Mouse Figurine In Laws Story — Screenshot of the opening of the r/relationships in-laws mouse figurine post

Mouse Figurine In Laws Story

2019copypastaclassic

Published August 11, 2026

Mouse Figurine In Laws Story is a viral 2019 Reddit relationship post in which a pregnant woman described her in-laws treating a papier-mache mouse named Timothy as their grandchild. After being screenshotted to Twitter, the story went viral for its absurdity and horror.

relationship memes subreddit origin memes copypasta memes absurdist humor memes cringe memes

Overview

Mouse Figurine In Laws Story is a viral first-person Reddit post from July 2019 in which an anonymous 34-year-old woman described her husband's parents' fixation on a collection of mouse plushies and figurines, one of which they insisted was their grandson1. The in-laws each voiced individual mice in squeaky voices, gave them backstories, and expected family members to answer the toys directly rather than the person holding them1.

The story hit its breaking point when the pregnant poster was told she would soon be giving her in-laws "two grandchildren," the second being a giant papier-mache mouse named Timothy1. Screenshots of the deleted post went viral on Twitter, where reactions ranged from horror to jokes about the only reasonable solution being to "kill Timothy"23.

Origin & Background

Platform
Reddit /r/AmITheAsshole (source), Twitter (viral spread)
Creator
Reddit user Ihaveamouseproblem
Date
2019

On July 9th, 2019, Reddit user Ihaveamouseproblem posted the original story to /r/AmITheAsshole asking whether she was wrong for refusing to talk to her in-laws through their stuffed mice2. When most commenters told her she was not the asshole, she reposted a longer version to /r/relationships under the milder title "I'm pregnant and struggling with my husband's lack of support regarding my in-laws' behavior"1.

Both posts were eventually deleted, but not before screenshots were captured. The poster wrote that her father-in-law would wiggle a mouse plushie in her face saying "My tummy hurts, I am hungry!" and expected her to feed the toy rather than him1. She said her husband of ten years defended his parents by claiming "lots of people's stuffed animals talk"1.

How It Spread

On July 10th, 2019, Twitter user @JakeMHS posted screenshots of the /r/relationships version, and the tweet racked up more than 5,200 retweets and 17,000 likes32. The account @_ElizabethMay reacted that she could not understand why "this lady is posting on an internet forum and not fucking running," pulling roughly 40 retweets and 440 likes2.

Author @UrsulaV posted the widely quoted verdict "I don't even care if this is fake because it is a terrifying work of genius," which became one of the defining reactions to the thread2. A running joke that the poster should simply "kill Timothy" took off through tweets from @rebeccarmix and @TheAmitie, gaining 280 and 150 likes respectively2.

The Daily Dot ran a full write-up of the saga on July 10th, quoting the plushie dialogue and highlighting the husband's refusal to intervene1. Coverage on Lipstick Alley followed, and the story kept a long tail as a go-to reference whenever new in-law horror posts surface on Reddit2.

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How to Use This Meme

The story is commonly referenced as shorthand for extreme in-law weirdness or for any family that assigns personhood to inanimate objects. Timothy the papier-mache mouse is often invoked by name in reply threads whenever someone posts a new relationship horror story, typically alongside the joke suggestion to "kill Timothy"2.

Frequently Asked Questions