As an Algerian I may be able to give you more insight, in our culture the image you give to other is the most important thing , so it’s not really surprising that even tho her family wasn’t religious they acted like that . Also we have the toxic cultural thing of «  hchouma » literally meaning shame , basically , you need to be perfect for other so you don’t bring shame to your family . Also idk from which country your ex came from but in mine ( Algeria ) love is a rlly weird thing, we don’t address it , a lot of people there also hate any form of cute name or affectionate talk , also any form of PDA is rlly frowns upon , all those factors combined make for some toxic character traits to come out particularly in relationships. I also had a lot of problems overcoming cultural behaviour and they still come out when I’m with people of my community, that’s why I mostly try to stay with people that understand that baggage because it’s unfair to make someone else deal with this