16 Times Folks Hid Supremely Juicy Secrets From Their Family Members
Reddit user u/skadarski asked the community: "Did your parents reveal a secret to you [once you were an adult]? If so, what was it?"
Well, their responses were deeply shocking, and honestly left me speechless.
So, here are the most unbelievable family secrets folks didn't find out until they were adults:
Note: Some submissions are from BuzzFeed Community users.
Warning: Some stories include topics of verbal abuse, domestic abuse, drug abuse, alcoholism, and animal abuse. Please proceed with caution.
1."After my mom died, I found out I was conceived by a sperm donor. She never told me. My dad (not bio) hasn’t found out that I know — it’s still technically a secret. I couldn’t care less about who my bio dad is because my real dad raised me, and I love him for all the little stuff. I’ll never tell him I know because it doesn’t really matter — so, it’s a tough situation."
2."I'm sure I'm not the only '70s kid who found this out, but my mom revealed she and my dad had an 'open marriage.' The kind where he said: 'I'm going to fuck other women, and you can fuck these friends of mine — let me have my fun, or I'm out of here.' Apparently, what followed was three bad years together, as my dad tried to convince my mom to participate in swinging, orgies, a poly relationship — the works. And my mom, who was barely 22 with two babies, went along with all of it to keep him happy and 'save their marriage.'"
"It also explains why I was confused that my dad came home with random women. I thought they were my mom's friends, but they really, really weren't."
3."My mom attempted to miscarry me so she wouldn’t have to get an abortion. She is now very jealous that I am leading the life she always wanted (educated, childless, and climbing the corporate ladder), and frequently takes it out on me in passive-aggressive ways. I’m just glad the drinking and drugs she did while she was pregnant didn’t seem to have a lasting impact on me (other than maybe the fact that I black out quickly when drinking)."
4."I never knew my grandfather, great grandmother, or great grandfather on my dad's side. I was always told they passed before I was born, or was too young to remember them. Last year, I started looking into my family history and found things that did not add up. After constantly asking my dad, he finally told me everything. My grandfather was murdered in a murder suicide, my great grandmother (his dad's mom) was killed in a car-jacking and stuffed in the trunk, and my great grandfather (his mom's dad) was killed by some young guy swinging a 2x4 to his head after being confronted about illegally dumping on his land. Apparently, the saying 'The Deadly '80s' was true for my family."
5."When I was growing up, there was a story going around about how a local prince wanted to marry me and offered things like cows for my hand in marriage. Well, when my father passed away, I went back to my home country and discovered that the prince was the president's son, and it wasn't an offer, it was a demand. The company my dad worked for had to smuggle us out of the country because he was going to make me his wife! I was a toddler, and this was going to be an arranged marriage for when I came of age."
6."I grew up in a family with five kids (including myself). When we were 20-something, we found out the two youngest were from a different father. One of them was my sister — she felt betrayed, like she lived a lie. She has a lot of resentment. Because of this, she decided to tell the youngest, too (he was around 13 years old). He felt strange emotions about our father, but he has more time to internalize them as he grows and matures. We all love each other, we are a family, but my sister has some issues dealing with it because she felt it was weird how my mother could keep this secret for so long."
7."My parents invested $50,000 into an illegal weed plantation and were due to collect $200,000 on their investment (until the cops raided the place a week before it was ready to harvest). The guy who ran it had all of the paperwork and receipts in a rigged locker — so when he saw the cops coming, he burned it all. My parents were never arrested, or in any way linked to the incident."
8."My college fund was given to my aunt because she was 'going through a hard time' and would 'definitely pay it back.' This happened to me when I was 10, and it's been 20 years since this happened... I guess we just gave her thousands of dollars. Ya know, for funsies."
9."My great-uncle (dad's uncle) left me a large sum of money in a trust that I was to receive at either age 25, when I graduated from college, or was honorably discharged from military service (he retired from the military). Whichever came first. I had no idea, and I'm glad I didn't. I joined the military right out of high school, and when I had my DD-214 form in hand, my parents took me to a lawyer who laid it all out. Because of the enhanced G.I. Bill, I didn't have to touch a cent of it for tuition. I did use it to buy a house, though. I miss my great-uncle (as much for his wisdom as his company)."
10."My grandma owned a bar when I was growing up, but I didn't know until after she passed away that she also ran a huge bookie gambling service from that bar. Then it all made sense — the random police visits, the robberies..."
11."I had a gold fish named Gills — he was a good fish. He lived for a few years. I only saw him every other week, as I kept him at my mother's house. I returned one week to find out he died — I was sad. What I would later learn and am still bitter over is my mother's second ex-husband flushed Gills because he was tired of him."
12."My mom was super anti-abortion her whole life, and we figured it was because of religious reasons. Turns out her mom (my grandma) got put in jail for performing abortions on women in Illinois before Roe v. Wade was passed. Everyone found out because women kept turning up almost bleeding to death. Turns out back-alley abortions are super dangerous..."
13."When I was 18, my mom told me that my dad cheated on her with this woman named Kathy. I actually remembered Kathy when I was kid because my dad would take my brother and I to her house. She would buy us computer games and stuff, so we loved her at the time. I never understood why my mom hated her until I was older. Kathy ended up marrying my dad's best friend. As an adult, I was never nice to her, and my dad would give me shit about it. I finally told him that I knew about her and that mom had told me everything. He just said, 'Oh, alright then.' He never gave me shit again."
14."Those pills I was prescribed as a kid were not the incorrect pills. I took medication for my ADD for a short while, but my teacher noticed I was falling asleep in class and was out of it almost all of the time. I was almost a zombie compared to my usual self. It was so bad that my mom cried herself to sleep over how much they had changed me. When I was back to my normal old self, I asked why I stopped taking them, and she told me the doctor accidentally prescribed me sleeping pills. I brought it up as an adult and was told the truth. It almost sounds like the 'fix' was to make me 'non-functional.'"
15."In high school, my cousin slept around on her boyfriend too much. She ended up getting pregnant by someone else who didn't want the baby or anything to do with her (he's in prison now). She ended up marrying the boyfriend, and they had two daughters together. They waited until the oldest kid was 18, and her dad broke it to her that he wasn't her real father. It was a double whammy of him not being her dad and him being the dad of her two sisters. She ended up running away from home later that week with some 18-year-old guy who just joined the Army. It sounds like she found her footing later in life, but we don't really talk — I only talk with the other two. They just say she's doing 'well enough,' and I leave it alone."
16.And: "I was visiting my mom because we both had a dentist appointment around the same time, so we went to go get lunch after. We were sitting in an A&W restaurant, and my mom told me that I should marry rich. She had been telling me that since I was a child. I started talking about how my friends were convinced that I was going to end up having a 'sugar daddy' because I was into older men. My mom looked at me and said, 'Find a man who's near his death and get him to write you into his will — don't do the whole 'sugar daddy' thing. It was weird. I did it.' I just shrugged it off and then realized what she said!"
Note: Some stories have been edited for length and/or clarity.
