A Reddit user, a 17-year-old girl, suspected her stepmom of invading her privacy by reading her diary and sharing its contents with her father. To confirm her suspicion, she wrote a fake diary entry with outlandish claims and waited to see if her stepmom would report it. When her father confronted her based on the fabricated entry, the user exposed the stepmom’s actions.

This caused a rift between them, leaving her father unconvinced and the user questioning whether her actions were justified. For the full story, read below.

‘AITA for making a fake diary entry to catch my stepmom?’

I (17F) have been quarantined with my dad and step mom. My mom is a doctor so she was super paranoid about my family living with her during the pandemic, but as things where I live are settling down she let us come stay with her again. My stepmom has known me for two years and our relationship has always been weird.

She’s a nice person but she can be pretty mean and childish if we do something she doesn’t like. She also has a tendency to run to our dad if she hears something bad about us. Long story short, I have a diary and I keep a lot of private stuff in it. Dad called me a few days ago (we were visiting with our mom) saying he has to talk to me when I come back.

Apparently I was in trouble because of something I apparently said to stepmom. When he told me what she said I said, I immediately recognized it because I wrote it in my diary. I realized a lot of the stuff I wrote down was stuff she was telling him, so I decided to come up with a plan to see if I was write.

I wrote a fake entry basically saying stuff I would never do in a million years and set the trap. Dad calls me while out visiting with friends, and when I come back he grounds me for what I “did”. Stepmom comes in later, apologized and said it sounded “concerning” and she had to tell. I told her it was fake, knew she read my diary and refused to speak to her.

My dad came in and tried to talk to me and I told him that stepmom was reading my diary and he didn’t believe me. Now I’m with my mom, and I don’t know if what I did was fair. I felt it was the only way to prove my point and I didn’t know what else to do.. AITA?

These are the responses from Reddit users:

spiceycrispy9 −  NTA – did you dad even address this massive i**asion of privacy? What does your mom think?

Shandoma −  NTA. That is a gross i**asion of your privacy. And a clever move on your part to confirm her prying. She’s the A for sure!

bubbyshawl −  NTA! You are in a tough spot because the adults around you are failing you and treating you unfairly. Don’t let your stepmom make you feel guilty for violating your privacy and lying about it, and recognize your dad should be making sure your stepmom follows appropriate boundaries with you. Make sure your mom knows what is going on. She may have to step up for you with your dad and his wife.

Pink_Custard −  NTA. Should’ve wrote that your dad confided in you he was cheating so then he’d have no, choice to believe you when the situation implodes.

tdlm40 −  In 2011 (I was 32 at the time), I was living at my dad’s house with my 2 daughters after leaving an abusive relationship. His girlfriend at the time was a piece of work… she would go into my room, and “clean” and basically snoop. So I went out, and spent $75 and bought the biggest dido I could find. Put it in my closet, and “hid” it (I put a towel over it).

Let’s just say, she only cleaned my room once more after that! (I just wish I had a camera to catch her finding it). I recently told my dad about it since they are no longer together, and he laughed so hard tears were running down his face. He told me “if you would have told me at the time, I would have paid for it”. You deserve your privacy. I say NTA. If you need ideas, I am here for you 🙂

angelfishsticks −  NTA. Your dad should have used this as a basis for a conversation with his wife about your relationship and her role in it. Lying about you “saying” something to her is b**lshit and you got the proof you needed. Both of them are treating you like crap. I’m sorry.

GabriolaGoddess −  NTA. Your step mom should respect your privacy and needs to get a hobby.

Joy-of −  NTA. You set the bait and she fell for it, you proved your point. Is there a way to prove to your dad that you didn’t do any of those things in your dairy to your stepmom is reading your dairy? Maybe tell your mum about the situation

HellcatPaz −  NTA – your diary is private, she has no right. Let a bit of time pass and then write one last page in it saying how you can’t believe she betrayed your trust, she violated your privacy, how you find it hard to like her when she lies to your dad about you and you wonder if she’s threatened by you or something.

Stepmum will find it, read it, and if she has a shred of decency she will apologise and own up to your father, but most likely she will run to your father and twist the story to paint you as the bad guy, and if/when she does show him the page – proof you’ve been telling the truth the whole time,

photograph the page on your phone too with something like a newspaper showing the date you wrote it too so she can’t claim you went in and wrote that stuff after the fact. For whatever reason this woman is threatened by you to the point she’s repeatedly violating your privacy to stir trouble between you and your father.

He’s clearly letting her do this so it’s up to you to to expose her bs since your father lacks the will or spine to have his daughters back.

proof970 −  NTA. Who reads other people’s diary? What an i**ot. I think you should be a private detective and help other people catch their meddling step parents.