When we say someone's life is like a fairytale or we talk about dreaming of a fairytale ending, we usually mean all of the good things: the prince charming, the beautiful home, the happiness. But these people are living the dark side of our childhood fantasies, all thanks to their cruel stepparents. Keep scrolling for a peek into the real-life villains who have been shamelessly exposed by their stepchildren. Don't worry; you won't get grounded for it.
When You (Almost) Love All Your Children Equally
If there's one thing that you definitely should not do as a stepparent, it is playing favorites with the children. That's definitely what's going on in this case, and you can see it by the way the stepson is sitting all the way to the right of the rest of the family. It's never cool to make your kids feel like the black sheep or the odd ones out in the family.

The thing is, is that this woman made it even more clear that she didn't want her stepson in the family portrait, given that she asked the internet how she could remove him from the picture altogether.
A Kid Shouldn't Beg for Her Safety Like This
Look, we don't want to be the ones telling people how they should raise their kids, but there's just a point where you feel as though you should really intervene. Like, we don't get the priorities of this stepparent. How is it more important that their kid gets home by a certain hour than that they feel safe and secure on their way home? There's no reason to make your kid walk around a sketchy neighborhood at night for no reason like this.
That's what this stepdad did, though. For some reason, he made his 15-year-old stepchild walk all the way home when their bike had a flat tire. Who knows what went through his head.
Nothing Screams "Controlling" Like Cameras in the House
Ok, wow. This is one controlling environment. Like, this is on some 1984-level mind control behavior. You know 1984, the dystopian novel written by George Orwell about a surveillance society? So yeah, this stepdad is basically trying to replicate the whole vibe of that apocalyptic scenario and recreate it in his own household. Not a good idea in our opinion, but to each his own, we guess. Or maybe not.
Given that this level of control is absolutely bonkers, we are pretty sure that this father's own compulsive efforts will blow up in his face sooner or later.
She Wrote an Instruction Manual for Her Stepdaughter
What this stepmom needs to learn, and us people on the internet may just have to be the ones to tell her, is that her stepchildren aren't just things she can set aside and neglect while she does things that she considers to be more important. That's the thing about becoming a stepparent - you are, in some shape and firm, a kind of parent. Nothing you can do about that.

Now in case you're having a hard time reading the handwriting, this stepmom pretty much told her stepdaughter to lock herself in her room and to refrain from walking around her own house. Pretty harsh if you ask us. But the stepmom seems to think it's okay because she's pregnant and wants to relax.
This Screams Problematic
This is just weird. This stepmom is somehow triggered by the fact that her husband hangs out with his literal daughter. This is just weird if we do say so ourselves. Like, why would you not want your husband to have a healthy relationship with his daughter? How could you possibly find any fault in that? It's also even weirder that she gets jealous about it. Sounds like a Freudian thing if we've ever heard of one.
This stepmom really should take a chill pill, take a long, hard look at herself and figure out why she has a tendency to get so jealous over things like this.
This Stepdad Can Add "Thief" to His Resume
So, picture this: you've been hard at work all day studying to get into a program for computer science, which, no matter how you look at it, is a solid and financially responsible choice in degrees, only to find that your stepdad gave away your computer. "Why," you ask? Well, it's because he thinks you're wasting your time and that you should actually be an auto mechanic. We'd be fuming.
This isn't just wrong and frankly confusing from a parenting perspective; it's also pretty much criminal behavior, given the fact that this person paid good money out of his own pocket for that computer.
Parenting Inspired by the Hunger Games
So the story here goes like this: while this girl was out, her stepmom, knowing that she would arrive back home very shortly, took the girl's stepsister (as in, her own biological daughter) out for food instead of waiting 10 minutes and going out all three of them together. Now, as if this weren't bad enough, she also pretty much forbade her stepdaughter from getting her own food by not letting her go out.
Umm, what? Like, what did she even try to achieve by doing all this? Is she trying to starve her stepdaughter to death?
This Is Beyond Cruel
So basically, after going against his better judgment, this kid decided to stay at his dad's house for New Year's eve. That being said, we definitely wouldn't blame busting out a 180-degree turn and heading towards his mom's house instead after getting this message from his stepmom. Seriously, she threatened to kick out the dog? What kind of evil person even thinks about doing something as diabolical as that.

Now, truth be told, this message wasn't just sent out of the blue. This is how the stepmom reacted to the dog getting spooked by the New Year's fireworks. Still inexcusable in our book.
One Word: Why?
So as if it wasn't enough that this stepmom didn't tell her stepdaughter that her dad's health was at risk and that he could pass away at any given moment, thus denying both the incapacitated dad and his daughter the opportunity to spend some incredibly crucial time together; this also came after she had emotionally tormented her stepdaughter all throughout her childhood. This just pretty much screams evil. There's no denying it.

