12 People Who Discovered Dark Truths About Their Friends

It’s not easy to discover that someone we thought was our friend has a dark side that we haven’t been aware of. It looks like you can’t really know someone even if you’ve been friends with that person for a very long time. In the following stories, some shocking truths have come to light and rocked long-term friendships.

• “One of the funniest, most enjoyable guys to be around in high school had a paraplegic brother who was slowly dying throughout our time together. Only found out after we graduated and lost contact that he even had a brother and that he had died a few nights before prom. Really put a different perspective on all the memories we had together and the fun times we had, all the while he was quietly dealing with this by himself. Really hit me hard when I found out.” HangoutWanderer / Reddit
• “Whew! Found out my friend was a manipulator of the highest degree. No longer speaking. He was like a brother to me.” No_Goose_7390 / Reddit
• “I recently found out that one of my good friends is really rich. Like, comes from old money rich. She has the biggest heart and is incredibly sweet and down-to-earth, so I would have never known. It wasn’t until she got married that I started to piece it together.
  ‘Where are you having your bachelorette party?’ ‘Oh, my family has a condo in Florida that we’ve had since before I was born. We’re just gonna chill there for a week.’
  ‘Where is the wedding?’ ‘Oh, my dad is part of a club, so we’re just going to have it there.’ Looks up the club and sees that there is a dress code just to walk into the building, and it costs a couple hundred dollars a month to be a part of it.
  In hindsight, when she got her master’s in education from an expensive university, I should have gotten the hint, lol. But I mean it when I say she’s a really phenomenal person. One of the biggest hearts you’ll ever know.” Actrivia24 / Reddit

• “My multi-year fling and I had many deep conversations, and I thought I knew her pretty well. So when I found out she was married and from a neighboring state, I was surprised.” upornicorn / Reddit
• “I found out my friend never really liked me. She would laugh with others about whatever I would tell her in confidence. We had our first babies only a few months apart. Broke my heart more than any man could.” Ok_Priority_1120 / Reddit
• A friend was moving and asked me to adopt his cat. I agreed, and the cat became part of my family. One year later, he called saying, “My new girlfriend loves cats, so I’ll stop by to pick up mine.” I refused, and he screamed, “You’ll regret this!”
  That night, he rang my doorbell. I opened the door, and suddenly, the cat bolted straight toward him. My heart sank. But to my surprise, he didn’t stop at his former owner’s feet. Instead, he leaped up and latched onto his leg, hissing and scratching like his life depended on it.
  My friend yelped, trying to shake him off, but the cat wasn’t going anywhere. The whole thing was so unexpected that I started laughing, which only made my friend even angrier. “Looks like he’s made his choice,” I said, crossing my arms.
  He glared at me. “This is ridiculous! That cat is mine!” But before he could do anything else, a very tall and intimidating neighbor walked over, drawn by the commotion. My ex-friend hesitated, realizing he had no power over the situation anymore.
  With no other option, he muttered something under his breath and stormed off without looking back. I shut the door and let out a deep breath. The cat, acting like nothing had happened, hopped onto the couch and started grooming himself, victorious.

• “A very dear friend gave her son up for adoption. I had no idea until her sister blabbed it to me. I was very angry at the sister for spilling the secret that wasn’t hers to tell. I acted so cool, though.
  I just did NOT acknowledge that I heard what she said, and never once brought it up. After about 5 years, my friend told me about the adoption. I acted like it was the first I’d heard of it.” amboomernotkaren / Reddit
• “A good friend of mine that I’d known for over 20 years died in 2021. I noticed a bunch of children at the funeral that I didn’t know. I asked who they were, and I was told that they were his children. He told me he had no kids, but actually he had 10. 10 kids!” CascadeJ1980 / Reddit
• “My friend was a catfish. This was back in the early days of the Internet. Bonded with someone on social media and introduced her to a few of my real-life friends. We had a very tight-knit group of folks. We sent presents in the mail and talked on the phone for a few years.
  One day, one of these very close friends just... deleted everything. We were worried and kept calling on the phone. Eventually, it came out that the person we’d come to call a friend wasn’t quite real. The person was real enough, but was a very casual Internet user.
  Her roomie decided to take over and roleplay her life online because... Roomie’s life was boring? Roomie had issues? Who knows. Roomie had made friends with all of us, but eventually felt some ’guilt’ over it. Coincidentally, this was also the time when Roomie was busted for stealing the friend’s credit cards.” SilentSeren1ty / Reddit

• “It happened a couple of weeks ago, but I learned from my wife (also my best friend) that she hated my marriage proposal. The only good thing she had to say about it was that at least I didn’t embarrass her publicly by doing it at a restaurant. She also felt like my real marriage proposal was the moment I suggested we go ring shopping after she was mad at me (I had no recollection of that particular moment).” Iron_Wave / Reddit
• “My childhood friend was emotionally toxic. It was how her family treated her (whom she’s still enmeshed with), and I knew all the details because she confided in me, and I always gave her advice on how to deal with them.
  Then I moved in with her, and the way she treated me changed within several months. It was like once she ‘got me’ and knew I wasn’t going anywhere, I didn’t matter anymore. She was like a different person.
  Once she was a kind, generous, and thoughtful friend, she then refused to inconvenience herself for me despite all the help and favors I still did for her. Until she took it too far, and then suddenly it was like a switch flipped, and she was her old kindhearted self again. Then, several months later, the cycle repeated, and I saw it for what it was.
  When confronted, she told me that because her family treated her that way, it was only fair for her to treat me the same way. I got out, and we haven’t spoken in a long time.” DeModeKS / Reddit
• “My friend used people, specifically men she was dating. She was perfectly fine accepting attention, dates, and special treatment even if she had no romantic feelings for the person. She wouldn’t push the issue on the title talk until someone else brought it up, at which point she’d move onto someone else. I can’t look at her the same anymore.” gside876 / Reddit

Secrets can remain hidden for decades, even in a close family, causing a huge shock for anyone who discovers them. Just like it happened with people in our collection of 15 People Who Discovered a Dark Family Secret.