is often said that we all lead three different lives: public, private and secret. While there are many who are aware of our public and private lives, the secret ones aren't known to many. They just need to be respected the way they are.
Hiding a secret or two is nothing but a human virtue and everyone, after all, has a few skeletons in their closet.
However, this is a series of revelations that is taking things to an altogether different level. It's just a reflection of how some families are harbouring darker secrets than the most.
The varied answers as a part of the thread range from the disclosure of a mother knowing that her child was being abused and still doing nothing about it to someone who found out their 'sister' was their mother. People have been sharing some of their most intimate family secrets in this 'what are some of the most messed up family secrets?' series.
It has attracted visitors close to a million and we feel it is one of the most messed-up ones. Take a look!
This anonymous user wrote that she was confused about her sex in childhood as her mother would often dress her as a boy.
mother would often dress her as a boy.
This anonymous user wrote that she was confused about her sex in childhood as her mother would often dress her as a boy. via
The girl said that her mother would often beat her and didn't let her enjoy the things that kids of her age were enjoying. The mother's antics led to a great mess in the girl's life.
She further wrote: "I started to get involved with my little cousin brother. Touching him inappropriately gave me a pleasure I never had felt before nor had the brain to understand it was wrong. I feel guilty every minute even today and because of this incident I may never like myself. I was a bright student.I had my share of downfall there too because I was a stupid kid looking for love. I should not have wasted my school life in finding love. I was an above average student and all my teachers said I had it me. I wish I would have converted that little I had in me thing.I am not that bad today but was definitely someone whom one can look upto. There is no pain worse than not being able to accomplish what you are capable of just because of dark complex situations in your life not created by your own."
NOTE: The images in this article are taken just for the purpose of illustration.
Another user highlighted how her childhood was ruined by her grandfather who would often abuse her.
She revealed that the abuse she endured was sexual and she had the bad experience at the age of 8.
"The messed up part, which I only came to know two months back 20 years after my own abuse was found out by my family, is that he also sexually abused my aunt, his own daughter about 50 years ago," she explained.
"And he got away with it decades before he got away with mine. Apparently, my grandmother knew, but never thought to take any action either for her own daughter, or to be vigilant for the safety of other children in the family."
Another user shared his family wanted to keep his mother's issue of alcoholism and mental illness a secret because of 'reputation'.
Another messed up family secret revealed by Rohn Bayani was: "An aunt was having an affair with her young nephew and may now be living together, according to my source. They now have a son who looks just like the nephew's father who is, incidentally, the aunt's first cousin."
Another man shared how he always felt somehow disconnected with his parents and found love around his siblings.
"My oldest sister, Hannah, always took care of me the best. I always saw her as a mother figure, never knowing she was actually my mother. She always spent the most time with me out of all my brothers and sisters, took care of me the best, and was often there for me when my mom wasn't.
My parents were much older than me, and I had always felt more distant from them than from my siblings. As I said, Hannah, was in many ways a mother-figure towards me in the way that our mother was lacking.
When my father passed away, it was probably the worst part of my life. I was really young, around 8 years old. I did not take it well at all. I cried for weeks, I went crazy, I threw fits at people. I reacted poorly and negatively towards everyone. I know my siblings were all going through just as bad a period, but I made it about me. I didn't even consider them or what they would have been going through emotionally, despite them being there constantly for me.
And recently the same thing happened with mom. It hit me just as hard, if not harder. She'd been sick for a long time and slowly getting worse. Even though I'd lost one parent already and am older, I wasn't at all ready for it when it hit me."
Later, he found out that his eldest sister was, in fact, his mother.
"It was after this that Hannah told me the truth. She sat me down, and braced me that what she was about to tell me would be a shock. She knew that we were all still recovering from our mother's passing, but a few weeks had passed, and she felt it was enough time to wait before coming out with the truth. She said she had always wanted to tell me, and only now could she finally.
When she was 13, as many stupid kids do, she had unprotected sex with a boy, and she had gotten pregnant. And that child was me."
Another unnamed user found out that their half brother wasn't actually related to them at all.
The confessor's father's ex-wife had had an affair, and he'd raised their child as his own.
"Apparently, his first wife cheated on him with our neighbor, let's call him Mr. X and she got pregnant with him.
They had a rough relationship and his wife went to different city for a while. My father visited her and he found our neighbour at her place. Our other neighbours knew this.
The worst part is, we live in a small village in Asia where everybody talks and gossip. The words spread, my neighbors saw my dad's ex and Mr. X together.
After his mother and the neighbour got divorced, neither could take care of the baby.
'My father was nice enough to take care of the boy," the anonymous explained.