'Invisible daughter' steps out of mum's abuse and mistreatment: 'I was never enough'

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Once silent and invisible, a woman is now reclaiming her power and speaking out against her mother's neglect and abuse.

Stomper Lim, 31, said she is sharing her story to "just vent my anger".

Now a mother to a four-year-old child, she has an older brother who she is not close to, while her father has never been in the picture.

Lim said: "I grew up in a house where I was invisible.

"My mother was more attached to Korean dramas and mahjong than she ever was to me. Even before exams, she would ignore me, eyes glued to the TV. She never once helped me with school, never asked how I was, and never cared to understand what I was going through.

"When I hit secondary school, she chose to believe rumours that I was sleeping around - without asking, without hesitation. Her judgement hurt more than the lie itself.

"She favoured my younger brother and made it clear I was never enough.

"When I got married and had my child, I hoped for change. But she disrespected my grandmother, fought with her, and later slapped me in front of everyone at my aunt's funeral. I was humiliated by the woman who was supposed to protect me.

"She only visited me because her sister begged her to. After my aunt passed, so did her visits.

"When my newborn had a high fever, she told me coldly to ask my in-laws for help, then mocked them for being poor. She even gave my baby raw food and once left her alone in the centre of a bed to go eat downstairs. I'll never forget the fear or the anger that followed.

"When I set boundaries to protect my daughter, she turned against me - speaking badly behind my back because I refused to let her near the child she endangered.

"No matter how much I needed her, she treated me like a stranger.

"But I'm no longer silent. I'm not invisible. I'm a mother now too - and I've made a promise to be everything she wasn't."

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