Narcissist Abuse - To hide or share?

Dear All,

I have suffered all my life from narcissistic abuse by my mother and enabling father. I am the scapegoat of the family and they have ostracised me these past few years. I feel so alone and painfully rejected. There are only a few people I trust and have discussed this with and my question is - do I confidently tell people I no longer have contact with my family? I feel a sense of shame and embarrassment that I have a dysfunctional family, but also have this bizarre sense of respect and loyalty to them. I feel like I am starting to be more of my authentic self, I do not want to live a lie, so why am I continuing their legacy of fear and manipulation? Should we hide our parents narcissistics behaviour or expose them to the real world? Any advice much appreciated.

I'm sorry this happened to you.
I have a similar story. I have limited contact with my dad. My mom died when I was 12. They are (were) both alcoholics. My dad has narcissistic traits.

Recently a coworker asked about my dad and what I was doing for fathers day for him. I told her probably nothing. She asked why. I BRIEFLY explained. She replied with " You only have one dad, you should make up with him!"

This through me into an emotional flashback. I wanted to scream!

But I did not.

I had to realize that people who have not lived through what we have are just not going to get it.

If I were you I would not tell people that you are no longer in contact. Maybe something like "We don't get together much."

I'm still fumbling around with this myself, but I have found this response effective enough. Maybe once I get stronger I more accurate response could be told.

Best wishes.