'No woman with sense would want you': Mom calls out her husband's best friend after he joked about possibly being the father of their 2-year-old son, husband tells her she went too far

Author image for Emmy Pratt
Emmy Pratt • Writer and Editor
Mar 17, 2025 6:00 PM EDT

You don't have to be humorless to not enjoy every joke you hear. We've all been in a situation where you make a joke that was meant to be harmless but unintentionally hurt someone's feelings. There's always some risk involved with telling a scandalous joke when it involves people you don't know that well. With your close friends and family, it's far easier to gauge whether a joke will cross the line or hit too close to their insecurities. Likewise, it's much easier to forgive a friend for an off-color joke when you know their intentions were pure compared to a stranger, whose bad joke can much more easily feel like an unfounded personal attack.

When you get offended by a joke, there are a couple of options. If that offense is particularly strong, you might want to fire back at the offender, letting them know you won't take it sitting down. 

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  • The mom in this story was one of those people. Instead of letting her husband's immature best friend get away with jokingly insinuating that he might be the father of her son, she took him down a peg. While her husband thought it was too harsh, she felt it was appropriate, given the provocation.

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    Cheezburger Image 10481406464
    via Zahra Omer (Unsplash+)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 02

    AITA for calling out my husband's friend after he made inappropriate comments about my son's paternity?

    I (23 F) have been married to my husband, Alex (27 M), for 2 years, and we have a 10 month old son, Dylan.
    via u/Bellanella10
  • 03
    Alex has a friend named Mike (27 M). They've been best friends since high school. From my first encounter, I did not like Mike. He is really childish, likes to be the center of attention, and has a crude sense of humor. It's like he never got out of his frat boy phase. All of my husband's
    via u/Bellanella10
  • 04
    friends are married or in long- term relationships, whereas Mike has never been in a long-term relationship or has brought any woman around. He has also made some weird comments toward me that made me uncomfortable. My husband has a deep bond with
    via u/Bellanella10
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    Mike, and they often go on hunting trips or have boys' nights. I've never tried to keep my husband from hanging out with his friend, but I have limited my contact with Mike as much as possible since we've been together.
    via u/Bellanella10
  • 06
    Mike came over to pick up my husband to go golfing. I was holding our baby when I answered the door. Mike greeted us at the door, asked to hold my baby, and was cooing at him. Then he said, "Hey there, man... come to poppa," and my husband and Mike started laughing. A bit of background: I have brown hair
    via u/Bellanella10
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    Mahd
    via Soroush Karimi

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

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    and blue eyes, and my husband has black hair and brown eyes. Our son's hair is coming in blonde, and he has blue eyes. Mike has blondish hair and blue eyes. I was a bit caught off guard by it but ignored his comment. Mike then said, "He looks like me.
    via u/Bellanella10
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    Cheezburger Image 10481410048
    via Andrej Lišakov (Unsplash+)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

