We asked members of the BuzzFeed Community to tell us the wild, shocking, and juicy secrets they learned about their families. Here are their wild stories:
1. "One weekend ago, my mom told me I had another half-sister. The one I knew about before is from my mom, and she is basically my best friend. This new half-sister is from my father. My mom then explained how my dad and a woman met at an orgy."
—Anonymous
2. "I found out two things. First, my grandma cheated on my grandpa with a man from church, who died on top of her when they were finished doing the deed. She got pregnant from that man. I didn't know until recently when my mom told me. I always knew my uncle looked different than the rest of the family. Second, my father had a baby before he married my mom, and we just now found out about her. So, I have a half-sister. Thanks, 23andMe."
—Anonymous
3. "This week, my dad found out he has two new siblings from my grandpa's apparent affair with a married woman back in the 1950s. He now has an older brother and sister. My great-grandfather forced my grandpa to join the military after finding out he had gotten a married woman pregnant. On his first leave, he got her pregnant again! My grandpa was a real player back in the day. This isn't the first time my father and his siblings have had their DNA tested to see if they were related to someone. Lets just say a few cousins have been added to the family tree as well. So, not only was my grandpa promiscuous, so were his many brothers, and they clearly liked to share partners."
—Anonymous
4. "About 10 years ago, my eldest aunt on my father's side of the family lost her birth certificate. She went to get it replaced and gave all the information she needed to give, but the women she spoke with told her that her father's name didn't match up with what they had on file for her. It turns out my grandmother, back in the late '40s, had relations with a man before they were married and she got pregnant with my aunt. They allegedly got married, but then the marriage was annulled for reasons we're not sure of. My grandfather, who was a friend of my grandmother's family, quickly stepped in and told my grandmother he would take care of her and her child."
"They got married and had eight more children, but my grandmother and grandfather took this all to the grave with them. They only told my grandmother's sister, my great-aunt, the truth, and swore her to secrecy. My great-aunt was on her deathbed when she finally told my aunt what really happened when she was young. It was pretty devastating for my aunt because she felt sad her mother and father lied to her their whole lives, but things were obviously way different back then."
—Anonymous
5. "One of my cousins has a different father than his siblings. His mom (my aunt) had an affair with her boss that I found out about when my other aunt was extremely drunk and spilling secrets. According to my drunk aunt, they had a whirlwind romance and she was going to run away with him (he was also married), but he called it off last-minute and she was heartbroken. She ended up divorcing her husband and marrying someone else later on. I'm one of the few people who know about this, and now and my internal monologue goes wild whenever I'm around them."
6. "While doing genealogy research, I found a news article about my great-grandma being charged with involuntary manslaughter for hitting and killing a man with her car in the 1970s. My great-grandma had already passed, and the article didn't have many details, so I had to get the story from family members. I was told that my great-grandma was trying to get away from a man who turned violent after she rejected his advances. She hit him with her car while she was trying to get away from him, and he later died in the hospital. My great-grandma was arrested and charged with involuntary manslaughter. My grandma (her daughter) had to bail her out of jail, and my great-grandma lost her driver's license as a result."
—Anonymous
7. "My grandfather had a secret family in a different country. He divorced my grandma when my mother was in college, and he was generally awful for their whole marriage. He was a narcissist, and while my grandmother knew he was cheating on her, she could never find any proof. Fast forward 40 years: My grandma passed away after a long battle with cancer. Turns out, her hunch was correct. My new aunt, who’s older than my mother, reached out after my grandmother passed away and explained everything. Her mother passed away before then, but she knew my grandfather would try to bury everything to preserve whatever reputation he had. My new aunt is a lovely woman with a family of her own, even grandkids, and while she’s not too close with the rest of her siblings, I am glad she decided to tell us what my grandfather put her and her mother through."
—Anonymous
8. "I found out I had a half-sister who was a year younger than me when I was 20 years old. It was a secret my dad says he would've taken to the grave if my mom hadn't found out. Basically, he left his phone at home and went to work. His phone started blowing up, so my mom checked it to see who was repeatedly texting. She saw texts from what she assumed as a man's name, but then they said, 'Love you, miss you, call me when you can.'"
