One father and daughter on Reddit thought it might be fun to do 23andMe tests together and compare results. Boy, were they in for a treat! The results came back that her father was actually her uncle and that she was listed on his account as his niece.
"As we looked into it more, it listed my "uncle" as my father, alongside my "cousins" (he has two sons 18M and 20M) as my half-brothers." ~ Reddit user
There's nothing like logging onto your DNA profile one morning to find out that you have at least 17 half-siblings scattered around the world. This user knew he was from a sperm bank donation but was curious about his lineage.
“I’m from a sperm bank, and I’m up to 17 half-siblings on 23 and me. I kinda feel bad for the anonymous donor. Love my half-siblings though. Makes for some awesome ski vacations lol”
It's gotta be tough to be an Ancestry.com customer service agent in these situations. This Reddit user was just doing what she could to support her caller, but then the bottom fell out when, after troubleshooting why the caller's father's DNA wasn't showing up on his profile, they both came to the same conclusion at the same time.
“…it dawned on him that his father was NOT his father. Dude started crying on the phone while I frantically tried to get him to agree to a second free test. He just hung up on me.”
This midwestern Reddit user had some close friends who have been proudly boasting their pure Polish heritage their whole lives. Thanks to some DNA test kits, the whole family not only found out that they didn't have a single drop of Polish blood, but also a deeper, darker family secret.
"They also figured out why their grandfather mistreated their father his whole life. We’re hoping that he will make some peace with his bad childhood now that he knows why his “father” resented him."
This Reddit user went on a quest to find her adopted grandfather's biological parents through DNA testing. Not only was she able to locate them but also some additional biological relatives. It turns out that even though the whole family assumed they were Italian and followed all Italian traditions, her grandfather was actually British.
"He just wanted to know who his biological parents were because he never knew who they were. Unfortunately both his biological parents have passed, but it comforts him to know for sure what happened to them."
This user's mom and uncle used 23andMe one summer only to find out that her grandmother had had an illicit affair years before!
“It turns out my grandmother had an affair and passed my mom off as her father’s kid. A fact that my grandmother clearly intended to take to her grave but science caught up.”
This Reddit user’s mother has always tried to instill pride in her and her sister for their Native American Heritage. Funny thing is when her mother and cousins all took DNA tests, it turned out that everyone in the family was Native American. Except her mom!
“This past year my mother and her cousins and extended family all took DNA tests. Partially for fun and partially because that side of the family is a bit... complicated.”
The next user’s friend thought it would be a fun Christmas gift to give her mother an Ancestry.com DNA kit so her mother could trace her Native American bloodlines. When the test came back, it said she was really Native American, but only 50%! The other 50% was Jewish. It turns out the friend’s grandmother had a secret of her own.
“So she decides to ask her elderly (late 80s), ailing mother what that was about. Turns out that her mother (my friend's grandmother) had a one night stand with a Jewish man and ended up pregnant. She had hidden this from her entire family, including her husband, who is now suffering from dementia.”
This user’s mother did everything in her power to stop her child from using a DNA test kit. So, of course, they HAD to use one just to see what the fuss was about. Turns out, everything was normal!
”After doing the test I discovered nothing interesting at all. In fact, everything my mum had told me about my heritage was fairly accurate, what I did learn was my mum can be one hell of a troll when she wants to....”
This user’s grandmother and grandfather had been sweethearts since the second grade and remained married most of their adult lives. However, when the family decided to play with DNA test kits, they found out that they had another sibling one town over.
"My mother has met the new sibling (who is one of three kids himself), but they’ve all decided not to do anything about it, or maintain contact. All of the grandparents involved are dead, so there’s no one to answer questions."
This user’s friend believed she was the by-product of her mother’s affair with her uncle because her ‘father’ and mother had finally told her so. When the rest of the family did a DNA test without her, she decided to do one of her own and found out:
“She is the child of both her parents, not her mother and uncle. The family members horrified, regretful, and remorseful. Nothing makes up for 45 years of being shitty to someone from birth. Now that she knows, she's done with all of them.”
This user has known almost her whole life that she was a donor-conceived baby, but she was still curious about her genetic ancestry. To her surprise, before she’d even had a chance to look at her results, she was being contacted by a half-sibling!
“I cried the ugliest happy tears I ever have. After 17 years of knowing there had to be more out there, I finally found one. And it turns out she had only received her results a day earlier!”
This user took a DNA test and found out that he had an uncle out there older than his father. He was adopted and looking for his biological family.
"Turns out my grandpa had a little thing on the side. Both he and my grandmother have passed away... We don't know if either of them were aware of the child (now grown up)."
At almost 50 years old, this user found out that her now-deceased father was not her real father at all but a stranger that her mother had had an affair with in 1965. But, surprisingly enough, she wasn’t mad about it.
"When I confronted her about it, I made it very clear that I wasn't angry at her, nor did I want her to feel defensive about it. Hell, I'm here because of it, so way to go, mom."
When a married couple decided to do a DNA test to see which of them had more Italian heritage, the wife found out that she was only 40% Italian. Apparently, her uber-religious mother had had an affair, gotten pregnant, and kept the secret from everyone, especially the man she thought was her father.
