I think it's safe to say we've all been in a situation where we've had someone in our lives share something with us that comes as a complete surprise. However, sometimes there are situations where you're the one who finds out something about a person in your life that not only comes as a complete surprise but also possibly changes your view of them.
Recently, Reddit user Responsible_Box_1057 was curious about the latter situation when they asked: "What is a shocking secret you discovered about someone close to you?"
There were lots and lots of replies from people who learned some very surprising things about people in their lives. Below are the top and most interesting comments:
1. "I played in a band, and, by accident, I found out that the bassist was having an affair with the girlfriend of the drummer. The band was over when the drummer found out. No one knew I was aware of the whole thing."
2. "It's not really a secret, but I didn’t find out my dad had been married and divorced until 8th grade when I found a wedding album in my basement featuring my dad and some lady who definitely was not my mom. When I showed my mother all I got was, 'Oh yeah, that was his first wife, didn’t we tell you?' No, they had not."
3. "Found out my parents (they passed away when I was a kid) were not monogamous and that they were swingers. I only found out about a year ago."
4. "I used to be a little shit and I would install keyloggers on the family computer so that I could know the password and get on the computer when my parents weren't home. I never expected to learn that my mother was romantically involved with an African man she met on the internet. She was still married to my father but they were basically just married on paper at that point."
"My parents got a divorce and it ended up being the best thing for them, but as a 15-year-old it was really hard to accept it. After, my mom actually ended up traveling to Africa, married this man, and brought him back to our country. They were married for about two years."
5. "One of my bosses (50M, married — his wife is also my boss) is having a secret affair with my colleague (21F, she has a long-term boyfriend, and they live together). I literally walked in on them doing the deed, and it just so happened that they did not see me. I closed the door really quietly and did not sleep for like a week (because I was shocked!). I'm trying my best to mind my business, but this secret is eating me inside. I just want to live peacefully."
6. "My ex was sleeping with one of the most famous actors on the planet while we lived together."
7. "A good friend of mine's older sister is in fact his mom, and the person he thinks of as his mom is his grandmother. I only know because I overheard it one night when my parents were talking to his 'mom.'"
8. "My second ex-wife told everyone she had cancer, including our own kids. Roughly two years later, I found that she did not have and never had cancer. Immediate grounds for divorce."
9. "My skeptical, scientist, tough-guy father believes in ghosts and had many personal experiences in the 1960s while living in an ancient apartment building that had been used as a hospital during the Civil War. Didn't used to believe in them until he and his old roommate told me some stories several years back. I knew he'd lived there for several years in college but I was in my twenties the first time he told me anything about the ghosts. Then, I moved into my own 100-year-old house and had a few encounters of my own."
10. "My mother was dating a guy, but there were some sketchy things about him. However, she ignored them because she was in love. It turns out he killed someone and was lying about his identity."
11. "Not the most shocking, but when my boyfriend's grandpa died they found out he had a son before he married the grandma. It was written in a contract that he had to pay the mother. And that son lived on the same street as them — in the house on the opposite side. Apparently, grandpa was a player back in the day and got the lady pregnant."
"The genetics are so violently strong in that family that it surprises me that they never noticed their neighbor looked exactly like them. My boyfriend's dad looks like he cloned himself, to create my boyfriend and his sister. It's like their mom was never involved. 😂"
12. "That my American cousin was put in prison for 15 years. I learned this by watching the news in France. Usually, news from the other side of the ocean doesn't interest the French, but his crime was so sordid and at the same time so totally stupid that the French were talking about it with hilarity."
13. "I found out my dad was bi after he passed. He was raised in the South by a bigot and racist, and I am sure he was always ashamed of this. He had five kids with my mom before leaving us for another woman and was a very charismatic womanizer. I was surprised to come across this information in a journal he kept."
14. "My deceased father was cheating on my mother with his brother's wife. My dad's brother was fine with it as long as he could financially scrounge off my dad. This went on for more than 40 years."
15. "My discrete gay post-grad friend/classmate is in a long-term relationship with his undergrad classmate (A) while having separate relationships with two of our male post-grad classmates (B & C), who are also friends with each other and don't know they were dating the same guy. 😂"
16. "After my mother died, I was given a letter from her to me. I found out according to her letter, that she and my dad serial cheated on each other. Every time she caught him cheating she would go find another man for a one-night stand. This occurred in the early 1950s to the mid-'60s. Towards the end of her letter, I learned that my father isn't my biological father. That is probably why I was worthless to him; he never taught me anything father/son related."
17. "My grandma was never married to the father of her first child. We were all told 'he went off to build the Hoover Dam and fell in,' leaving her a widow with an infant. We found out she got pregnant very young by a married man, and she had to 'hide' her daughter with relatives until she was eventually married. This was 1920s, and that would have been very scandalous, which is why she made up the story — I'm not judging her!"
18. "My dad, a lawyer, did some work for the mafia."
19. And lastly, "I have been pronouncing my wife's name wrong for 10 years. She only told me recently."
You can read the original thread over on Reddit.
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.