Dirty Little Secret:The Family Secret That Changed My Life

What would you do if you discovered the people you called Mom and Dad your entire life weren't actually your parents?

On this unforgettable episode of Billy The Kidd In The Morning, Billy the Kidd, Candice Lopez, and Producer Pooh hear a jaw-dropping Dirty Little Secret that sounds straight out of a Netflix documentary.

A listener reveals the shocking truth she uncovered in her early twenties: the people who raised her as their daughter were actually her grandparents, and the woman she believed was her older sister was really her biological mother. What follows is an emotional story of family sacrifice, addiction, loss, hidden truths, and the lifelong journey of discovering who you really are. 

The listener shares how her grandparents adopted her after her teenage mother struggled with addiction, why the family chose to keep the truth hidden for decades, and the heartbreaking moment her grandfather finally revealed the secret before his passing. She also opens up about the emotional fallout, years of therapy, unanswered questions, and the challenge of rebuilding her identity after learning everything she thought she knew about her family wasn't what it seemed

Listen now, subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who loves powerful real-life stories and unforgettable Dirty Little Secrets.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Get it off your chest. Commis you'll feel better. Welcome
to the Dirty Little Secret. It makes one of two
point nine ability kid candy, slow pants, producer phoo. Your Secrets,
your confessions. Anytime you want, you just call us eight
three three seven eight seven one oh two nine. We'll
set it up. If you can't go on right that minute,
we'll figure it out. We'll just get you on so
you can confess and get it off your chest. And
you never know what you're gonna get on Dirty Little Secret.

(00:23):
This one is a different one, So what's going on.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
It's weird, you know. I never really talk about it
publicly because the few people that I did tell they
just kind of look at me like I'm describing with
the Netflix documentary. Wow. Okay, So I found out in
my early twenties that my entire life was basically built
on a lie. The people that I thought were my
parents were actually my grandparents, and the woman I thought

(00:49):
was me hold on, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
Hold on, you said the people that you thought were
your parents were actually your grandparents? Whoa correct? Okay?

Speaker 2 (01:00):
I thought with my older sister she was my mother.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
This just, yeah, gave me the weirdest like creeps. Yeah,
it does feel like your whole life's a lie. That's
and it does sound like a Netflix special. Yeah, i'd
watch it, well, I would that. Okay, what tell me?
I mean how I don't even I'm rarely speechless.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
How okay? So, like growing up, nothing really seemed that unusual.
My parents were older, like older than most of my
friend's parents, but not so much older that I questioned it. Yeah.
They were really strict and private people, like not exactly
the type you sat down with and had big conversations with,
you know, so I never really asked a lot of questions.

(01:44):
So the woman I thought was my sister, she wasn't
around very much. She'd like pop in and out every
now and then and disappear for a long time, and
nobody ever told me why. It all makes sense now,
of course. So she struggled with addiction for most of
her life. And what I didn't know was that she
had me when she was only sixteen.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
Okay, yeah, so my grand my grandparents parents got legal
custody of me and adopted me.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
Really okay, which happens, I mean this, but usually it
does play out to where they say they're the they're
the parents, right, that's the part that got me.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
I mean, they kept that secret for years and the
only reason I ever found out was because my grandfather
got really sick and as he got worse, he told
my grandmother that he couldn't pass away without telling me
the truth.

Speaker 1 (02:37):
Oh man, okay, so you eventually find out, And how
did they tell you? Like, how does that even go down?
I know?

Speaker 2 (02:44):
Right, So, like one night they sat me down, like
we have something to tell you, and I'm like, oh,
they're gonna tell me he doesn't have a lot of
time left, you know. Instead, they totally changed my life.
And I really honestly don't remember that much after hearing
those words, like you're actually were actually your grandparents, everything
just kind of a blur and like, you know, all
of a sudden, every memory you have feels different.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
Yeah. Yeah, because you questioned, everything got to be in shock.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
Yeah, Like every photo, every holiday, every conversation, it's like
somebody hand to meet some new script of my own
life and told me I've been reading the wrong one
the whole time.

Speaker 1 (03:18):
You know, And you never really had any kind of
like a red flag pop up, like okay, well that
was weird. Like when you look back now, it's probably
easier because hindsight's twenty twenty.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
Yes, yes there were clues. A few years earlier, my mom,
my biological mom, passed away from an overdose and at
the time I thought I had lost my sister. But
what was weird was like how quickly everything happened. There
really wasn't a funeral, no big gathering or anything, just
a small celebration of life with like immediate family. And

(03:51):
I remember feeling like people were grieving like way harder
than I understood.

Speaker 1 (03:56):
And now I know why.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
Like I don't hate my grandparents where they did, but
I mean they honestly they saved me from yeah, pretty
heard upbringing. You know, they gave me stability and a
home and a chance of a normal life that I
wouldn't have had, you.

Speaker 1 (04:10):
Know, right. But still it's a lot to feel. Just
just the thought of being lied to for a long
time isn't settling, right, you know.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
Yeah, it's messed up. It messed me up. You know.

Speaker 1 (04:22):
That's what I was going to ask you, Like, did
is this something that you're still dealing with? Obviously?

Speaker 2 (04:26):
Yeah, I mean it's like hard to explain, Like you
learn your entire identity isn't exactly what you thought it was.
And I've spent a lot of time and therapy trying
to figure it out and process it. And my father's
gone now. My grandmother doesn't really like talking about any
of it. Most questions I ask are like, I get
short answers or like total silence.

Speaker 1 (04:45):
Real, Yeah, I have a.

Speaker 2 (04:47):
Lot of questions. A lot of stuff is missing, and
you know that that's the hardest part. I think I
probably never know.

Speaker 1 (04:53):
Yeah, and yeah, and it's personal obviously for your grandma
or your mom. Gosh, like, what are you even saying?
You thought she was your mother? She's your grandmother, but
your grandfather. You know, you still call her mom? Okay, Yeah,
I mean yeah, yeah, I do, right, And but yeah,
to have your mother pass away so you can't ask
her questions about it, Yeah, that's a lot. Wow, what

(05:14):
a powerful secret. Well, it sounds like you turned out
good and as crazy as it is, it probably built
a lot of character for you. And and you know,
you learn a lot from yourself when you go through
stuff like this. Unfortunately, but you do so well. Thank
you for sharing that. I really appreciate that, and I
hope it works out for you and maybe you get

(05:35):
some of the answers that you you want and that
you need. Really, thank you and good luck with everything. Okay,
thank you again, thinks tell me that's not a Netflix
special for sure. Imagine you go your whole life and
all of a sudden you're grown up and you find
that out. You find out in your twenties that your
grandma is your mom or your yeah, yeah, everything's changed.

(05:55):
Your mom is your grandma, yeah, and your shocking, and
your sister was your mom. Dad is crazy