19 People Who Took A DNA Test And Learned Something Truly, Truly, Truly, Truly, Truly, Truly Unexpected From It
Recently, I did a post where I asked the BuzzFeed Community members to tell us us the wildest things they learned after taking a DNA test. Well, not only did I get a lot of submissions, but after publishing that post, people shared in the comments their own stories about the discoveries they made.
So, without further ado, here are more things people discovered about themselves or their families:
1.
"My mother was trying to figure out why her and this random guy from across the country had such similar DNA. After going back and forth, they thought it might have something to do with her dad's side. She had the guy (who is now in his 70s) take a DNA test, and it turns out he is my mom's half brother!
When my grandpa was on leave from WWII, he went home and had an affair with a married woman. We will never know if he knew that she got pregnant or if she knew that the baby wasn't her husband's. Wild! (This was two months ago.)"
2.
"I had been raised believing my stepfather was my biological father. At some point, my mother told me he wasn’t. She had gotten pregnant with me in high school, and it didn’t work out. I did eventually meet and get to know my biological father as an adult. About five years after he died, I found out I had a half sister who is exactly two months younger than me. I was shocked to find out that I was not the only secret love child that my dad fathered when he was 16."
—Anonymous
3.
"All my father's life, he thought he was half Korean...turns out not so much as he found out last year his mother had an affair. His half blood siblings reached out.
It's kind of funny because I'm very blonde and grew up with a very Korean last name and was given lots of grief over it; turns out it was all for nought."
4.
"Not a from a DNA test I took, but rather, I decided to look for my real father as an adult. We had moved, and I didn't know for sure where he might be. I eventually found him and was shocked — his sister, my aunt, is a woman I knew all through high school — she had substituted as a teacher, directed school theater productions. Her husband was my math teacher. Her son was in my class. I was acquainted with her daughter. I knew all of them for YEARS. My father hadn't told anyone about me; they had never met my mom, so no one had any idea.
Meeting my dad was disappointing to say the least. We didn't keep in touch; there was no connection. He has gone back to pretending I don't exist. My aunt and I have talked, but I don't know how to have a relationship with her. It's all a bit painful for me, and I don't know how to do it. But what a crazy coincidence!!!"
5.
"I did a test, and apparently, I am directly related to Princess Diana. Serendipitously, I did cross her path, on an island in the British Caribbean — she was playing on the beach with William and Harry. Though I didn't know that at the time that we might be cousins."
6.
"A close friend of mine found out she has two half sisters from her dad stepping out on her mom. She had no idea. Her mom said she knew her dad had cheated (they’re no longer together), but not that he had other children. Her dad still denies that he did, even after the DNA tests. My friend has met both of her sisters, and they’ve become friends even if their dad doesn’t claim them."
7.
"I recently did Ancestry DNA tracking for a friend. Turns out, he has a first cousin in the next state over. And, although he knew all the cousins on his mom's side, never any on his dad's side. He's also never heard of this first cousin in another state, but his cousin's last name is the same as my friend's half siblings' last name.
Let me explain:
His mom had two kids with her first husband but had, supposedly, moved on to his 'father' by the time he was born. He is even named after this man. He had a 'full' sister with this same 'father.' They share a special heritage (which is not in his DNA). She doesn't know. Their mother has already died. And he REALLY doesn't want to open that can of worms that he is likely his mom's first husband's child."
8.
"A colleague was given a DNA kit for Christmas, which is how he found out his father is his bio father and his mother isn't his bio mother. This surprised him because there are photos of his parents holding him as a newborn.
Someone in the office asked about his birth certificate. He hadn't needed to see it. He doesn't even have a passport. Anyhow, he has zero interest in asking his parents about it because he's happy with the way things are. He doesn't think they'll ever tell him, and he's fine with that. I think I'd ask if I were in his shoes because, honestly, the curiosity would kill me."
9.
"I always knew my mom was adopted, but I didn’t realize she was the youngest of seven from her biological family, and the only one given up for adoption."
—Anonymous
10.