When the stepdaughter finally confronted the stepmom, the stepmom excused her behavior, blaming the daughter for not calling her regularly. As if that somehow justified her actions. Yeah, sure it does.
When Your Stepmom Texts You From Your Sibling's Phone Asking for Money
Okay, this is truly unbelievable. This stepmom definitely broke a new record for acting like a total sicko. What she did was egregious. She actually took her youngest stepdaughter's phone and texted her older stepdaughter for money. Basically, she tried her hand at identity theft in order to manipulate and scam her own family members. Yeah, that's definitely a new level of heinous. Who even thinks of doing something like this?

This kind of thing is truly despicable. It's just so weird to imagine a grown woman typing out this message just to squeeze a little bit of cash out of her own stepdaughter.
Quite the Mouthful
Imagine having your stepmom intervene and give her toxic opinion about what you do with your own body. In this case, this woman sent her father a picture of her new tattoo. Fast forward a few days, and she got this horrific text message from her stepmom. Yeah, if that were us, we probably would have lost our marbles on the spot and texted her something petty in response.

Seriously, who even asked this stepmom about her taste in tattoos? And the fact that the young woman's tattoo is causing "marital distress" between her dad and stepmom is their problem, not hers.
This Guy Has an Anger Problem and a Caps Lock Problem
The story here will probably seem familiar to anyone who's ever had the pleasure of dealing with some emotionally immature people. This stepdad has an unfortunate habit of resorting to completely going crazy over text whenever he doesn't get his way. It doesn't take a psychologist to understand that this person is not conducting himself in a mature and emotionally stable manner. Seriously, what's even going on here in this interaction?
This story does have a happy ending, sort of. The kid who posted this won't have to deal with the angry stepdad anymore, given that his mom broke up with him.
At Least She Got the Photographer's Permission
So this stepmom did one of the things that we totally think should be covered in the stepparent instruction manual: You definitely shouldn't be playing favorites between your biological kids and your stepkids. That's exactly what this stepmom did when she asked someone to remove her stepson from the family photoshoot. What's even worse is that she found some random Photoshop understander to actually do her dirty deed for her.
It's just kind of sad that somebody would agree to do this. It's also kind of comical that she asked for the photographer's permission as if that were the ethically problematic thing with editing this photo. The cherry on top? The edited picture (without the stepson) is now her Facebook profile picture.
But He Literally Had Permission
Okay, so this is kind of a long interaction, so we'll try to sum things up a bit for the sake of convenience. This kid got a half-day off at school, got his dad's permission to hang out with his friends for the rest of the day instead of immediately coming home, and then went ahead and did just that, only to have his stepmother demand that he come home because he didn't let her in on his plans.

It's safe to say that this stepmom definitely overreacted when she had this poor kid come home. You can sense the sadness in his words. It's kind of depressing, really.
The Fashion Police Strikes Again
There isn't anything quite as annoying in this world as somebody who cannot stop telling people how they should dress at all times. Seriously, anybody who has ever been told to change clothes into something else for absolutely no reason is sure to understand the plight of this young lady here. This stepmom definitely went a little overboard when she forced her stepdaughter to change nightgowns.

The thing is, is that the stepdaughter said that all her nightgowns go down to her knees at the very least, which kind of makes this whole interaction seem very weird.
This Is Just Tragic
This is definitely one of the sadder pieces of this article. This guy had planned a surprise trip to visit his old family friend to introduce him to his wife and their newborn son. The family friend had been like a father to the young man, but this family friend had also been fighting dementia for quite a while. When he asked his stepdad, who had stayed in the area, for the man's address, he gave him the cold shoulder.
Fast forward a bit, and he finally got back to him, only to tell him that the man in question had passed away. What struck us the most was how cold and unemotional the stepdad's texts were.
She'll Do Anything to Get Out of Seeing Her Stepdaughter
This person has been trying to claim that her stepmom is a narcissist, and while that's definitely quite a weighty claim to make, this text message is kind of helping her case. What's being portrayed here is her stepmother totally ignoring the fact that her husband, this person's father, was sick with Covid. This could have put many people at risk, but it seems as though this stepmom didn't care much for that and wanted dad to drive his daughter to the doctor anyway.
What we do love to see, however, is the stepdaughter standing up to her stepmom when she sensed that something isn't right. Not many people dare to stand up to their parents in the name of what they believe is right.
New Evil Unlocked: No Baths in the House
So this stepfather's ingenious solution to a dirty bathtub was to install this thing pictured below. Yeah, this is definitely giving us medieval torture device vibes. Well, not in terms of cruelty, but in terms of being weird and strangely creative and diabolical. Either way, this thing was supposed to ensure that his stepkids would have to stick with showers for the time being instead of having the option to take a bath as well.
This kind of contraption really does make you think. Like, what would have happened if this stepfather took all the energy that went into the construction of this thing and actually used it to clean the bathtub once in a while.
"Anything I Don't Like Is Manipulative Behavior"
Okay, let's break down what happened here. According to the girl who posted this, she had been eating ramen in her room at nine o'clock when she accidentally played a bit of music from her speakers for approximately three seconds. This incredibly aggressive and controlling text message is what immediately followed. We don't understand why this stepmom thought her arbitrary and frankly bizarre expectations were to be adhered to, but oh well.