"My mom immediately dialed the number, and a woman's voice answered. My mom was like, 'Who the hell are you? Why are you texting my husband that you love and miss him?' The woman immediately got nervous and just said, 'Please, talk to your husband.' Cut to all of us in the kitchen to support my mom who, at this point, thought my dad was having an affair, and my dad saying, 'It's not what you think. She's my daughter.' So, he did have an affair, just about two decades earlier. Of course, my mom was shocked and angry, but she and my dad eventually talked it over, and they seem to be okay now. My mother, older siblings, and I have all tried maintaining a relationship with our younger half-sister, but because we found out about her so late and because we live in different cities, it's difficult. But yeah, my parents are still together. But, that was a doozy."
—Anonymous
9. "On my 24th birthday, I told my parents I was going to do a 23andMe test for fun and they pulled the whole 'we need to tell you something.' Turns out I was conceived using donor sperm and my father wasn’t actually my biological father. No one in my extended family knew at all. It was always something I saw happening on the news, but then it became my life!"
—Anonymous
10. "I found out my aunt, when separated, had two babies she gave up for adoption, so I had two cousins in the neighborhood I didn't now about growing up. One of the cousins, who shared a heritage website with me, contacted me when they saw that we were close genetically."
—Anonymous
11. "My mom was literally sold, by her mother, to my dad when she was 13. He was in his 20s. She moved in with him and his family. Multiple pregnancies, and no one questioned why a teenager had a grown man with her when she delivered."
12. "Through DNA testing, I found out that there was no way my grandmother's husband was my biological paternal grandfather. My sister and I only matched as half-nieces and cousins with people we should've been matching as full. I have no idea who bio grandpa may be. Grandma took that secret with her to the grave."
—Anonymous
13. "I learned at age 43 that I have a different biological father. Everyone knew but me."
—Anonymous
14. "Our 'aunt' was actually our sister. Our mother gave birth to a baby boy in 1955 who we were told was half-Black. She's Mexican, and that wasn't seen as acceptable at the time, so she left the child with the father and moved back home. She claimed her mother would check on him throughout his life to see how he was doing. Coincidentally, we had an aunt who was half-Black, but never put two and two together for 20 years. When we started getting suspicious and began questioning our mother and grandmother about our aunt, we were given runaround answers or were met with anger, so we dropped it. After 40 years of research, we still don't have proof that our aunt is our sister other than conformation from distant relatives. We are unable to find her father and cannot find a birth certificate in the states where she might have been born."
—Anonymous
15. "I learned that I’m descendant of a 19th-century horse thief who burned down a saloon before fleeing the state. He later adopted the last name of his former neighbor as an alias, which my family still goes by today. Who knew that any of my relatives could be so colorful?"
16. "That I had half-siblings from my dad’s previous marriage. I found out when I was 12, only because at that age I was a huge snoop and was going through some drawers in my grandma’s house and saw a postcard addressed to my dad from some 'daughter' I had never heard of. That’s when I found out he not only had a daughter, but also a son. What’s really wild is that a few years earlier, I had a dream that I had an older brother I’d never met, and when I told my parents about it, they both played dumb. If I'd never found that postcard, I might've never found out."
17. "My parents divorced when I was 2 years old. My mom then moved back in with her parents, and that is where I grew up and lived until I was 18. When I was about 13 or 14, I was going through a cabinet of stuff looking for a pen and found a box of legal papers. Turns out that my mother was judged incapable of raising us (I had a younger brother and sister), and our grandparents were our legal guardians."
—Anonymous
18. "I was adopted. I found out when I was 11. Our next-door neighbor had an argument with my mom, and she told me the truth to spite her."
—Anonymous
19. "My youngest aunt always looked different (light complexion, green eyes, blonde hair) from my mom and other aunt (olive skin, brown eyes, brown hair). She went to private school and had expensive hobbies growing up. My mom and other aunt just thought she was the youngest and was spoiled. Now, the youngest aunt is having medical issues and took a 23andMe test to see if they could get more info on her genes. My mom and other aunt compared their DNA results, and she doesn't share the same father as the other two. Turns out, in the late '60s, my grandmother had left my grandfather and lived with her co-worker, came back to my grandfather, and had my aunt. Her real father always knew he was her father, and he paid for her hobbies, education, etc. When my mom and aunts confronted my grandmother, she admitted it. She was prepared to take this to her grave. She says she's sorry about it, but the damage is done. Nothing has been the same since."
