Dear Prudence,
My cousin, “Gina”, recently broke a seven-year estrangement to publicly blast our family on social media over the many years of “abuse” that happened to her. She accused our dead grandfather of sexually abusing her. It was the worst of the accusations, but it wasn’t the last. I am a year younger, than her but we were in the same year. We really didn’t get along and mostly avoided each other as far as I can remember. Gina painted me as her personal tormenter and said that I went out of the way to make her life a personal hell—like I stole her clothes while we were at the lake and left her there stranded alone. None of that ever happened. I never even went swimming at the lake because I had a major water phobia. Gina started to make very bizarre and weird decisions in her twenties before she started to cut people off. I always assumed drugs. A lot of our former classmates have reached out to me asking what is going on. I find myself unable to articulate what is going on with Gina. What do I say if anything?
—About Gina