What got us the most was how she told this poor girl not to talk to her dad about this and labeled that as "manipulative behavior." Yeah, that definitely sounds kind of ironic.
Looks Like They're Planning a Kidnapping
This is one of those instances of something so unbelievably weird happening that it's actually kind of tricky to accept it. This stepmother was stalking a different woman's daughter for one whole year. Yeah, one entire year. The funniest thing about this whole thing is that the other mom didn't even know that this stepmom existed. Thankfully, this is where the craziness came to a halt; the stepmom didn't pursue anything further.

Not that she didn't go far enough already. She made several fake profiles on various social media to gain information on her stepdaughter and then literally asked someone to help her kidnap the girl.
This Stepparent Needs a Lesson on Accountability
It's really unfortunate to see stepparents so unapologetically mistreating their stepkids, all the while totally ignoring her stepdaughter's anxiety issues and just completely denying her own little outburst. It seems as though she needs to learn some accountability. Some parents get a little noisier and angrier than others, but it's important to know what you did and when you crossed the line. That, however, is something that this stepmom isn't doing.

We can only hope that the stepdaughter in question has since managed to find somewhere else to live where she doesn't have to deal with her toxic stepmom's outbursts of anger.
And Then the Neighbors Took Him in
Oh, great. Another example of abusive stepparents treating their stepkids horribly. Like, what kind of parent would force his stepkid to ever sign a contract like this? Is this kid even old enough to sign a contract? We're not even sure about that at all! This stepdad made his own kid leave the house due to the sole fact that he wanted to be the only male adult in the house.

His stepdad literally made him sign this horrible and mean contract and used his little sister to be the witness of the contract signing.
Talk About Trust Issues
So this stepmom has definitely got a few things to learn about the advent of industrial society, such as the fact that in our day and age, people make countless quantities of pretty much everything. This product she was fighting over with her stepdaughter, for instance, definitely isn't the only one in existence. We're sure that there are countless other versions of the exact same product. This stepmom just can't fathom that, though.

Perhaps this stepmother should check her own surroundings to see if what she's looking for is actually there before she goes ballistic on her stepkid. You know, just a thought.
We're Having Difficulty Believing He's Easy to Get Along With
You know someone is incredibly hard to get along with when he always talks about how easy he is to get along with. What happened here was that this stepson was just chilling with his girlfriend when he noticed he got a lot of texts from his stepdad. It was then that this whole text fiasco ensued. Truth be told, this stepdad should probably re-evaluate his expectations from other people.

What's even crazier is that the stepdad could have parked his car in the lower driveway, but he wanted to park it in the upper driveway. That's what this whole thing was about.
Don't Text This Stepparent for a Self-Esteem Boost
What's truly tragic about this interaction is that this stepson's messages aren't sarcastic or ironic at all; they're just honest. This is truly what he thinks about himself. Now, we wonder where these self-esteem issues could have stemmed from? We're going to go out on a limb here and take a very wild guess: it may just have something to do with the fact that this stepfather's putting his stepson down all the time.

It's tough seeing somebody acting so blatantly insensitive to someone else's own issues. It's even harder to witness such a thing when it's the person's stepfather who's the blatantly insensitive one.
Imagine Throwing A Tantrum Like This as an Adult
Okay. It seems as though this fully grown adult has got a caps lock problem. Also, it appears as though she has a bit of an anger problem, too. One text message like this is enough to turn a good day sour, but getting a barrage of hateful texts like these is enough to cause some serious, long-term emotional damage. This stepmom really has some reflecting to do. Serious reflecting.