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    Maybe he's mine," and my husband and Mike continued to laugh. I was obviously not amused. I told Mike to hand me my son and then told him, "Not in a million years, and no woman with sense would want you." Neither my husband nor Mike laughed at my comment, and Mike just made a face before he and my husband left.
    via u/Bellanella10
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    Later, my husband told me I "took it too far" with Mike, that Mike was just joking, but I made it. personal. I told him those comments were disrespectful to me as his wife and the mother of this child. He then said it's obviously not true, so why am I so upset when I know how Mike is.
    via u/Bellanella10
  • 12
    CeramicSavage Ask your husband why Mike's comfort is more important than yours? Nta
    via u/CeramicSavage
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    Bellanella10 OP Thank you! Like why is Mike's feelings the only one that matters here
    via u/Bellanella10
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    erinburrell • 2d ago • Edited 22h ago And why Mike was just making a joke and you were attacking? Mike says: maybe we screwed. You say: not on your life Neither sound like jokes to me but Mike does seem like a frat guy with no future
    via u/erinburrell
  • 15
    ilovemelongtime "That's how he is" "WELL, THIS is how I AM" Pick one
    via u/ilovemelongtime
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    Tall_Confection_960 It sounds like you have a husband problem. Obviously, Mike complained about his hurt feelings when they left. This should have been the time when your husband told Mike he took it too far. No wonder Mike's single. NTA.
    via u/Tall_Confection_960
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    Cautious-Paint9881 Um, no. He should have told Mike right after he said, "Maybe he's mine". Not after they left.
    via u/Cautious-Paint9881
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    Sablebendtrail So if Mike cried to your husband that his fee fees were hurt by your comeback and it was interpreted as you going too far by your husband, ask hubby if he kissed Mike's boo boo. It is clear he is bonded a little too deep with child-Mike for a grown man with a wife and child. Clearly your husband enjoys the boundary pushing entertainment Mike provides. Maybe it is time for couples therapy.
    via u/Sablebendtrail
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    AdAdorable1743 Maybe it is time for couples therapy. Yeah...between Alex and Mike
    via u/AdAdorable1743
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    Pure-Equivalent2561 You did the right thing. Nobody should insinuate you anyone besides your husband. Your husband should be offended too
    via u/Pure-Equivalent2561
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    Bellanella10 OP Thank you! Also, my husband is being a hypocrite here. If I made a joke about our baby being for someone else, he would be livid. It's okay for Mike to do it though
    via u/Bellanella10
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    Shaking-Cliches You should start. "Oh look at the baby! He looks like the mailman. Hahahahaha" Edit: actually, be specific. "Omg that facial expression looks just like Justin at work."
    via u/Shaking-Cliches
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    Potatoesop Also the fact that your kid is only 10 months....most white kids have blonde hair blue eyes for quite a while, heck my nephew who has 2 brown hair brown eyed parents was born with blonde hair and blue eyes...even now at 2 years old he still has blonde hair and his eyes were blue until a few months before his 2nd birthday.
    via u/Potatoesop
  • 24
    NTA, though your husband and Mike still are...l would suggest having a DEEP discussion with your husband about Mike's jokes. How you have NEVER really liked Mike and the joking insinuation that you slept with him is something you find offensive and disgusting. Also bring up the points I made in the first section. If Mike makes that joke again respond with "that would imply I was not only willing to cheat on husband, but I was also willing to sleep with you"
    via u/Potatoesop
  • 25
    Rough-House3029 Maybe I'm out of my mind here, but here's how I would read it. Mike's joke was humorous, because they all know it's the furthest thing from the truth. They think she's so faithful, and would never sleep with Mike, so it's safe to joke about. The wife's joke rang way too true, and hit too close to home.
    via u/Rough-House3029
  • 26
    So when the husband says her joke went too far and Mike's didn't, it's because he sees her as faithful, and Mike as unlovable to women. It's like the fat joke rule. Never make one to someone who's actually fat.
    via u/Rough-House3029
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    Mhunterjr If I had to guess it's because the husband and Mike tell these kinds of jokes all the time. Just typically without SOs around. This is a standard "locker room" joke, that friends don't necessarily take offense to because it's so outlandish and obviously not remotely true. But Mike and OP aren't friends...
    via u/Mhunterjr
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    jmking 2d ago • Edited 1d ago Part ipant [1] ΝΤΑ Top 1% Commenter It was a harmless joke. Obviously a joke. ...but a joke intended to make your husband laugh as if you weren't even there. In fact, the joke doesn't even make sense if you are there because the implication is that he's been sleeping with you behind your husband's back.
    via u/jmking
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    The only way it would work is if the three of you were close enough such that you'd play along (like: "oh no, well, sorry hubby, the truth had to come out sooner or later" while you put your arm around Mike). But the fact they both laughed, and because you don't have that familiarity, it was hurtful that your husband chose to laugh (somewhat at your expense) as if you weren't even there or only considered what the joke implies about him and not what it implies to you.
    via u/jmking
  • 30
    This is the kind of joke you make between friends you know it'll land with, and you are NOT one of those people. Your husband's closeness to him does not automatically transitively pass to you because you're his wife. Nor should you feel pressured into being comfortable with that level of familiarity being forced on you.
    via u/jmking
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    It wasn't necessarily the joke itself that got you so upset. It was the fact he thought he could tell that joke without thinking of you at all, the forced familiarity from both of them, and the way they talked as if you weren't even there and don't see anything wrong with any of it.
    via u/jmking
  • 32
    mimimidu Couldn't have said it better myself. Should be the top comment. I've definitely had those types of jokes. In my case coming from friends I was previously close to but we've grown apart. When we were close I would have found the joke funny but when we've grown apart it was no longer acceptable.
    via u/mimimidu

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friendship family drama best friends jokes joking toddler paternity friends wife best friend married life relationships husband dad family mom married
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