I’m meeting my gf’s parents for the first time and my gf is usually the sweetest and most patient person. She has warned me about her dad in the past but does not get into a lot of details. She says that he is a cruel person and that she does not trust him and has only agreed to see him for the holidays so she can see her mom. She said if anything happens and he says something messed up to me, she will defend me.
We are in an interracial relationship and I am black so I just assumed this was going to be the thing that came up.
I was really surprised that her dad was really kind to me and introduced himself to me immediately and was talking about how excited he is to meet me finally.
Throughout our short trip to see her family, she has been pretty cold to her father and not hugging him when we first got here and only hugging her mom.
Sometimes when we have conversation, her dad does kind of dominate the convo or talk about stuff at length unasked but in the old person way. My gf gets short with him each time and says “You interrupted my mom.” or “You cut me off.”
I noticed her dad was trying to talk about a convo he had with his friend and was like “Oh, we discuss the MOST interesting topics when we are together” and my gf says “If you insist that what you’re saying is so interesting, it is probably not that remarkable at all.”
I notice that each time he comes around and when he approaches her mom, my gf seems to stand inbetween them like shes protecting her. My gf also does not let her dad touch her at all and will move away if he tries to touch her shoulder or hug her
I was kind of struck by her behavior as her dad has been nothing but kind to me and doesnt seem to elicit as strong of a response from her mom. Her mom kind of talks about her mild annoyances w her dad but nothing crazy. My gf also does not elaborate what she means by her dad being a cruel man.
I want to support my gf 100% but I an just confused. I assume something bad happened in her childhood but I dont know if I should stay out of it as much as possible or not and need advice.
TL;DR: My gf is hostile towards her father who has been kind to me and I feel awkward