There's just no excusing these messages. It really doesn't matter what this stepkid did. There's just no way it could've been that bad or bad enough to warrant such a reaction.
Who Needs A Therapist When You Have This Stepmom
Looks like this stepparent is an expert in all things regarding mental health. Her stepdaughter must be thanking her lucky stars she was fortunate enough to meet her stepmother, thus saving the sizable amount of cash she would have paid a therapist. The worst part about this message is that she sent it two days after this stepmom told her stepdaughter to jump off a bridge. Wow. Isn't that neat?
It truly is unfortunate that some people have to deal with abusive stepparents who make light of mental health and try to drive their kids into self-harm. That's just sickening.
Why Would Anyone Fight Like That Over Lunch?
Okay, what on Earth is even going on here? How did this stepmom go from offering to pack her stepdaughter something she could eat for lunch while she was at college to totally blowing up in her face over text and then promptly lying about the whole thing to the girl's father in order to make her seem bad. Like, why did she even volunteer to pack her lunch in the first place?

It's weird enough that this argument even happened in the first place, but it's even weirder that the stepmom got the dad involved. Like, why couldn't she sort out this whole argument by herself?
Someone Cast a Disappearing Spell on This Stepmom, Please
We're not sure what this person knows about the world, but she definitely needs to re-evaluate everything she's learned up to this point if she thinks people who read Harry Potter are going around town casting "real evil spells' on unsuspecting victims. She might just want to try one of those Harry Potter books herself and see just how evil they truly are. Maybe then she'll loosen up a bit.

Seriously, it's one thing to believe in the existence of black magic and demonic spells. It's another thing to think that one of the most widely-known bestsellers of the century is teaching kids to be evil sorcerers.
We've Never Seen an Olive Leaf Look so Unpeaceful
It's really hard to muster up the courage to leave a toxic situation, especially when you're very heavily emotionally invested in that environment or when that environment is your family. That's why these messages are so disturbing; this stepdaughter finally left her toxic household, only to have her manipulative stepfather guilt her for everything, as if he weren't responsible for this. Apparently, he also got physical with his stepdaughter's boyfriend.

We definitely wish this person nothing but the best. We're incredibly happy that she managed to leave this seemingly desperate situation and build a better life for herself and her loved ones.
Making Yourself Look Like the Victim? Classic Manipulative Move
So before we all start feeling sorry for this guy who went to Facebook to air his grievances, we should all understand why his kids don't talk to him first. The reason his kids don't talk to him is that he totally caved to his wife, as she kicked her stepson out of the house because she wasn't fond of his girlfriend. That definitely isn't how a caring parent should behave.

And as if that weren't enough, he also totally criticized his daughter extremely heavily regarding all her life choices. There's no point in associating with an incredibly toxic person, even if that person is your father.
This Person Should Definitely Consider Moving Out
Some people just need to make some drastic changes in life to make sure that they can go on living properly. This person, for example, should seriously consider moving out of his incredibly controlling stepdad's house and finding his own place, where he can make the rules and where he has the freedom to breathe and do whatever he wants. Some things in life are timeless. Like, this stepdad set internet timers on his 20-year-old son.
The thing is, is that this stepson isn't even a freeloader or anything like that. At the time of getting these messages, he was working and paying his stepdad's rent. Like, what?
Apparently, Having a Roof Over Your Head Is a "Privilege"
So all these abbreviations are definitely making it hard to figure out what exactly happened here, so we'll go ahead and break it down. This stepmom and her husband went out for a drink, which is perfectly fine. What isn't fine is that she actually locked out her stepkids, leaving them on the porch, while her biological kids got to enjoy the house for themselves. That, in our minds, is insane.

She then went ahead and said that being in the house was a "privilege." Uhh, no. It isn't. It's your parental duty to care for your kids. Shelter is a basic human necessity.
Nothing Like Parents Lying to Their Kids
Okay, so we know this is a really big issue that a lot of people have conflicting opinions on, but we do believe that people should be respectful and honest enough to respect each other's opinions and let them know about things like these. There's a huge difference between believing something and forcing that belief on everyone you know, and this picture perfectly exemplifies that difference. That's all we have to say about that.

Seriously, there's just no way to justify this stepmom purposefully hiding the fact that she was sick. That has nothing to do with your beliefs; that's just selfish and disrespectful.
She Signed A Contract?
Okay, if there's one thing that totally screams "bad parenting," it's forcing your kids, whether they are your stepkids or your biological kids (it really does not matter), to sign a contract. That's just such a bad way of going about things. A contract is an agreement by two people of equal standing. A parent and a kid definitely aren't equals and are therefore in no position to sign a valid contract.

This is just the kind of behavior that people who are incapable of truly garnering the respect of their children resort to. It's probably worth asking why this stepmom couldn't manage to have a normal relationship with her stepdaughter without any contracts.