When the Hand That Held You Turns The Knife

Inspired by Unknown Number: The High School Catfish

I watched Unknown Number on Hulu expecting a typical true crime unraveling. What I didn’t expect was to feel gutted.

A mother. Her own daughter. A year-long campaign of anonymous harassment. And the twist? The stalker wasn’t a stranger. It was the girl’s mom.

I sat there stunned. Not just by the cruelty—but by the familiarity. Because the deepest betrayals don’t come from enemies. They come from the people we love. The ones who were supposed to protect us. The ones who taught us what love was supposed to feel like—and then weaponized it.

 The Trauma of Parental Betrayal

When a parent betrays you, it doesn’t just hurt. It rewires you.

• You learn to doubt your instincts.

• You normalize emotional chaos.

• You carry the wound into every relationship that follows.

We don’t just grieve the betrayal—we grieve the version of love we were taught to accept. And that grief shows up later as over-explaining, people-pleasing, mistrust, and fear of abandonment. We think we’re reacting to a partner—but really, we’re reacting to a parent.

 Why We Stay Stuck

We cling to the story because it’s complicated.

“They did their best.” “They had a hard life.” “I love them.”

And all of that might be true. But so is this:

“They hurt me.” “They taught me to shrink.” “They made me question my worth.”

The hardest part of abuse is that it often comes from someone you loved. Someone you still love. And healing doesn’t mean choosing between love and truth. It means anchoring in both.

 Anchor in Truth

To heal, you don’t need to hate them. You don’t need to erase the good. But you do need to stop gaslighting yourself.

• Name the harm: Say it. Write it. Let it be real.

• Feel the grief: Not just for what happened—but for what never did.

• Break the cycle: You are allowed to want more. To expect more. To choose differently.

• Build new roots: Therapy. Boundaries. Self-parenting. Safe relationships.

 You Are Not Their Legacy

You are not their shame. You are not their silence. You are not their story.

You are your own beginning.

“Healing from parental betrayal means learning to love yourself louder than the lies you were taught. It means anchoring in truth—even when that truth hurts. Because only then can you rise.”