What does it mean when someone says you were smothered?

In relationships, it means the couple were too close for comfort. It means too close for too long; no freedom and "possessive" types, the type that clings.

If one partner won't let the other out of his or her sight, that can be close and good: it depends on the attitude.

A nice balance in a relationship is a lovely thing.

To me the meaning of smothered means you are too close. I had a boyfriend once who flew into a jealous rage, so angry, because I wanted to visit a working lady friend who had had a baby, and I was invited to her place, on my own, to give her baby a present. That's possessive, and he was violent too, his tone of voice was threatening: NO, he growled when I told him where I was going and why. He was not smothering myself with love, he was smothering the love I gave, smothering it with hatred. I left him awhile later, and had to travel and be very quiet about where I was going, as he followed myself around a lot, to make certain no other man was in my life. When a partner says: "you are smothering myself", it's the problem of clinging so closely it's like suffocating, or put another way: "I need more space or room in my life".