15 Dark Family Secrets That Suddenly Came to Light

Family — the people we think we know inside out. From the moment we’re born, they’re our constant companions. Yet, every now and then, family secrets emerge that leave us utterly amazed. Some are fresh revelations, while others have been guarded within the family for years, even decades.

• My friend’s brother cut off communication with his family. They said that he married the daughter of a wealthy person and doesn’t want to associate with ordinary relatives. The mother even went on a show and tearfully pleaded with her son to reconsider. Then it turned out that the mother discovered the future wife’s diagnosis (infertility) and actively discouraged her son from marrying. She had tantrums, made threats, and did everything to prevent the marriage. However, the son chose love, and his wife is not wealthy at all.
• “My parents always told us they got married in 1961, but it was 1962, 3 months before my sister was born. What’s amusing is that my father was an accountant who was insanely fast with math. Whenever he was asked how many years they’d been married, he’d be off by one. My mother would correct him through clenched teeth and then my father would nod and agree.” © dramboxf / Reddit
• “When I was a kid I knew my grandfather was odd. He’d call me his grandson even when I was wearing a dress and clearly female, but my parents would tell me to ignore it.
  Then I found out that when my dad was a kid, grandpa gave my dad’s sister Barbara to someone and kept my dad and his brother because he didn’t want a girl in the family. My dad found his sister Barbara around the time I was in middle school via calling around to get records, they were reunited, she’s my favorite aunt now. No one liked grandpa.” © Halleaon / Reddit

• “After my grandfather passed, we found out he had fathered a child when he lived in Italy. He never knew. His mother intercepted any letters from the Italian girl. He came home, met and married my grandmother and had 4 children.
  I forgot who in the family found out and how. It’s crazy to think we have a whole Italian family out there!” © SquirrelsandCrayons / Reddit
• “Due to 23&Me, my dad learned that his recently deceased father was not his biological father. It wasn’t a situation related to my grandma cheating either, it was a sperm donation. So, they knew this was the case his entire life. Pretty crazy they never told him, his parents did not pass until he was 65 years old.” © usereddit / Reddit
• “My aunt wasn’t my grandfather’s child. He met my granny when my aunt was a very sick infant, she had polio and wasn’t expected to survive. My grandad married my granny, so she could get on his insurance and move to an area that had proper medical support.
  Although my aunt had to be in leg braces most of her childhood, she had a great (although not long enough) life. My grandad loved her like she was his own, and I never knew until she went to her bio dad’s funeral when I was a teenager.” © knittybitty123 / Reddit

• “My dad always thought his father who raised him wasn’t his biological dad and the father thought the same. He was treated terribly by his father because he was told he couldn’t have children. So, everyone assumed my grandmother had an affair and got pregnant with my dad.
  It was to the point that after my grandmother died, my grandfather failed to even mention to his new wife that he had a son and grandchild (me). Years later, my dad gets an AncestryDNA test for him and me. He found out that his dad was actually his biological dad. It was shocking and sad.” © OwnBackground6676 / Reddit
• “I found out my uncle is actually my brother. My mom had him when she was so young that my grandparents raised him.” © Picklesgal111 / Reddit
• “We have English heritage on my father’s side. His aunt delved into the family tree thinking that we must surely have royal blood. Wrong! She found out that our ancestors were pirates. Much more interesting to my way of thinking.” © Julie-Andrews / Reddit

• “I found out my grandma had a baby as a teenager and was forced to give him up for adoption by my great-grandparents. 40 years later he found us.” © dont-take-my-soup / Reddit
• “My father died when I was 17. At the funeral home during a viewing a young lady and her boyfriend showed up, she was probably two or three years older than me. Nobody recognized her, so she was asked why she was there, she stated she was there to see her father. My siblings and I are naturally confused, our mom is just standing there shaking her head, my uncles ask her to leave, she leaves crying in her boyfriend’s arms.
  Our mother takes us to a private area and explains our father had an affair years ago and that was our step-sister. I never heard anymore about her, never learned her name, have never met her. I would like to meet her and apologize for my family. Seeing her rejected and crying because she couldn’t even attend a viewing for her dead father bothers me to this day, and this was over 40 years ago.” © DougJHFTB / 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
  

• “My mother got pregnant by my father before they were married. Scandalous in 1960. So, with my father’s knowledge of the situation, mom left town, and lived with my aunt until the birth. Mom gave the baby up for adoption, and then returned home. A couple of years later, she married my dad and had three more children together, including me.
  55 years later, after both my parents had died, my aunt let it slip that my siblings and I were not the only children of our parents. My sister took a DNA test, and a couple of years later, she got a hit. Soon thereafter, we met our new big brother and his family (wife, kids) and have become quite close.” © Freeagnt / Reddit
• My great-grandmother cheated on her husband and got pregnant. My great-grandfather kicked her out, took their 5 kids to live with various members of his family, and he kept my great-grandmother from trying to find her daughters. My great-grandmother went to live with her family. We heard that the baby she had died when he was 3. Recently we found out that isn’t true. I have a great uncle living in England who doesn’t know he had a ton of half nieces, nephews and great nieces/nephews though his mother. © Octoember / Reddit
• My dad was adopted, but illegally. His birth mother checked in to the hospital under my grandmother’s name, and then he went home with them instead. My grandfather died before I was born, and my grandma told us the truth a few years before she died. My dad was like 45 when we found out. © jrs1980 / Reddit

What’s truly remarkable is that such cases are not uncommon. We have a whole collection of stories from people who have uncovered the dark secrets within their own families.