1. Poor Grandpa
My grandfather did not die of a heart attack in the garage. My grandmother accidentally hit him with the car. My grandfather passed away when I was 6 and I never knew why my grandmother refused to drive anywhere after that and preferred walking. It wasn’t until many years later, when I overheard my dad telling someone that his father had died of a car accident that I was then let in on the family secret. What happened was, she was in the driveway trying to back out, and he was standing in front of the car guiding her. She thought she was in reverse and just floored it without looking, pinning my grandfather to the wall.
He passed away later on that day at the hospital. They had been married 52 years and she never drove after that. She never spoke about how he died, but spoke about him all the time. She would always tell me stories and ask me about my memories of him so that I wouldn't forget them. She would tell people he died of a heart attack, that she had found him in the garage, which is where I got that story from. I think that was a kind of coping mechanism so that she wouldn't have to deal with the truth. She lived another 23 years with that guilt.
NothinbutNette
2. Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire
Last year, I found out my dad wasn’t actually my biological father. He got my sisters and I those Ancestry DNA kits for Christmas to do for fun as a family and once we got the results, it showed he wasn’t my biological father. The messed up thing is my mom knew the whole time and never told anyone.
For 26 years she kept this a secret and never had any intention of telling the truth. When I confronted her about it, she denied and denied and then once I showed her the results, she finally confessed.
She’d had an affair with her college boyfriend while my dad was on a business trip for a couple months. After I found all of this out, it finally made sense why we never had a great relationship and why she treated my sisters better than me. She knew I was the product of her affair and was ashamed so she would take out her anger on me. Funny enough, she cheated on my dad again when I was 10 and that led to their divorce. She is a really messed up woman. I am not on speaking terms with her nor do I care to meet my biological father. My relationship with my dad has never been better and that’s all I really care about.
__littlespoon__
3. Forgotten Cousin
I didn't know one of my cousins existed until I was about ten years old. Turns out he was diagnosed with Leukaemia as a child and I was a very sensitive kid, so my family decided not to tell me until the treatment was successful and he recovered.
It would have been okay if they told me as soon as he was healthy again, but I guess they forgot so the first time I met him, I was wondering how exactly I managed to forget the existence of a whole person.
monopoppi
4. Fatal Betrayal
I was told my aunt and uncle died because of a carbon monoxide leak in their house when I was much younger.
When I turned 16, my father decided I was old enough so I was told the truth. My uncle was having serious money problems so he shot my aunt and then hung himself.
Julieandrewsdildo
5. A Real Piece Of Work
My grandma remarried when my mom was a toddler. Turns out that my biological granddad was cheating on grandma with her best friend, resulting in a child, and a divorce. He recently passed away after having no contact with us since he left grandma.
Turns out our family was his "secret family" that his current family never knew about. He also mentioned that it's very likely my mom has a couple dozen half-siblings in Vietnam. As if that was not enough, he also left all his money to his favourite prostitute in his will.
friendlylycanthrope
6. Undiagnosed
My granny attempted suicide when my mom was in high school. My mom was the one that found her. Luckily she did find her in time because if she hadn’t she wouldn’t have survived. It explains why my mom panics the way she does and jumps to conclusions all the time. If she can’t get a hold of me or my brother on the phone she automatically assumes we are dead and she panics.
Recently, she couldn’t get a hold of my brother for a few hours and she lost all composure and had a nervous breakdown. We just are starting to realize after all these years, that she probably has undiagnosed PTSD.
artyfischal
7. Generational Trauma
My sister and I both got UTIs at the same time when our family was staying at our grandparents’ house. One day my grandma took both of us aside and started what felt like an interrogation about whether any adults had touched us. Like, “If something happened, you have to tell me RIGHT NOW.”
At the time, I felt gross, confused, and guilty, even though nothing had happened. It was just too intense. I later learned that my grandma had been sexually abused by her brother for years and her mother refused to believe her.
Hellomireaux
8. Hidden Addictions
My aunt and uncle (who passed away when I was 11) were drug addicts. I adored them but as I got older I started seeing less and less of them and never understood why. My parents briefly told me when I was 16 that my uncle didn’t die of a brain tumour (he actually had one though). Instead he shot himself while my aunt was in the other room which led to my aunt's drug related death on New Year’s Day.
They finally told me the whole story when I was 21. I was the last person to know (even my little brother knew before me) because I was extremely close to them and looked so highly of them. I still do. I wish I would have known sooner but I understand why they didn’t tell me.
Tristenconn
9. It’s not his fault
My dad’s youngest brother came home drunk one night and got into a fight with my grandpa. My uncle punched grandpa in the face and went to bed. Grandpa went to the bathroom and never came out. My dad came over in the morning and found him dead in the bathroom. He had a massive heart attack.
My uncle drank, smoked, snorted, and stole anything and everything for as long as he could. He eventually went to jail and when he got out, he hung himself. Maybe he would have turned out the same either way, but my dad told me the full story about 5 years ago and it made me wonder if his life would have been any better if not for that one night.
