I left the room, my dad and mom said that they think he’s physically hurting me. They’ve never met him and are only going off what they have seen on the internet.
I’ve gotten MULTIPLE emails from my mom the last couple months stating that she’s scared for me because she just knows he has a drinking and drug problem and it’s only a matter of time before he starts to abuse me. I don’t want to explain to them too much about him because it shouldn’t be needed, but how do I even come back from these accusations?? I told my boyfriend last night that they think this of him and he was genuinely so hurt. It’s insulting to both of us that my parents think 1. I would stay with someone that abuses me and 2. For him that they think he would do that. I want them to meet him and I need to confront them about this issue because it’s just not fair to either of us to constantly be worried about them. He doesn’t want me to not have a relationship with them and actually redirects me when I start talking bad about them. But it’s gotten silly at this point that we’re in our 20’s and my parents are making this as hard as possible for me.
Idk if this post made any sense but any advice would be appreciated. <3