People on Reddit and members of the BuzzFeed Community have recently been discussing the wild family secrets they uncovered. We received even more comments detailing some truly unbelievable family tea, so we're here to share those stories with you now:
1. "I had an uncle who would show up at our house at random times, and it always upset my mother, but I liked him. As a teenager, I found out that my great-grandmother had left her husband and three kids because she was pregnant by her husband’s brother. They moved out to Los Angeles, where she gave birth to my 'oddball' uncle, who just wanted to connect with relatives. After he divorced her, my great-grandfather married a woman who was the cousin of my grandfather. Rural Illinois must have been a hotbed of gossip."
2. "My father's cousin's situation is quite unusual. We'll call her M. She had multiple pregnancies, but all of them ended in a stillbirth or miscarriage. When she was in her late 30s, she tried one more time, but it was stillbirth again. M's friend was an OB/GYN doctor in this hospital, and she knew there was a teenage girl who wanted to leave her daughter in the hospital to be sent to an orphanage. So, M's doctor friend switched babies. The stillborn baby was registered as the teenage girl's, and the living baby as M's daughter. Both mothers were in on it, and nurses as well."
3. "My brother called me five days before my 15th birthday to tell me that my dad, the one on my birth certificate, was not my biological dad. And, come to find out the whole family knew this; I was the only one who didn't know."
—Anonymous
4. "I wanted to do the DNA test that shows you your heritage and gives a breakdown of exactly where you're from. The test also allows you to match with those who share your DNA. I took this test two years ago and never expected anything to come of it. A friend I've had since middle school also took the DNA test, and her DNA matched mine more than my other known relatives. Turns out, my grandfather had a son right before going to prison, and the woman's parents raised him as their own son and claimed he was adopted. So, the son was raised as his mothers 'brother.' The friend that linked with me was this guy's daughter. Turns out I had a half-uncle and cousin no one in my family knew about. They were upset and said it was a lie, but DNA doesn't lie."
"My family got irrationally defensive over this little fact I uncovered. My friend's family has also lied to her about the circumstances. We still haven't really spoken about it. I made myself available for any questions she may have had, but she never called me to discuss. My grandfather passed away years ago, so talking to him about it unfortunately isn't possible. This information didn't make me feel any different about him. He was an amazing pawpaw, and I wish my friend had been able to experience the man I knew and loved so much."
—Anonymous
5. "My father passed when I was only 8. When I was about 15, there was a knock on the door one day. When I answered, there was an Asian guy about my age who asked for my mum. My mum came to the door, and I went into the lounge room. I then heard her telling him to 'F off,' followed by the door slamming. She wouldn't talk to me about who he was or what had happened at the time, but when I was in my 20s, she told me that my father had had an affair when he was in Macau and had a 'secret family.' The kid at the door was my half-brother who was trying to connect with our side of the family."
6. "My brother randomly told my sister and I, with my mom in the room, that we had another brother. He only knew about it because he used to do my parents' taxes."
7. "When I was 14, I found a letter in my house that said my parents weren't my parents, they were my grandparents. My older 'sister' was my biological mom. The letter didn't mention my dad. My mom/grandma was super abusive, so I didn't tell her that I found the letter until about a year later when she told me I wasn't allowed to see my 'sister' anymore. I asked if it was because she was my mom, and my mom/grandma said, 'Yes, but we were never going to tell you because it ruined our family.' I also found out later on that the reason they ended up not letting her raise me is because she almost killed me in a fit of rage as a newborn."
8. "My family ostracized my uncle-in-law for cheating once, but I found out his wife (my aunt) cheated first for years. Their son only knows about his dad cheating, not his mom, who is super religious and would be too 'holy' to do such a thing. So, in an effort to ostracize me (so that if I told her son, he wouldn’t believe me), the aunt spread horrible rumors about me. I no longer speak to my family because they believed her."
9. "About a year before my grandfather died, a man in his 40s contacted us saying that my grandpa was his dad. It came as a surprise to no one since my other uncle came into my life when I was 10. Grandpa denied his second affair child, but his last name is on his birth certificate. If he's not the dad, then why put his last name down on the certificate? His affair partner lived with my grandparents at the time of my supposed uncle's conception. When the affair uncle and my grandpa last spoke, my uncle said he was headed to Mexico to live there and that he wanted him in his life, to which my grandpa said no. That was 11 years ago, and that was the last we heard from him. He might still be alive in Mexico, but no one knows. My family has since 'forgotten' that memory, and no one talks about it."
10. "A few weeks after my mom died, my sister took a 23andMe test. My profile was already on there, having taken one years before. It showed we were half-siblings. I have three older siblings, 10, 13, and 16 years older than me. I always felt like I was different than them, and I guess I just assumed it was our age differences. A friend of mine connected me with a pair of genetic genealogists who found out who my birth father was. He and my mom worked together. He was her boss, and they had an affair. He died in 2013, eight years earlier. She kept it from me my entire life. Let me just mention that her husband (who she was with from 17 to 74 when she died) was an abusive POS, and I have longstanding 'daddy issues.' Maybe I could have known my father; maybe I could've had a good father figure in my life. It's something I don't feel like I'll ever get over."
