Hi FY, I got the EXACT same words...I had to say she was pretty, smart, whatever because I was her husband. It got so bad that the only reason I wanted to have sex with her was because I was married to her so therefor the only person "available"! But the smallest compliment from someone she hardly knew and she would be on cloud 9. She was always talking about how she was so shy all her life but "forced" herself to be social. She was proud of that, she still is and wears it like a badge.
If you knew how her father cuts her down, says the most awful things about her in front of her it's clear why she has always felt this way. When I would point out what he was doing she would DEFEND him, saying he was just being "funny". Even the kids when they were young saw what he was doing, controlling her, cutting her down to control her. She started her MLC when he asked her to let him in her life to "make up" for all the hurt. But he only would if she would leave me and her family (like he had done). It started her depression and when he became ill she saw it as time running out and made the choice to do what she needed to get his love and acceptance. Of course she was into her own MLC by then.
Some day she may understand all of this, maybe she never will be able to face the truth. Her hurts are old and VERY deep. For now she see's an escape from the pain and can't stop to care about anyone else, not even her own kids. The pain is just too much to take and she's hoping to end it. Only time will tell if she can ever face the truth.
