Why is my older sister so mean to me as if I was her enemy?
07.06.2025 08:36

I'm 38 and always got the sense my oldest sister either hated me, resented me for no legitimate reason, and/or was jealous of me. She never gave me good advice, especially when it came to relationships with men, because of her own twisted views of men. At age 14, I dated an 18 yr old guy (my first relationship), he pestered me to death trying to talk me into sleeping with him, and I was extremely uncomfortable with the idea of that because I wasn't ready to have sex yet. Her “advice” was I better have sex with him because that's the only way I'd keep him around. Didn't seem to understand that I didn't want to keep a guy like that around, he was a literal pedophile and “joked” about raping me. She likes to scapegoat me and blame things on me, or lie and say she has to “help” me, when she's really just lying to cover her own ass. In my 20s, she memorized my SSN, was living out of state with some guy, went to the hospital for something stupid and unnecessary, and gave them MY information, running up a few thousand dollars in medical bills. She constantly tried to control me, always acted like she knew better (even though her past and her current living situation shows she's never made good decisions in her life.) She's a pathological liar, a shit talker, a gossiper and instigator, and is extremely selfish and manipulative. Everything she does is focused on benefiting herself, and the ease with which she lies, cheats and steals, even after we all got off drugs, is disturbing to me. She's trapped in a loveless sham marriage that was for her own financial benefit, because her past criminal record means she can't have her own place. I made the incredibly stupid mistake of staying with her temporarily, thinking it'd somehow not turn out terrible. She threw away or sold what few belongings I had, Recently, she repeatedly stole my driver's license because hers got suspended years ago for several DUIs that she didn't want to deal with. So rather than face the consequences of her stupid decisions, she decided to assume my identity by stealing my license and got a speeding ticket in my name. She picks at me constantly because I choose not to wear makeup, telling me I have dark circles under my eyes (yeah, I'm extremely tired 😂), yellow teeth (yep, I smoked cigarettes for years and am on medication that's contributed to it), tells me I could find a man if I could just “be bubbly”, because she's never been single a day in her life and has never taken any time to learn about herself outside the context of a relationship. Her husband is a good man, but she constantly tells him how fat he is, emasculates him by saying he's “the woman” of the relationship because he tries to resolve conflicts like an adult, and she's immature and passive aggressive. She forces him to sleep on the couch when he has joint problems, and groans in pain all night long, when her body is perfectly fine and she should be the one on the couch, if anyone. There's a ton of other stuff too. The short version is I believe she's a very, very unhappy person, cannot come to terms with this, and lashes out at everyone, but especially me. She is jealous of qualities I possess that she doesn't, like independence and determination. She resents the fact that I don't have the kind of criminal record she does, and that at least a couple of her boyfriends ended up preferring me over her, although I never dated any of them because that's gross. She's threatened by the fact I have a tiny shed of confidence when she has absolutely none. She cannot understand why I'd choose to be single, instead of manipulating a man into thinking I love him to get access to his money, so I can sit at home although I'm perfectly capable of working, like her. Most likely, it's something similar with your sister. You threaten her or possess qualities she wishes she had, and she cannot come to terms with that. Or, if you also come from a toxic family environment, she's never gone to therapy, learnt about herself, or grown and bettered herself in any way and resents that you have. She's jealous, in short, and wants to put you down to make herself feel better, because she is deeply unhappy. My suggestion is to do your best to not react to her provocations, and limit your time around her. Holidays and birthdays, that's all I do, for my own sanity. Unless she gets therapy and is willing to take accountability for her awful behavior, it's probably going to get worse with time, unfortunately. Protect your sanity. Live your life on your own terms and fuck what she does and thinks.