11. "I found out when I was 13 that my dad wasn’t my bio dad. I always felt like something was off. I was so different from my dad and sisters growing up. Turns out, my mom and real dad had an affair while they both were married to other people. My sisters found out from my aunt before I knew, and it created a huge family argument. I was totally oblivious as to why that argument happened in the first place, until I found out. I became close to both dads and actually ended up taking care of my dad that raised me before he passed away in 2014. Just paying him back for raising me and taking care of me as his own!"
12. "After my mom died, I found out my dad wasn't her first marriage. My parents divorced when I was 8. I remember my dad making a comment a few years later to the tune of, 'At least I lasted longer than the last guy.' Fast-forward 25 years later, my wife and I were at the library, and they had a public records search. I thought of what my dad had said, so I figured I'd have some fun and see. And yup, she was married to a guy for a few years before she married my dad. I never told my sister about it. I think I have a memory of me asking my mom about it a few years after my dad told me, and she confirmed she was married, but that memory would be 20-25 years old. I never brought it up again, so I don't know if that memory is real."
"My mom passed away before I found the wedding announcement at the library, so I couldn't ask her about it. I've known for a few years now. I've never told my sister, because at this point, what good would it do? It would just create drama. I printed out the wedding announcement from the library, but lost it when we bought a house and moved."
13. "I found out in my early 20s that I have another sister who was born before my little sister, and no one told us. It was a closed adoption, but the people who adopted her kept tabs on my mom."
14. "When she was 50, my half-sister (same mother) found out that the father who had raised her was not her biological father. Her bio father was dead. Our mother refused to give her any real details. I believe if my father had known, he might've told me something about it, but he never said a word, so I’m not sure he even knew. She has half-siblings from the bio father, who apparently always knew about her. The half-sister she had through the man she thought was her father is actually not related to her at all. She believes that her bio father came to visit her at a place where she worked on a regular basis, but there’s no way to really prove that or know that now. Our mom…the mess that keeps on giving!"
15. "We found out after my mom’s dad died that he had another daughter older than her. He was in the US Navy (this was the 1950s), and the daughter was born in Palau. A few months ago, the daughter’s daughter (my cousin) found me on 23andMe, so we were able to connect."
16. "After joining Ancestry.com to create a family tree, I realized I matched with some woman (10 years older than me) as a 'close relative.' Long story short, my dad slept with a married woman who lived next to his sister one time when he was 20 (long before he and my mom were a thing). She got pregnant, knew it was his, told my aunt (who then told their mom), and they all agreed that she should just pass the baby off as her husband's. My half-sister is amazing, but had a really hard life due to her 'father' and feeling like she never quite belonged. She and her mom are estranged now, for the most part, since she found out the truth. The story has a happy ending, though! We all connected, she comes to visit when she can, and my dad even got to walk her down the aisle a few months ago. We adore her and are trying our best to make up for lost time."
17. "My mom’s mom slept with my bio dad (17) when my mom (also 17) was pregnant with me, then pushed him out of the picture before birth…just to raise me with an emotionally and physically abusive alcoholic stepfather."
18. Finally: "There are a lot of secrets in my parents' families. But, there are two that involve me. When I was a kid, I visited my grandparents in Guatemala during my breaks from school. When I was 14, I was visiting my paternal grandmother when a girl that looked identical to me (but a bit older) showed up, freaked out when she saw me, and ran off. That’s when my grandmother told me she was my half-sister. Apparently, my dad was 17 when he got his girlfriend pregnant. He wasn’t poor, but he wasn’t wealthy either, so he came to the states to earn more money before going back and marrying his girlfriend. But, when he returned for his daughter's birth, he discovered his girlfriend had married a rich older man, and they pretty much excluded my dad from his daughter's life. She didn’t know who her real father was until she was 11 years old and my dad went on vacation to Guatemala with my mom and me."
"Her mom wanted my dad back, and the day we flew back to the states, she showed up at the airport with her daughter to beg my dad to stay with them. I was only a year old, so I don’t remember this, but my mom and dad have told me. He said no, but he would make sure his daughter was financially secure. She didn’t want anything to do with me out of resentment. I’m 37 now, and that was the first and last time I ever saw her. She kept in touch with my grandmother, though.
The second family secret came out about six years ago. I did a DNA test through Ancestry.com just for fun and to see what my background really was. I was matched with a first maternal cousin. He was a few years older than me, and I had never met him before. He messaged me asking so many questions. Turns out he was born in Guatemala, but adopted by Americans, and brought back to the states. I asked my mom if any of her eight sisters had given a baby up for adoption, and she said not that she knew of. We asked all of her sisters except for one that had passed away, and no one knew anything. I felt so bad for him, and our communication just kind of fizzled out."
What's a family secret that rocked your world? Tell us in the comments. 👀
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.