—Anonymous
20. "First, when I was 15, I found my original birth certificate and it said 'father unknown.' Turns out that my mom and dad had an affair while my mom was my dad and his first wife's babysitter, and I was the result of that affair. Dad wasn't listed as the father on my birth certificate because they were still married when I was born and they didn't actually legally change my name or amend my birth certificate until I was almost 16. They got married when I was 4. I also found out after my dad passed away that my mom had a baby boy when she was 16 that she gave up for adoption. I don't know if my dad ever knew that one or not."
21. "After signing up for Ancestry.com and doing the DNA test, I found out that one of my sisters, who had done the same, was actually my half-sister. So, apparently my mom had gotten busy with someone. If not for the DNA test, we would never have known."
—Anonymous
22. "While caring for a family member who was suffering from a stroke and old age, I decided to do a DNA test. I felt it would be good to have DNA results in case anything should happen to them. Turned out that they were not related to anyone of their nephews or nieces who had DNA tests done. I guess we will never know what happened 93 years ago. Was this person adopted, switched at birth, left at a doorstep? All their life, they believed to have a biological mother and father and two other siblings. DNA results also showed a different ethnicity than what was believed."
—Anonymous
23. "When I was 28 (and married), my mother's mother passed away. Since my mother was an only child, it fell to my mother, brother, and me to take care of things. While going through paperwork, we discovered that my mother was not an only child. Her father had a son with an another woman a few years before he married my grandma. I found the check where he paid her off. This was back in 1918. $2,000 was a huge amount of money back then. My mother claimed she never knew about him. Then, I found the court document that said on the day my grandparents were wed, my grandfather's brother legally adopted the child. I was never able to find out why. Then, the half-brother showed up at our door 1,300 miles away. I happened to answer the door and here stood this man that looked just like my grandfather."
"Being little (maybe 6 or 7), I thought it was my grandfather and couldn't figure out why he wouldn't come in. My parents came to the door, my mother got a strange look on her face, and she had dad take us kids outside to play. A short time later, the man was gone and we never saw him again. My mother made up a story about how 'grandpa' wasn't able to stay and had to get home."
—Anonymous
24. "My dad was married for six years to another woman before he divorced and married my mom. I didn’t find out until I was 22 and my mom was a little tipsy. She spilled the tea. I don’t know why it was a secret."
25. "Many, many moons ago, long before I was a twinkle in my parents' eyes, my uncle and aunt found out they were expecting. I'm not sure if they were engaged yet, but they definitely weren't married. My aunt's family was very devout Catholic, and she was sent away to have the baby and had to give it up for adoption because they weren't married. They did eventually get married and had three more children, and now they've been married for 50+ years. I don't know if my cousins know of their sibling (a brother, I believe), and I am not going to ever bring the subject up, as it is not my place to do so. But, somewhere out there, I have a 50-some-year-old cousin who I have never met, but hope he is doing well and is having a great life!"
—Anonymous
26. Finally: "The 'secret' in my family has pretty much destroyed any relationship that I have with my siblings, and I'm oddly OK with it. So, my dad was married before he ever met my mom. He and his wife were unable to have children, so they adopted a set of twin girls. When those girls were 6, he and his wife divorced. When they were 7, he moved to another state and met my mom through work. They were just good friends for about a year before they started dating. His first wife told her girls (who my dad had custody of) when they were visiting her that my dad left her for my mom. To this day, they have both resented my mother, talked badly about her, bullied me/excluded me, basically made me feel worthless, and broke my mom's heart over and over again. It turns out, my dad's first wife cheated on him with his very best friend in the entire world, and that is why they divorced."
"My dad passed away in 1990 and took this secret to the grave with him. I only know because that same friend wrote a letter to me and told me what he did and how he wishes he could still make amends with my dad. My dad's first wife is still very much alive and controlling my sisters/their kids and has successfully pulled them away from any kind of relationship with me or my family. While I'd like to spill the beans to my sisters so they know the truth/quit blaming my mom, I am not in the business of ruining others' lives. This woman is in her 80s now. I might revisit showing them the truth someday, after she passes away."
What's a shocking family secret you learned that completely rocked your world? Tell us in the comments!
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.