“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way” – Tolstoy, Anna Karenina .
Every family has its skeletons in the closet—secrets, lies, and traumas that have passed down through generations without leaving the four walls of the picture-perfect all-American home. By being vulnerable enough to open up about these familial burdens—by sharing our stories—we break the chain. We end the cycle.
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The people of the internet recently took to Reddit to share the one thing that their family doesn’t talk about. Though that “one thing” is different across every household, every family has one.
You Are Not The Father
“Logistically, my sister’s first child cannot possibly have been her husband’s biological child, but he claimed the child as his own,” this person shares, “They eloped about 6 weeks before he was born. There is no way he wasn’t deployed when conception took place.
She hasn’t ever said a single word about it, but everyone knows. We’re not sure if he’s actually that bad at math (he is pretty dumb), or if he didn’t care.”
Poor Unfortunate Souls
“The time my mom was on Wheel of Fortune,” one guy writes, “It did not go well.”
Empties
“The rampant alcoholism,” one person writes, “It effects everyone and we never say a word.”
Head’s Up
“We don’t talk about the authentic shrunken heads my grandfather collected,” one woman reveals, “They were buried with him.”
The Other Brother
“I had two uncles,” this person shares, “My uncle accidentally ran over his brother when they were in their 20s and drunk one night. The brother died a few days later. That’s not talked about. Only found out from my aunt when she was under anesthesia.”
Sticks And Stones
“The physical abuse we suffered as kids,” one man reveals, “Parents have no idea what we’re talking about when we bring it up.”
The Edge Of Seventeen
“That my mom had a baby at seventeen an was forced to give it up for adoption,” one woman shares, “No one but a few people know, even less who will talk about it. My mom has never recovered from bring tricked into giving up her baby.”
Lucky
“The bunny incident,” this person writes, “So we had a bunny at our dads house a few years ago. It’s name was wall-e. My dad has bad OCD so he tried to wash it. For people who don’t know. You don’t wash bunnies. Spoiler alert. He died.”
Have A Little Faith
“The fact that 4/6 children have left our parents’ religion,” one woman writes, “Which is a huge social stigma and personal disappointment for them.”
The Barn
“That my family was very involved with a small 50 family top secret cult that included preparing for the end of the world and stock piling canned goods and water in million dollar ‘barn’ in the woods surrounded by small cabins,” one man reveals, “My parents got recruited for this cult when I was 4 years old and left when I was 15.
It was our whole life. Everything revolved around it. All our money went into it. My parents can’t talk about it. My mother flies into an insane rage.”
Group Effort
“How a group of my uncles and cousins (we’re Latin, our family is huge) beat a man to death in broad daylight,” one commentor writes.
Pride
“My mom had a half brother who was gay,” this person shares, “My granddad (her father) kicked him out of the house when he was 18 after catching him with another man in the house. He died during the AIDS epidemic in the 80’s, and my granddad didn’t go to the funeral.
I’ve only ever heard this story once from my mom; none of her sisters or my grandparents have ever mentioned it. I don’t think I was ever supposed to know. But it makes me sad knowing I had an uncle that I could’ve related to, and I’ll never get the chance to know him.”
Matters Of Head And Heart
“My brother’s mental disability,” this person shares.
Seeing Stars
“My mother’s mental health,” this woman writes, “She hallucinated off and on for years and was never totally stable. She didn’t believe there was anything wrong with her and never got help. But she told everyone in the immediate family, and she’s mentioned that over the years she discussed her ‘visions’ with various other people. Like, it’s a known thing about her.
But we never discussed it among ourselves at home when she wasn’t in the room. No-one outside of our immediate family, who also knows about her ‘condition’ has ever brought it up to me.”
Worldly
“The fact that my uncle has children with multiple prostitutes in the Philippines and Cuba,” this person reveals.
Overflow
“My brother’s hoarding,” this woman shares, “He’s been without hot water since October because there is no room to move the old water heater down from the second floor (which was a terrible design in the first place). The one time I mentioned he might have mental health issues my mom snapped at me. They live in Los Angeles, and I worry when a big earthquake hits he’ll seriously get buried. I watch the Hoarders show to better understand him.”
Second Hand
“How my uncle and auntie are raising my little cousin really bad,” this person shares, “He’s severely obese and they don’t care, continue to feed him only with snacks and not real food. On top of that he have breathing problems because his parents smoked a lot ever since his birth and it’s destroying his lungs.”
What’s Past Is Past
“My mother was previously in love with another woman before it was considered ‘acceptable’,” this person writes, “And they had been in a romantic relationship for about 3 years. We definitely never speak of it. Now she is engaged to my step father.”
Cash Cash
“How my parents were able to afford a house suddenly while working a minimum wage job and having recently immigrated to America dirt poor,” this person shares, “They would never tell me where they got the money from.”
Making Amends
“When my grandmother was diagnosed with end stage cancer, she offered to kill my father who was caught molesting me,” one woman reveals.
The Other Woman
“My grandfather had a lover for years before him and my grandmother divorced,” one man shares, “He started seeing her a few years before I was born. Right after the divorce was final, my grandma died from cancer and my grandpa married his old lover. She has a son… Two years older than me… Looks just like him… No one has dared to ask any questions…”
Dare
“I caught my parents smoking weed once when I was young and one day after I got yelled at for something threatened that I knew a secret that could ‘tear this family apart,'” this person writes, “I just finished taking DARE so I thought that was a big deal. My parents flipped out.
Turns out my dad was having an affair and my mom only had slight suspicions and I brought the whole thing to light.”
Unsend
“I accidentally texted my family ‘I can’t decide if jacking off at my great grandma’s house is worth it or not’ instead of a different group chat,” one guy reveals, “It doesn’t get brought up but oh boy do I think about it a lot.”
Teacher’s Pet
“My cousin who is a principal, and was married with kids, had an affair with a teacher,” this person writes, “She was also married. They both ended both of their marriages and got together. The teacher was my math teacher at the time while this all happened.”
Sister Sister
“My sister is really my half sister,” one woman shares, “Didn’t find out till I was like 35.”
I Don’t
“My parents were never actually married,” one woman writes, “And they played it off like they were for 20+ years.”
Third Time’s The Charm
“My grandfathers second wife,” one guy shares, “She manipulated him to get most of his money, and when he died she managed to get his gravestone inscribed only with words saying he was a loving husband to her.”
True Crime
“My relative who was murdered by a serial killer,” this person reveals.
Rubber Bracelets
“The friend of a close cousin who raped me,” one woman reveals, “Everyone acts like it never happened. Better yet, he died a few years later and they all were part of the big memorial that has become an annual thing. They even wear rubber bracelets for him.”
