1 00:00:00,600 --> 00:00:02,880 Speaker 1: Let me tell you what it's like to find out 2 00:00:02,920 --> 00:00:07,320 Speaker 1: you were wrong, just plain wrong about who you are 3 00:00:07,800 --> 00:00:10,680 Speaker 1: and where you come from. To look in the mirror 4 00:00:10,720 --> 00:00:13,760 Speaker 1: one day and see a stranger staring back at you. 5 00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:28,040 Speaker 1: That's what happened to me. My name is Danny Shapiro, 6 00:00:28,760 --> 00:00:33,160 Speaker 1: and this is family secrets, Secrets that are kept from us, 7 00:00:33,840 --> 00:00:37,200 Speaker 1: secrets we keep from others, and the secrets we keep 8 00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:41,280 Speaker 1: from ourselves. A family secret was kept from me for 9 00:00:41,440 --> 00:00:46,120 Speaker 1: my entire life, the family secret which I stumbled upon 10 00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:50,320 Speaker 1: purely by accident, at the age of fifty four, that 11 00:00:50,440 --> 00:00:58,520 Speaker 1: my dad wasn't my dad. Since then, I've walked the 12 00:00:58,600 --> 00:01:01,920 Speaker 1: halls of my home looking at the photos and portraits 13 00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:04,839 Speaker 1: that hang on the walls. My father is a boy. 14 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:10,160 Speaker 1: My grandmother and grandfather, great aunts and uncles, cousins from 15 00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:14,600 Speaker 1: the old country. My father's family was big un posterity 16 00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:18,280 Speaker 1: from as far back as I can remember. I was 17 00:01:18,319 --> 00:01:24,360 Speaker 1: told their stories, and their stories became my stories. Now 18 00:01:24,840 --> 00:01:27,679 Speaker 1: I stop and stare at each one of these people, who, 19 00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:32,480 Speaker 1: it turns out, are not my ancestors. The woman in 20 00:01:32,520 --> 00:01:36,400 Speaker 1: a high collared velvet blouse, her hair parted severely in 21 00:01:36,440 --> 00:01:40,600 Speaker 1: the center, the man in the ponce Ney wearing a suit, 22 00:01:41,280 --> 00:01:45,760 Speaker 1: his hand resting on a book, and further back, solemn 23 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:49,680 Speaker 1: people in a dusty Polish village. Who are you to me? 24 00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:55,200 Speaker 1: I asked them, who are you to me? And in 25 00:01:55,240 --> 00:01:59,400 Speaker 1: the middle of the night I sometimes asked myself this question. 26 00:02:00,840 --> 00:02:04,280 Speaker 1: Who am I? Who am I? Now that I know 27 00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:12,720 Speaker 1: the truth? Welcome to Family Secrets, my new podcast. Each 28 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:15,800 Speaker 1: week I delve deep into a family secret with a 29 00:02:15,919 --> 00:02:20,880 Speaker 1: very special guest. Here's an interesting fact. Not one of 30 00:02:20,880 --> 00:02:23,360 Speaker 1: the people I invited on the show to have a 31 00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:28,440 Speaker 1: very public conversation about their family secret said no, not one. 32 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:31,880 Speaker 1: Some of my guests have written books or made films 33 00:02:31,919 --> 00:02:35,040 Speaker 1: about their discoveries. Some have never spoken of it before 34 00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:39,600 Speaker 1: to anyone outside their most intimate inner circle. But everyone 35 00:02:39,600 --> 00:02:41,400 Speaker 1: who has lived a portion of their lives in the 36 00:02:41,480 --> 00:02:46,840 Speaker 1: dark understands that secrets are deadly. They hold an invisible 37 00:02:46,919 --> 00:02:50,520 Speaker 1: power over us and shape our lives without our even 38 00:02:50,560 --> 00:02:55,200 Speaker 1: knowing it. But when the veil of secrecy drops, we 39 00:02:55,320 --> 00:02:58,680 Speaker 1: gain a new understanding, a new perspective on who we 40 00:02:58,760 --> 00:03:04,680 Speaker 1: really are and what has formed us. Family Secrets will 41 00:03:04,760 --> 00:03:09,160 Speaker 1: launch on February fourteenth. Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts 42 00:03:09,560 --> 00:03:12,040 Speaker 1: or on the i Heart Radio app, or wherever you 43 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:14,840 Speaker 1: listen to podcasts. H