CerwinVegas55
10. Unspoken Words
My aunt was 15/16 and was 5 months along when my grandfather forced an abortion on her. She became sterile from a botched operation. It was illegally done and my aunt was never the same from it apparently. She was miserable ever since then and succumbed to depression about 12 years ago and killed herself.
I loved her a lot and miss her dearly. Out of all the relatives, I look like her exact clone too. That kind of trauma is something that is extremely hard to recover from without serious professional help.
Sharksandcali
11. Moving in Silence
My grandmother's husband was a pedophile. All of a sudden I knew why my uncle was so weird and would pick me up and carry me away rather than let me stay alone in a room with him. For the longest time I thought my uncle was a real prude, my male cousins could all swim naked or run around in just their swim trunks, but my uncle made me always wear a swimsuit and put on a cover up when I came out of the pool.
He later told me, "God forbid he touched you, I was making sure no one could try to blame you. They blamed all his other victims for being too tempting." My uncle, bless his heart, wanted to end that man so bad. For that matter, so did my dad. Finding out the pedo was, well, a pedo, made all of their muttering to each other at family gatherings make so much more sense.
SeaOkra
12. Stolen Innocence
I suffered 10 years of sexual abuse by my stepfather and nobody did anything. My mother stayed with him even after I had him arrested after he assaulted me the last time at the age of 17 (my age at the time).
It’s like the whole family was possessed by demons.The day he died was the best day of my life. I no longer lived under the veil of threats to my life for telling everyone who and what he really was a monster!
spf808
13. Poor Grandpa
My grandpa burned to death. I found out he died when I was a kid, but was not allowed to go to his funeral, and they told me he had a heart attack.
I was so confused because everyone around me would clam up when I asked about him. Turns out that he had a heart attack while trying to put out a field fire, collapsed, and burned. I still have no idea how long it took for people to find him, but I'm assuming it was hours.
[deleted]
14. Miscarried
When I was seven years old, I remember my mom was really excited and told me I was gonna have a little sibling. Then one day she suddenly stopped talking about it. I kinda just assumed she made a mistake and really wasn’t pregnant.
Fast forward to last month and she told me that pregnancy ended in a miscarriage. Probably should’ve expected that but it was still kind of shocking to hear.
GrilledCrabCat
15. Is This Real?
My great grandfather on my father’s side killed my great grandmother with an axe while she was sleeping. My grandma, who was the oldest one, raised all of her siblings. She was 19 at the time and just married my grandad, who was 19 too.
Youngest sister was just 2 years old, they were 9 in total. I knew my grandma raised all her siblings but I always thought it was because her mother died from some illness. I just found out when I was 17 and asked my aunt. I was completely horrified.
DrDrunk992
16. Co-Parenting
My mom, aunts, and uncle always called my pap by his first name, not dad or anything. When I was a kid, I thought maybe he just wanted them to call him by his name. Then one day, my mum mentions something about her dad. I thought she meant my pap. Nope. My mum was the product of an affair and both men (my grams first husband and my mum’s biological dad) thought of her as their own and basically co-parented.
This was in the early 1960’s. Both men raised my mum as their daughter until my grams first husband passed away. And before my anyone says anything about my gram, she was married off when she was 16 to an older man to “save face” for the family. It was not a marriage of love but convenience. She fell in love with my grandpa and had permission from her first husband to pursue the relationship.
LameGhost
17. Not My Real Name
My dad never called his step mom anything but her real name, Margaret. He has 7 brothers and sisters and they all called her mom or some form of that. When I got older I learned that my grandpa was actually cheating on my real grandma/ my dads mom with Margaret while she was dying of colon cancer. My dad was 5 when she died and as she was dying, my dad had to call my grandpa to tell him to come home because she was dying.
After that Margaret and her 3 kids moved in and my dad was forced to live with his sister who was 18 and married (this was late 70s backcountry so not abnormal for the time) from then until he turned 16 when he decided to move in with his best friend and his mom. So I learned that he probably has always had resentment towards Margaret because of everything that happened when he was so young and never wanted to call her anything that resembled a mother because that’s not what she was to him.
Compozurev
18. Slippery
My father, Capo from the Neapolitan Camorra, was wanted by the interpol, and couldn't set foot back in Italy without being immediately apprehended. He was also living under a stolen identity he used when he fled a high security prison in Italy, my last name never was my "family name".
That and much more. I used to like telling this story when I found out, since everyone thought I was lying or joking anyway. I was 12, and only found out because my mom broke down after father was detained in Spain(while we lived in Argentina), which meant he might never come back to us. He escaped prison again a year later.
Sleippnir
19. What A Mess
My sister is my mother. She was 16 when I was born, and kicked out. Her mother (my grandma) raised me as her daughter. It doesn’t end there. I was a product of abuse from a family friend. To this day I don’t know who my real dad is.
My grandma was in her forties when she “had” me. And my sister was sent to a boarding school when she was pregnant with me. My sister has no idea that I know.
likeasexyboss
20. Her Parents Were Swingers
My best friend growing up would come stay the night at my house on occasion because her parents "were going to have a sleepover with their friends", and their friends were always another couple.
