Your siblings have seen every version of you, backstage and unfiltered. That’s why their opinion stings.

A sibling holds the longest unedited footage of anyone in your life. They were there for the phases you would rather not revisit, so their comment reaches a nerve a stranger cannot find, and the accuracy is exactly what makes it sting. Most of the time that is closeness rather than cruelty.

When one of them gets under your skin, separate the true part from the out of date part before you reply. They may be describing someone you already stopped being. Say that plainly, and keep whatever was fair.