15 People Who Uncovered a Dark Family Secret

Some truths are so well hidden that not even the passage of time seems to make a dent in them. Until, suddenly, a passing comment, an old document, or an unexpected conversation opens a door you never thought existed. On the Internet, many users shared those unsettling moments when scattered pieces of the past finally fit together...And the result was far more disturbing than they would have liked. These stories show that sometimes growing up means discovering that what you took for granted was a well-told lie.

• I discovered that I had a much older half-sister. Apparently, my father got a girl pregnant in high school. Her parents didn’t like him, and they thought they were too young to raise a child, so they packed up and moved. My father knew she existed, but never tried to find her. He just moved on with his life. After I was in college, my sister contacted him, and they got together. Nobody bothered to mention this to me until I came home for Thanksgiving, and there was a strange woman sitting at the table. My dad said, “Meet your sister.” © Dervrak / Reddit
• My stepbrother didn’t tell his mom—my stepmom—that he had a daughter until the child was eight years old. © lookssharp / Reddit
• I recently learned that before my parents met, my father proposed to another woman who refused him because he was a farmer. My parents have been together since they were 19 or 20, so I would have never guessed that either of them could have had a serious relationship with someone else before meeting each other. © TacheErrante / Reddit

• “Uncle” Jim, who was a good family friend on my mom’s side and was always present at family gatherings, was actually my mom’s first husband. She had been married before my dad! © 1meow / Reddit
• My great-aunt had a child that absolutely no one in the family knew about. When she found out she was pregnant, she moved to the West Coast “for work” and stayed long enough to have the baby, recover, and give him up for adoption. Apparently, she never knew who the father was. It was the 1950s, so that was frowned upon. She stayed in touch with him throughout his life and visited as often as she could. A couple of years ago, she finally told everyone, and he has been a beloved member of the family ever since. © seraph089 / Reddit
• When I was in college and my parents got divorced, my dad gave me all the information on what to do if he passed away. He told me where things were and had me go to his bank to sign a document granting me access to his account after his death. As we were leaving the bank, he said, “Your mother is not who you think she is. Everything you need to know is in my deposit box.” I have no idea what he could have meant—he never explained, and my mom laughed it off when I told her. I guess I’ll find out one day. © root-bound / Reddit

• Growing up, I was always the kid with the strictest mom. It got worse throughout high school. Often, she would take my phone for weeks or months for the slightest perceived or real rule infraction. One time, she took my phone away for so long that she forgot where she had hidden it by the time she was supposed to give it back. Since it was an inexpensive prepaid Walmart phone, she just bought the same one again. Months later, I found the original phone. The nightly rule was that I had to give her my phone by 9 pm every night, even when I was 17.
  
  I would just swap the SIM card to the phone with the most charge and hand her the other one willingly—but not too willingly—until I moved out of the house and bought my own smartphone. About six years passed before I finally told her. Coincidentally, we were walking out of a tense family therapy meeting. I brought up my old strategy to show how her control issues only caused me to lie more. I expected her to blow up, but instead, we had a great laughing outburst that cut the tension entirely for the rest of the day. Several years later, we’re doing well. She’s relaxed a lot, and I can honestly say we have an awesome mother-daughter relationship. © regrettableredditor / Reddit
• My mother got my dad and her into six figures of credit card debt. We found out when my dad tried to co-sign my college loan. He received a call at work from a credit bureau asking why he thought he could co-sign a loan for tens of thousands of dollars when he had unpaid bills in the same amount. I will never let anyone else handle my finances. © Unknown author / Reddit
• I am 57 years old now, but when I was 17, I found a photo of myself at one year old in a playpen. Standing next to me was a little girl of about five. The photo was labeled with our names. When I asked my sister who “Marianne” was, she immediately had a pained look on her face. It turns out that Marianne was our foster sister from six weeks old until my parents sent her away when she was almost five. My siblings, who were 13, 12, 9, and 5 at the time, were told never to mention her name again. Obviously, they didn’t, because I only found out about her from the photo. My brother, who was five when she was sent away, had nightmares for years that “the lady in the big black car with the candy canes” was going to come for him next. Apparently, the social worker lured Marianne to the car with candy canes. I hope she ended up in a loving, stable home and had a great life. © pinkgrace67 / Reddit

• A strange birthday card showed up when I turned 1, signed by someone named Peter. Mom just smiled and said nothing. I never saw it again. After she died, I found it hidden in her desk. When I asked dad, he turned pale and told me that mom had an affair before I was born. It resulted in a baby. To save their marriage, they gave the child up for adoption. Peter was my half-brother.
• While cleaning out my grandmother’s house after she moved into a nursing home, I found a divorce decree and information about a first husband from the 1930s that I had never heard of before. Even if any of us had had the audacity to ask her about it, she was too far gone to be able to shed any light on it. After all, it had been nearly 70 years. I kind of wish I had kept the desk where I found the document. © W-S_Wannabe / Reddit
• My grandfather was a small business owner whom everyone thought of as extremely frugal because he grew up poor. Later, we found out that he had spent a significant amount of money on charitable causes and had helped many of his employees with financial and, in one case, legal troubles. It was a positive secret, but it was definitely a secret. © CaimansGalore / Reddit

• My dad’s birthday was October 5, not December 5 as he told everyone his whole life. That meant that Grandma was pregnant when she and Grandpa got married. This was discovered when my dad passed away. He had hidden his driver’s license and passport and “celebrated” his December birthday. Mom had already passed away, but we have to assume she knew. Oh, the scandal! © SaveFerrisBrother / Reddit
• My parents got married in high school when they were 16 and 17 years old because my mother lied to my father and said she was pregnant. They got married, divorced, got pregnant with me, got married again, and then divorced again. I didn’t find out any of this until I was an adult. © LongLiveTheRat / Reddit
• My mom cheated on my dad for years with a coworker of ours. My dad forgave her, and they’re still together. They would regularly go out together with the guy she cheated with, and after my dad found out about the affair, he would even hang out with him one-on-one. My mom and I still work with him. They don’t hang out together anymore; it’s just such a weird dynamic. At first, I think my dad had the “keep your enemies close” mentality, but then he really became friends with the guy. Even though my dad has “forgiven” my mom, he brings it up all the time and gets paranoid on nights when they work together, especially if I’m not working. It’s as if he thinks that if I’m not there, something will happen. The affair happened at least ten years ago, and I’ve worked with him for six years now. I just found out about six months ago. I was always suspicious and had overheard things from family members over the years, but my mom finally told me the truth. It’s just so weird seeing them hang out as “friends,” knowing what happened, and seeing them work together all the time. I’ve told my mom that it’s unhealthy for her to be so close with him, and that it causes unnecessary problems, but it’s not my relationship. © Unknown author / Reddit

Discovering a truth late in life can hurt more than ignoring it forever. But it can also be the first step to truly understanding who we are. If you were left wanting to continue reading confessions as shocking as these, don’t miss this other selection that compiles secrets that should never have come to light.