A routine DNA test for a family tree project shattered a woman's world. The man she called father for 26 years wasn't her biological father. In a Reddit post, user Riembis shared how her mother has been building a family tree through DNA tests, encouraging her to take one to help gather more information.
However, when the test results came out, it left her shattered. The woman wrote, "My mum has been building our family tree and had done DNA tests for my grandparents on her side and one for my dad.
"My dad's ethnic results seemed interesting so I wanted to see what mine would be. My mum encouraged us to make one and everything was going fine while waiting for the results. I've been just building up my tree, which has been pretty fascinating. The part when i realised that I f***ed up by taking the test.
"The results came two days ago. I scroll through my DNA matches. To my surprise, no one from my dad's side shows up there. My dad doesn't show up there." Rather than seeing her dad's name, she was presented with "some guy" she'd never heard of before, who she shared 50 per cent DNA with.
She added: "[There were] some other people I haven't heard of before that I share up to 25 per cent of DNA with. The other half of people I know - around 25 per cent DNA match with my grandparents. I look up what ethnic heritage my dad has - 20 per cent balcan.
See the post here:
TIFU by taking dna test
byu/riembis intifu
"That doesn't show up in mine at all. It seems my mum has no idea about any of this. Today someone messaged me to share our family trees. I'm so confused and have no idea how to proceed. My parents seem to have a solid story about when and where I was conceived."
The woman decided to confront her mother about it. "My mum came over to visit today and we finally talked. I started by just mentioning again that I had gotten my results back and just gave her the tablet with the site," she added. "Her first reaction when she opened it was the same as I get when I learn something upseting/weird/etc - the 'Oh f*** awkward and anxious smirk'.
"I then asked her to explain how this happened. She said she did have her suspicions that it might be 50/50 who the father is but was hoping for a different result. Apparently, she did have an affair. She had gotten married at age of 18, so obviously haven't other serious relationships before that. First it started as a friendship, but this guy developed intense feelings for her and was very persuasive so things happened.
She says her mum enjoyed the attention and her dad "flipped out" after noticing she was up to something "sketchy". She said: "The side thing ended. She hasn't had any contact with him after. She was open to telling my dad about it at least. After some thinking and talking to my boyfriend, his insight, since my dad knew about the affair, was that in his place, he wouldn't want to know this kind of information, which I think is a good point.
"Another bit of information that I got from mum, is that for quite a while, she and my dad have had less of a romantic and more of a just friendship relationship."
Her post soon went viral on Reddit and several users dropped their reactions in the comment section.
A user commented, "The fact that your mum encouraged you to take the test means she probably wanted to have this conversation with you."
Another user added, "As your mum was OK about you getting the test I think there is something a bit more wrong here. I'd talk to your Mum and see if you were donor-conceived or if they had any IVF treatment to have you. It's possible they were told never to tell you about any treatment, pretty standard in the 80s/90s. There is no way in hell she would have encouraged you to test if there was an affair situation, that would be nuts."
A third user said, "It certainly wouldn't hurt to get a second one done just to be sure there isn't any mix-ups (if you can afford it). To avoid any unnecessary drama with the family I would go talk to your mum privately and see what she has to say. Maybe your dad knows and maybe he doesn't so don't rock the boat if you don't have to. Good luck with this. It must be a bit of a shocker for you."
