A lady has described the devastating effects that learning a family secret has had on everyone, including herself, and how difficult it is for her to deal with. She revealed that neither she nor her sister had realized their dad wasn’t their younger brother’s biological father until their parents separated four years prior. It was a macabre tale that took some time for the sisters to piece together.
“My mum acted completely insane when they got divorced, trying to get us and our kids to abandon our dad and choose to only have a relationship with her,” the woman stated. She went on, “Our dad felt stuck watching her try to isolate us and not being able to tell us the truth about who she really is as a person. He made it clear he had big secrets and said a few cryptic things out of frustration.”
Nevertheless, by coincidence, their mother’s childhood friend gave birth to her first grandchild. Her two adult children, who are now in their 50s, were also present, and they disclosed that they knew their suspicions were confirmed the moment they laid eyes on one of her children, “David,” as he resembled his brother. That was about two years ago, the woman remarked. We weren’t aware, yet we were aware.
In the present day, the woman disclosed that she had confided in her father about her disappointment with their mother’s apparent preference for a relationship with their brother rather than the two sisters. He explained that there was a cause for it—that is, he was her son. I countered, ‘But she’s our mother too. He continued, saying that it was the wrong thing to do but that she had her reasons and that he wanted he could tell us everything.
Once she informed her father that she was already aware of their brother’s true father, he revealed to her the whole tale of how her mother and David had an affair when the girls were young. This made the daughter question whether she should inform her brother that his entire life had been a lie: “We don’t want to ruin the relationships our brother has, but they are built on lies.” Right now, my brother is going to have an exploratory procedure because of a medical background that doesn’t belong to him. And I’m left wondering, she said if finding out that your life and relationships are based on lies or having needless surgery is worse.
“I struggle with having to be the one who breaks the only well-adjusted member of my family,” she concluded. There are countless levels of hurt, abuse, and generational trauma. Following their computation, a Reddit user asked: “Is my math matching? Dad was 16 and mum was 24. An affair spanning three years? “I would definitely inform the brother, the wife, the children, the neighbors, and the city council,” one person said. “She was married to a 31-year-old for 24 years when she began having an affair with their 16-year-old friend,” another person added. What chaos! One more person echoed the age gap, saying, “Not a good look.”
One commenter remarked, “Amazing how parents can completely mess up their children’s lives through their selfishness,” while another questioned the father’s continued determination to keep his ex-wife’s secrets safe.
A few expressed their disapproval by saying, “I’m sorry, but your mother is a predator,” while another suggested that it would be a good time to start looking into “family ancestry trees.” One begged her not to disregard her brother’s medical background, saying, “Even if there’s a slim chance of something life-changing, they still need to know.” Family dynamics will eventually work themselves out. However, medical demands may be able to permanently upend a person’s life in just one minute.