15 Times Family Secrets Made People Rethink Their Lives

Some families out there have secrets that span decades or even entire generations. But secrets often have a way of getting exposed. It could be through a silly DNA test, some tragic last words, or even a twist of fate.

• My mother is kid #7 of 10. My aunt (kid #4) who was born in 1945 did her DNA and found out that she has a different father from everyone else. She was devastated. There was always rumor that there was an affair, but nobody talked about it. © I_see_fa*** / Reddit

• My mother’s dad was a door-to-door salesman for a long time. And by door-to-door, I mean he would sell in different states and all sorts of stuff. Now that both he and my grandma (his ex-wife) have passed, we get calls about once or twice a year about my mom having half-siblings from all over. It seems my grandpa has about 12 kids so far, not including my mother, her brother, and the three kids from his second family. So, I guess that brings the total to 17 now. © Unknown author / Reddit

• When I was 5 years old (1988), 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 passed away in 2004. Last Christmas, my mom explained that she was the one who had bought it and surreptitiously placed it on the porch. © Madame_F / Reddit

• My dad passed away a couple of years back, and we just recently sold his house. While going through stuff in the basement, we found a big box of pictures from when he was in Thailand in the 60s. We found multiple pictures of him and a Thai woman... and a baby. And when I say multiple, I mean a lot.
  He was there for four years, so who knows, I might have a Thai half-sibling. I’ll probably never know for sure. © jsigs97 / Reddit

• About a month ago, my mother-in-law’s 88-year-old sister revealed on her deathbed that her husband’s best friend was actually the father of all 4 of her children. © roo1ster / Reddit

• We had a little party at my girlfriend’s house in high school. This older kid I knew blurted out that his brother was coming over with my sister. I was confused.
  Turns out my dad got a lady pregnant when he was young, and she chose to stay with her boyfriend and raise the child together since my dad was too young to even work at the time. A lot of people knew about it, but it was kept secret from me for some reason. © aquaticsardonic / Reddit

• My father passed away when I was 11. My mother wasn’t his first wife, but she had suspicions about other families. When she went to collect the inheritance, it turned out he had four more wives, and I had seven more siblings. © JouleCU / Reddit

• My parents told me that I wasn’t their child. I was found at the back door of their house. They tried to find out if anyone was missing a child, and because no one was ever located, they adopted me.
  As I grew older, I realized I wasn’t like most of the other kids. To this day, I’ve never met or been able to locate my true parents. © Away-Cycle / Reddit

• My grandmother recently passed away. She was famous in our town for her amazing cooking/catering, in particular her turkey dinners. Notably, her gravy was absolutely amazing. So delicious. She had a heart attack several years ago and her near-death experience convinced her to share some of her secret recipes with me, all except for her gravy recipe. When she passed this spring, I was going through her pantry and found an entire bucket of KFC gravy mix. She was literally using KFC gravy mix as a base to make her incredible gravy. © beauban*** / Reddit
  

• My grandma separated from my grandpa and had a baby with another man. She gave the baby to her sister to raise and then got back together with my grandpa. She never told him, and eventually had three kids with him.
  After he died, she told my mom and my aunt, and they were shocked to find out the cousin they grew up with was actually their brother. My uncle recently found out and stopped talking to my grandma afterward. © coolkidriver / Reddit

• My dad was a cross-dresser (not sure if he was a performer or something else because we found his stuff after he passed away), yet he never showed me, his daughter, how to put on makeup.
  © Skittymon-808 / Reddit

• In the early 80s, my uncle spent a lot of time and money training to become a commercial pilot.
  My grandparents (his parents) secretly tore up all his application responses and documents and had the family doctor red-flag him to airlines as having “bad nerves.”
  They sabotaged his career, fearing he’d die in a plane crash. He was an air steward until retirement. © aresbeast / Reddit
  

• I was 35 when my mother finally admitted to me that she’d been lying about who my birth father was. She waited until after I’d reached out to his other children, and we all thought we were siblings. He later confirmed I wasn’t his. She refused to tell me who my biological father really was.
  © Unknown author / Reddit

• I was 24 when I was told the man I had called Dad my entire life was in fact not. My mum had an affair, and I was the result. He stayed with her and raised me and kept the secret until they almost divorced.
  I found out as they tried to gain leverage over each other. © Quizandtriviastation / Reddit

• My grandma had a daughter she gave up for adoption before she married my grandpa and had their four kids. The daughter found my family through distant cousins or something, and my grandpa was like, “Cool! More family!” But my grandma wants nothing to do with her and told my mom and aunt that they aren’t to contact the daughter until she dies. © savageasamother / Reddit

Secrets have a way of unravelling themselves, especially when kids are involved. If you want to see more about family secrets, especially those given away by kids, have a look here.