Is backbiting relatives, children, and one's spouse more severe than backbiting others, or is it equal in ruling?

Backbiting is forbidden, and it is more severely forbidden when it concerns close relatives such as spouses, children, and neighbors, because they have greater rights. Sheikh Ibn Uthaymeen clarified that the sin intensifies the greater the right the person being backbitten has over you, such as parents, relatives, and neighbors.