12 Truly Disturbing Secrets People Only Realized When Grown Up

Gaining a true understanding of reality is a gradual process, especially in childhood when our brains interpret experiences differently than they actually unfold. With maturity, memories have the tendency to resurface, offering a clearer depiction of past events. These revelations may evoke feelings of unease or even send a chill down our spines, much like the experiences of the courageous individuals whose stories we are sharing today.

• Three decades ago, when I was 9 years old, my father said he’d won free pizza coupons, and he had a massive stack of these little business cards, each for a free large pizza. My dad said we had to be careful using them, though, so we would only use them occasionally. I remember my dad sometimes making me order the pizza and answer the door to get the free pizza, even though I was only, like, 9. Looking back now, I realize my dad worked for a commercial printing company and was not exactly an upstanding citizen. I’m pretty sure he didn’t win those cards. © shyblonde83 / Reddit
• My brother maintained it was normal to have cereal with water instead of milk, and that it was way better. I ate cereal with water like an idiot until I was about 16. © manlikerealities / Reddit

• Before my brother was born, my mom apparently had an affair with a gentleman from Spain. My mom was sending him faxes from the post office once a month to inform him about our well-being and the things we were doing, and what she needed money for — like trips with school, etc. She guilted him into sending a lot of money every month because he thought my brother was his son. After our stepdad died (we were 11 & 10 years old), I remember her sending our school photos to the Spanish gentleman and also asking if there were any trips he could pay for. This went on until we were basically adults at 17 & 18 years old. It was only a couple of years back in therapy that I realized she cheated on my biological father, pretended to have a baby with the Spanish gentleman (which was not true), and tricked him into paying alimony for years for a kid that wasn’t his. © michischaaf / Reddit
• In 5th grade, my English teacher gave the class a free-writing exercise. She shared her feelings of being burnt out from working 18-hour days and not knowing when it was going to end.
  It wasn’t until about 5 years later, when she quit in the middle of the school year, that I realized she had been teetering on the edge of a nervous breakdown for years. © Blenderhead36 / Reddit

• I thought everyone goes to jail or prison at least once in their life. It was quite a surprise to me when I moved out to the suburbs and met people who knew nothing about jail or prison. © Doggo6893 / Reddit
• My dad got laid off from a job, and we started to really struggle for a year or so. He woke up early every morning to make breakfast for us all before school and cleaned the house while doing side jobs just so we would never know we were struggling. He couldn’t get a basic job because he was “overqualified.” © tuckerb_2000 / Reddit
• When I was around 7 years old, I would see my father kiss women I saw for the very first time. Since I was used to thinking that kissing passionately was just like a normal kiss on the cheek as a greeting, I didn’t care. When my father spotted me while he was kissing some woman, he went up to me and gave me $ 20 for just standing there. I realized what he was really doing a few years later, and I was immensely disappointed. © Lasok-Yt / Reddit

• Finding out that breaking a cup or spilling a drink wasn’t a big deal was quite an eye-opener. Watching my girlfriend look at me like I’m crazy while I apologize for 20 minutes about dropping a glass of water made me reevaluate a lot of my childhood. © HELLFIRECHRIS / Reddit
• My mother used to never want to get out of bed when I was 5, and she just kept saying she was sick. Finally, my stepdad took her to a hospital, where she stayed for nearly a month. I thought it was so cool that her hospital let her do arts and crafts all the time, plus she got better and started doing arts and crafts with me too when she got home.I remember telling her that I wished I could go to the hospital and draw all day. She sat me down and told me that she hoped I would never get sick like she did, but if I do, there’s nothing wrong with needing help to get better, even if you have to go somewhere for a little while to do it. It wasn’t until I was probably 13 that it clicked that the hospital she had gone to was a mental health hospital when I realized I didn’t want to get out of bed myself. But because of her, I’ve never felt shame about needing therapy when things are getting bad or even just to maintain a healthy mindset. © kenda1l / Reddit

• My grandma explained to me that she had a miscarriage a little while after her last child. At around the age of 9, I said it was for the best because my mom, aunt, and uncle were troublemakers, so it was better for her. She got extremely mad at me, and I was so confused at the time. I didn’t realize how messed up it actually was. © wheresmyson** / Reddit
• When I was 6 or 7, I remember my mom went out for the night, and my dad was sad, so I wrote a little note to her, expressing my concern that it was making daddy unhappy. I left the note on their bed. My mom brought the note to me and expressed her displeasure. Over 20 years later, my dad told me about how my mom was openly cheating on him with her now-husband. My dad would literally drive her to his place so she could continue her relationship with him. Turns out that my younger half-brother was conceived while she was still married and living with my dad. It was all a significant revelation when I found out. © Eat_A_J***_Pal / Reddit

• When I was probably around 4-6 years old, I used to walk my grandma up the stairs at her house every time we visited. She said she liked holding my hand. When I went to her room, she’d always compliment my shirts and be like, “What’s this on your shirt called?” And I’d say, “Oh, that’s Winnie the Pooh” or whatever I was wearing. And she’d go on to tell me stories about the character or talk a bit about it. Only when I was 16, I learned that she’d been blind for years. She’d ask me to hold her hand up the stairs so that I could help guide her to her room. She’d ask what was on my shirt because she could feel a pattern on it. I don’t know why, but that kind of made me feel both sad and very loved? Like she couldn’t see anymore, but she never wanted to let me worry about it and still managed to compliment what I was wearing all the time. She passed away while I was still very young, but those memories stuck like glue. © ADirtyCasual / Reddit

Exploring the realm of childhood memories, particularly those that evoke a sense of unease, often reveals a mixture of fear and fascination. People from our previous article also reminisce about their past, recounting the most enigmatic and unsettling experiences that have left a lasting mark on their memories.