10-year-old me thought nothing of it, I didn't realize till I was an adult what her parents were actually probably doing. I wonder if she ever figured it out.
athaliah
21. Me Or Nobody
My brother and I are only half siblings. We didn't know that my dad wasn't his dad until I was 10 and he was 15.
The only reason he was told was because my mom was trying to manipulate him into choosing her side in the divorce.
WhenwasyourlastBM
22. Kick It Out
I had a creepy uncle that everybody felt uncomfortable near. I think he was more annoying than creepy. Anyway, never liked the guy. One day when I was about 17 he asked for a handshake, locked his hand over mine and said "aren't you going to kiss your uncle's hand?" and tried to pull his hand near to my head.
I freaked out and said that I was going to beat him if he didn't let me go that instant (It sounded way cooler in portuguese) and when he refused to let me go I overpowered him and managed to land a couple kicks until my father arrived. I stopped thinking that maybe I went too far but dad started to beat the crap out of him when I told that he asked for a kiss. Later I was informed that my uncle was indeed a sex harasser.
Shychien
23. Grandpa In The Pearly Gates
Something felt strange about my grandfather's funeral, just the way they were emphasizing his place in heaven. Later found out that he shot himself in the heart with a 357.
Same side of the family also had seemingly random people show up at family gatherings throughout my life that ended up being illegitimate children of my grandma. I just started gaining uncles and cousins. It confused the hell out of me as a child.
Dragothor
24. Mind Your Business
Out of four girls, I'm the only one who can biologically have kids. I didn't find out until I was 24, and then only because my mom wanted me to shut up about asking my recently married sister when they were going to have kids. I now understand why my parents were so grossly underprepared to explain menstruation to me, the third daughter.
They'd never had to do it before. The reason is chromosomal. They basically don't have the necessary internal parts and had to take hormone therapy. Don't ask people when/if they're going to have kids. I had to learn this lesson the hard way, but you don't have to. It's none of your business.
BeepBeep_ImAsleep
25. Never To Be Spoken Off
My parents would never talk about my grandpa (my moms dad) and I would always ask what happened to him since he died and more info about him.
My parents would always just say he died of a heart attack and was an accountant and always get a look in their face. Little did I know he was an alcoholic who killed himself. It was just hard for my mom to talk about him.
Bigb265
27. Bad Grandma
My grandmother has always been mean to her oldest daughter (my mom's sister). She was always belittling her and criticizing her. I remember even when I was a kid, I thought she was just being so mean to her for no reason whatsoever. I just assumed she played favourites with her children to an extreme degree.
When I was about 20, I learned that my grandmother conceived my aunt out of wedlock, before she had met and married my grandfather, and was mean to her because she doesn't like being reminded about that part of her past. I had previously lost respect for her when I thought she was being mean to my aunt for no reason. When I found out the real reason, I just lost even more respect for her.
NewSpinach
27. Grandma Is A Meanie
My grandmother has always been mean to her oldest daughter (my mom's sister). She was always belittling her and criticizing her. I remember even when I was a kid, I thought she was just being so mean to her for no reason whatsoever. I just assumed she played favourites with her children to an extreme degree.
When I was about 20, I learned that my grandmother conceived my aunt out of wedlock, before she had met and married my grandfather, and was mean to her because she doesn't like being reminded about that part of her past. I had previously lost respect for her when I thought she was being mean to my aunt for no reason. When I found out the real reason, I just lost even more respect for her.
uh_oh_hotdog
28. Bad Grandpa
When I was about 10-11, I found out my Papa was really my grandma’s third husband and step dad to my dad and his siblings. My dad’s bio dad was an abusive man and my grandma left him when she found out he had been molesting her daughter from her first marriage. I had met my actual grandpa a handful of times, but I had no idea who he was.
He was referred to by everyone, including his kids by a nickname. I was pretty devastated at first, but my Papa never ever treated us any differently than he did his bio grandkids and loved all of us to pieces. Bio grandpa ended up being caught molesting one of the grandkids of his second wife and killed himself rather than go to jail when I was 13. Never missed him.
sweetxexile
29. It Runs In The Family
When I was around 6-8 years old, my uncle passed away. I thought it was something sudden and medically tragic, as I remember him having lung problems of some sort. When I got older I found out he committed suicide, because his girlfriend broke up with him.
I remember visiting my dad and hanging out in my uncle's room where we got to play video games and listen to cool music with him. That was the start of me learning about mental illness running in the family and connected a lot of dots for me.
sarar3sistance
30. Ice Cold
My grandmother was a hard drug addict. She was a nurse and basically “Nurse Jackie’d” her way into stealing Dilaudid (hydromorphone) from the hospital and shooting it up for a decade or so. I still don’t know the real specifics but this was happening when I was roughly 1 to 10 years old and I was told about it when I was in my mid 20’s. She was never noticeably out of it, but I remember her being super super chill every time she watched us and rarely ever drove us anywhere.
Now I understand that she was just stoned sideways and wasn’t going to risk driving us kids around while she was under the influence. Another odd thing, when she was stoned she would always eat ice chips. She’s sober now and doesn’t anymore, but I remember her chomping on ice cubes all day long when we were little.
Kyle-Is-My-Name