15 People Who Found Out Their Family Was Hiding Something From Them

Most families likely have their own long-held secrets, spanning decades or even centuries. However, eventually, all hidden truths tend to come to light. Today, the growing interest in tracing family histories and the occasional stroke of luck can accelerate this unveiling process. The people in our compilation have discovered fascinating stories that have greatly changed how they see the world.

• “When I was 5 years old, Santa Claus left a Nintendo on our front porch. It was wrapped in newspaper, and my parents had no idea who gifted it to us. My dad, particularly, tried to figure it out. He was always suspicious that it had been a family friend. It was by far the best gift of the year, and we played it all the time throughout our childhood.
  My dad died in 2004. Last Christmas, my mom explained that she was the one who had bought it and surreptitiously placed it on the porch. My dad really liked to be in control of things and had forbidden the purchase. She knew better. She didn’t tell a soul for 30 years.” © Madame_F / Reddit

• “I started having problems with my teeth. Spontaneous abscess that resulted in multiple root canals. My dentist looked into what the cause might be and found some really odd abnormalities with my incisor roots and nerves, so he sent out requests for help to a couple of professors he knew in the field. When my next appointment came up, he was really quiet for a bit before verbally stumbling about.
  It turns out that what was happening with my teeth was a classic sign of inbreeding. Not very far back in the family tree, several of my relatives decided that it was a good idea to get married to one another, and no one bothered to mention it, ever! The small town where I live is 85% my relatives.” © Unknown User / Reddit

• “My aunt wasn’t my grandfather’s child. He met my granny when my aunt was a very sick infant, she had polio and wasn’t expected to survive. My grandad married my granny so she could get on his insurance and move to an area with proper medical support.
  Although my aunt had to be in leg braces for most of her childhood, she had a great (although not long enough) life. My grandad loved her like she was his own, and I never knew until she went to her bio dad’s funeral when I was a teenager.” © knittybitty123 / Reddit

• “After my grandfather passed, we found out he had fathered a child when he lived in Italy. He never knew. His mother intercepted any letters from the Italian girl. He came home, met and married my grandmother and had 4 children.
  I forgot who in the family found out and how. It’s crazy to think we have a whole Italian family out there!” © SquirrelsandCrayons / Reddit

• “We all knew this one uncle had a second family. We expected drama at the funeral. No one was expecting his third family to show up. Wife. Three kids. This new family knew the rest of the family by name from pictures. How we are all related, names, hobbies. That was a wildly bizarre experience.” © z-adventure / Reddit

• “My dad always thought his father who raised him wasn’t his biological dad, and the father thought the same. He was treated terribly by his father because he was told he couldn’t have children. So, everyone assumed my grandmother had an affair and got pregnant with my dad.
  It was to the point that after my grandmother died, my grandfather failed to even mention to his new wife that he had a son and grandchild (me). Years later, my dad got an AncestryDNA test for him and me. He found out that his dad was actually his biological dad. It was shocking and sad.” © OwnBackground6676 / Reddit

• “Due to 23&Me, my dad learned that his recently deceased father was not his biological father. It wasn’t a situation related to my grandma cheating either, it was a sperm donation. So, they knew this was the case his entire life. Pretty crazy they never told him, his parents did not pass until he was 65 years old.” © usereddit / Reddit

• “My husband died a few years ago. He had terminal cancer. I found several letters he had scattered around our home, written to me in advance. Then I noticed that some were marked with “Open when you can’t stop crying,” “Open when the holidays are too rough,” and “Open when you have to put one of the cats to sleep.” They didn’t contain any secrets, but they were heartbreakingly beautiful. © miss_trixie / Reddit

• “We have English heritage on my father’s side. His aunt delved into the family tree, thinking we must surely have royal blood. Wrong! She found out that our ancestors were pirates. Much more interesting to my way of thinking.” © Julie-Andrews / Reddit

• “I went to clean out my great-uncle’s apartment after he passed away. He was never married, had no kids, and lived very poor in a tiny apartment. As we stripped the bed and moved the mattress, we were shocked. He had hundreds of stacks of 10-dollar bills wrapped in rubber bands under his mattress. They were all 10-dollar bills. He lived during the Depression and didn’t trust banks, apparently, but we had no idea he had so much cash.” © Sostupid246 / Reddit

• “When I was a kid, I knew my grandfather was odd. He’d call me his grandson even when I was wearing a dress and female, but my parents would tell me to ignore it.
  Then I discovered that when my dad was a kid, Grandpa sold my dad’s sister, Barbara, to someone and kept my dad and his brother because he didn’t want a girl in the family. My dad found his sister Barbara when I was in middle school via calling around to get records; they were reunited; she’s my favorite aunt now. No one liked Grandpa.” © Halleaon / Reddit

• “My parents always told us they got married in 1961, but it was 1962, 3 months before my sister was born. What’s amusing is that my father was an accountant who was insanely fast with math. He’d be off by one whenever asked how long they’d been married. My mother would correct him through clenched teeth, and then my father would nod and agree.” © dramboxf / Reddit

• “I discovered that my mom and older brother are not biologically related to me. My biological mom died sometime after I was born, leaving me, my sister, and my dad behind.
  My brother was the one who told me. My parents never told me because they wanted to protect me from the truth, but my brother thought I should know. I don’t know if my parents know that I know the truth, but I don’t want to bring it up either.” © tsGoT1me / Reddit

• “My mother got pregnant by my father before they were married. Scandalous in 1960. So, with my father’s knowledge of the situation, mom left town and lived with my aunt until the birth. Mom gave the baby up for adoption and then returned home. A few years later, she married my dad and had three more children, including me.
  Fifty-five years later, after both my parents had died, my aunt let it slip that my siblings and I were not the only children of our parents. My sister took a DNA test, and a couple of years later, she got a hit. Soon after, we met our new big brother and his family (wife, kids) and have become quite close.” © Freeagnt / Reddit

• “My father died when I was 17. At the funeral home, during a viewing, a young lady and her boyfriend showed up, she was probably two or three years older than me. Nobody recognized her, so she was asked why she was there, she stated she was there to see her father. My siblings and I are naturally confused, our mom is just standing there shaking her head, my uncles ask her to leave, she leaves crying in her boyfriend’s arms.
  Our mother takes us to a private area and explains our father had an affair years ago, and that was our step-sister. I never heard more about her, learned her name, or met her. I want to meet her and apologize to my family. Seeing her rejected and crying because she couldn’t even attend a viewing for her dead father bothers me to this day, and this was over 40 years ago.” © DougJHFTB / Reddit

Close family members sometimes withhold information from each other, occasionally for what they believe is the greater good, yet at times, this can result in uncomfortable situations and challenging conversations. For instance, there was a case where a man chose not to join a family trip and switched his travel ticket to visit a different destination.