"Just this week, thanks to a DNA test, I found out that my grandfather was not my dad’s biological father. Apparently, my grandmother stepped out quite often with other men. After talking with a cousin, we came to the conclusion that we may all share the same grandmother, but several of us cousins may have completely different grandfathers. My siblings were all shooketh, to put it mildly.
The kicker is that my mom knew all along, except for the name of the bio father. Two of my dad’s sisters told her all about it during a moment of drunken clarity on their parts. She held on to the secret for as long as she could until the DNA yanked that skeleton out of the closet."
11.
"My grandmother's family came from Scotland and moved around to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. I heard for many years that I am related to a famous NHL player, but never received any facts or proof, just my grandmother's maiden name: MacInnis. My mom decided a few years ago to do a DNA test. With that, and the light research I did alongside her, it turns out my mom's third cousin is famous NHL player Al MacInnis. Really, really cool stuff — never met the man, but my love of ice hockey and just that cool knowledge is enough for me!"
12.
"The man I was told my entire life was my bio dad, was not my bio dad. At 47, I found out it was another man that my mom 'forgot' about."
—Anonymous
13.
"I found out my dad wasn't my biological father at 27 years old (just last year). My mom used a sperm donor. I took an Ancestry DNA test and found out I have over 14 half siblings. I was able to briefly message with some of them, and one of them did a lot of digging and found out who the donor was, and I got to see a photo of him. It was eerie for sure seeing facial similarities between these new half siblings of mine and me, and especially, seeing the face of the man who half of my DNA comes from. Kinda cool that he's apparently a lawyer (according to LinkedIn), too!
I'm bummed I found out so late in life and missed the boat of connecting more with my half siblings (they must be way over discovering ones via Ancestry every so often) because they apparently did some video chats in 2020, but I'm still grateful for the knowledge."
—Anonymous
14.
"That I have a 19-year-old granddaughter from my deceased son."
—Anonymous
15.
"I was born in 1952, and all my life, I was told that my mother's father was a full-blooded Sioux Native American. Growing up, they even had some of the traditional outfits he made in our local museum. About five or so years ago, I did one of those DNA tests, and when the results came back, I was shocked. There was absolutely no Native American DNA in our family. It was pretty much all Western European. I remember bragging as a kid that I was one quarter Native American. Turns out I was one quarter of nothing. I'm just kinda glad my mother passed away before I found out."
—Anonymous
16.
"We knew our mom's bio mom, but not her bio dad. And we also fully believed that my half uncle was my mom's stepdad's son. Turns out he isn't, and his bio dad is the same person as my mom's bio dad. Two mysteries to solve now."
17.
"My grandmother was adopted at birth, and she went the first 70-odd years of her life not knowing who her birth family was. Through some Facebook messaging and a DNA test, she found two of her half brothers and reconnected with them! What we didn't expect, though, was finding that my grandfather also had a bunch of half siblings from his father sneaking around."
—Anonymous
18.
"My mum was adopted and raised by her grandparents after their daughter had my mum at 16. In her late 40s, she began searching for her biological father. After focusing on that and finally finding him, she started building the rest of her family tree, entering everyone she could know of. Suddenly, she realized she was getting no DNA matches on her biological grandfather's side (the man who raised her), so she asked her biological mum (the grandfather's daughter) to take a DNA test, too. She also had no matches.
In the search for her biological father, she found out her grandfather, the incredible man who raised her, wasn't related to her at all. A big loss for us all! There are three other siblings who have no idea we are only half related to them and that our nan was unfaithful!"
—Anonymous
19.
"I found out my dad wasn’t actually my biological father. My bio dad was neighbors with my parents, and when my mom got pregnant, they moved away. My dad unfortunately passed in 2011, but it also spared me from having this awkward convo with him. I confronted my mom who always knew but selfishly wanted to keep the secret.
My bio dad knew about me and kept photos of me in his home. I got to meet him before he also passed away. The silver lining is it gave me the validation I needed when I felt like I didn’t fit in with my family. My bio family and I have a lot of similarities, and I gained more people to love."
—Anonymous
Friends / Via giphy.com
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
