My Mom Lied to Me About My Father, and the Revealed Truth Turned My Life into a Nightmare

A 25-year-old woman recently submitted a letter to our editorial, recounting a personal story that reads like a script for a dramatic movie. Unfortunately, it’s not fiction but her own challenging reality. In her narrative, she reveals the unsettling discovery of her mother’s deception regarding her biological father and recounts the emotional journey of uncovering the truth. Since that revelation, the woman’s life has been anything but tranquil.

The young woman led a normal life until a fateful day.

A woman named Alyson shared her intricate story with our editorial. In the opening lines of her letter, she revealed that she is 25 years old and that her father passed away when she was 8. However, she added a poignant note, stating, “Well, the man I believed was my dad.” Despite her mother dating other men after her husband’s death, Alyson’s mom never remarried or formed a serious relationship, leaving Alyson without a father figure since she was 8.

Then Alyson recounts that her life story took a completely unexpected turn. She wrote, “Two weeks ago, a man came into my work. I work at a cinema in the ticket stand. So this strange man came in, and he kept letting people go ahead of him in line until I was done consulting the customer I was with. I didn’t even pay much attention to it at first, but this man was really nervous, and he was trying to talk to me.”

The woman was genuinely puzzled and even started to feel a bit panicked. However, the man asked her some ordinary questions, inquiring about what she would advise him to eat and expressing curiosity about the type of movies she liked. Despite her initial confusion, Alyson perceived the guy as friendly but shy. She decided to be polite and engaged in a conversation, as one would typically do at work.

She recalled, “After our small polite talk, he left, and I didn’t meet him when his movie was over. When I finished my work and got home, that same man was in my living room. He was talking to my mother and it just creeped me out. My mom was behaving weirdly, she even started panicking when I asked who the man was. She actually just kept saying he’s no one, and he’s already leaving.”

Alyson uncovered a family secret that her mom had been keeping from her for all these years.

After Alyson’s mom tried to persuade the stranger to leave, he refused to go away and initiated a conversation with Alyson. He was very persistent, insisting that he wouldn’t leave until they had a conversation and asserting that Alyson’s mom needed to tell her daughter the truth.

The woman wrote, “Well, you can guess maybe, he said he’s my father. I just felt a strong twist in my stomach. My mother started rambling, and she insisted that my dad that died was my real dad. She kept repeating how much he loved me and took care of me, and that this doesn’t change that. I just yelled at her that she could’ve told me earlier that he wasn’t my biological father, but she kept it a secret.”

Alyson inquired if the man was telling the truth, and in response, her mother began crying and nodding. It was only at that moment that Alyson looked at the man and realized how much he resembled her. He attempted to communicate with her, swearing that he had no knowledge of Alyson’s existence, expressing regret that he hadn’t been a part of his daughter’s life if he had known.

Alyson just asked her mother if the man was dangerous or a toxic ex. The stranger was offended, and her mom also assured her it wasn’t that at all. They both wanted to sit down and talk, but Alyson just felt so angry and overwhelmed, so she just took her things and went away.

Alyson finally learned all the details about her childhood and her biological father.

After some reflection, Alyson decided she wanted to know the whole story. She returned home and spoke with her mom. It turned out that her biological father had never been a bad man, and her mom hadn’t cheated on Alyson’s adoptive dad. Alyson wrote that she was an “accidental child,” and her mother got pregnant with her unexpectedly, without planning it.

The circumstances were that Alyson’s mom didn’t even know the exact name of her real dad at that time. This all happened before social media was a thing, so she couldn’t just find him online like all of us can do nowadays. So she made a decision to just raise her daughter on her own.

Alyson’s mother also admitted she was panicking hard when Alyson’s bio dad showed up because to her, he was literally just a man she knew for one night many years ago. The woman didn’t know who he was now or any other details about his life.

Regarding Alyson’s adoptive dad, the man who raised her, her mom explained that she married him when Alyson was 3 years old, and he officially adopted her after their marriage. Alyson came to the realization that she had never seen photos of herself and her adoptive dad together when she was a baby, only pictures of herself as a toddler and older.

Alyson decided to maintain contact with her biological dad, but the situation became challenging.

Alyson chose to call her biological dad and schedule a meeting with him as well. During their encounter, she inquired about how he discovered her existence. He explained that he has a son who is only 7 months younger than Alyson. His wife, a teacher, stumbled upon a picture posted on the website of Alyson’s daughter’s school.

On that photo, Alyson was together with her daughter and her face was clearly seen. Her dad’s wife sent the photo to her dad, thinking Alyson might be related to him because they really looked very alike. He then found Alyson’s Instagram, thinking she was his brother’s daughter at first.

He and his brother hadn’t spoken for over 20 years, so this version was quite fitting. Then, on Alyson’s Instagram, he came across a picture of her and her mom and recognized her. From that very moment, he knew Alyson was his daughter.

The biggest trouble arose after Alyson met her half-brother.

Alyson wrote, “My bio dad told me that he has a son, Ryan, who’s just 7 months younger than I. I was very excited to meet him, as I seriously thought I needed to build that family ties with my dad and with his family. I supposed we would be friends with Ryan, at least we would communicate. But things did take a turn right at our first meeting with him.”

When Alyson visited her biological dad’s house to meet his wife, Serena, and his son, Ryan, she was pleasantly surprised at how warmly Serena treated her from the beginning. Serena was very cordial, offering compliments to Alyson and trying to find common topics to discuss. However, Ryan reacted quite differently. Right from the start, he went hysterical, calling Alyson mean names and even mocking her appearance, stating that she was dressed like a “light-minded woman.”

Alyson couldn’t stand that and accepted the fact that Ryan was stressed, though she decided to never ever communicate with him again. The woman thought that was the end of their relationship, when Ryan suddenly started sending messages to all of her friends on Facebook, telling them that Alyson was breaking their family and that she was not the daughter but the lover of his dad. He kept inventing dirty stories, and it was a real pleasure for him to watch people cutting ties with Alyson, shaming her and making a real mess out of Alyson’s life.

The woman wrote that Ryan is still pursuing her, and he somehow discovered the place where she works, reaching out to her colleagues as well. She doesn’t know what to do now, as she genuinely wants to maintain a warm relationship with her biological dad and Serena, but Ryan’s behavior is making it nearly impossible.

We would advise Alyson to talk to all members of her now extended family.

We appreciate Alyson for trusting our editorial and for sharing her extraordinary family story with us.

Our suggestion to Alyson is to take charge of the situation and initiate conversations with each of her family members regarding Ryan. Given her recent acquaintance with him, she might not fully grasp the reasons behind his troubling behavior. It’s possible that Ryan has undergone past traumas, causing him to unintentionally project his pain onto Alyson, triggered by her presence in his family’s life.

Alyson should talk to Serena, Ryan’s mother, who knows him best. With Serena’s friendly approach, they can have an open conversation to find a solution. Alyson should also inform her biological dad about the situation, urging him to take steps to help resolve the conflict and support everyone involved in fostering a positive relationship.

And here’s another dramatic story of a woman who took a DNA test for fun but ended up uncovering a dark family secret.