A woman is wondering if she overreacted after responding to her boyfriend’s attempt to shove her face into her birthday cake.
In a post on Reddit’s popular “Am I The A**hole?” forum, she shared that she and her boyfriend, Charles, were celebrating their birthdays together in a private room at a restaurant, joined by a few of her friends and mostly his family members.
“We were told to pose and pretend to blow out the candles (because I didn’t want to spread germs on the cake). Then we each had a picture alone with the cake,” she wrote.
“When it was my turn, I was holding the cake when he pushed my face toward it. I tried to fight him off. His family started cheering, and he leaned over me and forced my face into the cake. My friends tried to pull him away, but he smeared cake and frosting in my hair.”
Charles tried to shove her face into the cake again, which led her to slap him. While she went to clean up in the bathroom, Charles’s mother started arguing with one of her friends.
When she returned, she confronted Charles, calling his behavior “unacceptable.” He brushed it off as “just a joke” and accused her of “ruining her image” in front of his family with the slap.
She decided to leave the party, and the two later broke up. “He’s convinced I never loved him. He admitted he was wrong but insists that his family hates me for slapping him and that it’s my fault,” she explained.
“He was so aggressive and obsessed with making his family laugh at my expense that I realized he’s not good enough. I lost the confidence to even be seen with him in public because I never knew what stunt he’d pull next.”
Charles’s mother asked for an apology, but she refused. “He says his mother feels humiliated because of what I did and that she’s been struggling with mild depression for years (I didn’t know), and now I’m seen as violent,” she concluded, asking for others’ opinions.
After posting, many flooded the comments section to support her, pointing out that Charles ignored her clear discomfort.
“NTA. You physically resisted him pushing your face into the cake. He did it anyway and tried a second time. I don’t blame you for slapping him — he clearly didn’t respect your boundaries,” one user commented.
Another agreed, writing, “NTA. Your reaction was totally justified. I’m sorry he treated you like that.”
“There are so many red flags, but the fact that his family cheered him on is beyond disgusting. Don’t fall for his gaslighting. Good riddance,” another added.