"Which is insane because she is very, very religious. Hardcore about the 10 commandments, goes to church 3 times a week, doesn't believe dinosaurs were real. Her husband died about ten years ago."
This Reddit user and her mother were researching her family tree when her mother’s results came back that one parent was full-blooded Italian, except her parents were supposedly German, Irish, English, and Polish.
"My grandma was a secretary for a local Italian doctor that my mom said was very friendly to them, would give my mom rides to school, and would watch her sometimes. My mom also has a more olive skin tone and darker features than my grandpa and her brother. She also became a doctor..."
This Reddit user isn’t sure how much more he wants to find out about his biological family even though he found two half-sisters.
"I have two half-sisters. My biological half-brother died as a toddler under mysterious circumstances (was very public, on news, Phil Donahue Show and more). Very conflicted about wanting to know more."
This Reddit user’s friend turned in a DNA test kit that revealed he might have a daughter living in Washington state. Thankfully, it was just a niece, but that still made great sugar for that family tea.
"Long story short - turns out his brother had a one night stand in college and never saw the woman again. She wound up pregnant, but she had a boyfriend at the time and assumed it was his. They got married and raised this child never knowing it wasn’t her husband’s."
Because Native Americans receive tuition assistance, this user did a DNA test kit to prove it and save money on nursing school. However, it turned out she was actually a quarter Jewish!
"Turns out her grandmother had hooked up in the ’20s with a Jewish guy going to an Ivy League college in our town and got pregnant with my grandmother. His parents were loaded, and paid my great grandmother’s not so rich family off to keep it quiet."
Reddit user iwannabefreddieHg found out his aunt and uncle gave up their first child for adoption. Not only did he find a new cousin but also a happy ending to his DNA testing quest.
"She reached out to us absolutely thrilled because she had been looking for her biological family for years unsuccessfully. It was very sweet. She looks identical to my grandmother. :)"
Thenerdyglassesgirl on Reddit did a DNA test kit for a research study and had to sign a liability waiver regarding the results. As a joke, she teased her mom that she better let her know if there were any secrets she might be hiding. Her mother’s response was golden:
"Well, it's not like we can find those traveling carnies we bought you from anyways."
This user’s mother knew she had a father out there somewhere. Twenty-five years ago, she found the man who was listed as her birth father and proceeded to form a close bond with him. Fast forward to present day, and she took the Ancestry.com test to find out that she has a different biological father after all!
"Well the results came in and her father is not the man she got to know for the last 25 years. Ancestry told her that she matched another man as her father 99.999999% and now she doesn’t know what to do."
Reddit user Nickthequick303 grew up in a family of divorce, hearing from his mother what a cheater his father was. When his father wanted to do DNA test kits for fun, his mom panicked and admitted that his older brother might not be his father’s biological son!
"Dad wanted to do one of these tests a couple years back for genealogy fun and when my older brother told my mom we all were gonna do it she got panicked and had to tell my brother he may not be our dad’s son and showed him a picture of the guy who might be. I’m betting we’re only half brothers."
After a woman finished completing her large family tree, she decided to trace her heritage back as far as she could and used a 23andMe DNA kit. She found out the man who raised her was not her father. She found her biological father and is now at a loss.
"Now she's really torn about whether to contact him or not. Mom never told him about her, so he'd be in for a Hell of a surprise."
Justbrowsing278’s family just found out about a sibling of his mother’s. Apparently, his grandmother gave a baby up for adoption. Later, she got married and had more children. Now, his mother and her new-found sister are thick as thieves, and the whole family accepts her.
"I got to be in the same room as my grandma when she met her long lost daughter and her first words were she always loved her and wishes she could have raised her herself but it wasn't possible. My grandmother never told anyone and it was a shock for everyone."
CayseyBee’s husband’s father tried his whole life to find his biological parents, succeeding in only finding his biological mother before his own death. So, her husband did the DNA test himself, and now he has a whole new family!
"He’s found a whole family that he never knew existed and who didn’t know about his father. He died several years ago, but we’re all fairly certain he didn’t know he’d become a father at the ripe old age of 16."
PhantomFace757’s issue is unique in that he already knows he’s not his kids’ biological father. However, because he, his wife, and some other members of the family did the DNA testing, his son asked if he and his sister could do one as well. Now, they’re just waiting for the day they run out of excuses.
"I have nothing to hide from my son and daughter about I not being their DNA dad, but I told them they had to wait till they were adults. I've been with them since birth and have a great relationship with them, so that's just a time we chose so they can better handle any issues."
This woman and her sister did a DNA test to trace their Irish heritage only to not only find out that they were actually part Jewish, but also that their father was apparently switched at birth!
“He was raised in an orphanage; he didn’t have anything else. He had his Irish identity… My dad would have lost his identity. He’s been kind of spared that.”
User Tanlyss received a message from a stranger on Facebook a few years ago asking specifically for her mother. Turns out the stranger had taken a DNA test and it showed her as a half-sibling. Apparently, Tanlyss’s grandpa was a real ladies man when he was in the Army in his 20s.
"My grandpa died close to 20 years ago so she never got a chance to meet him. It’s a shame. My grandpa loved kids so he would have stepped up and taken responsibility if he would have known."
