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Speaker 1: Family Secrets is a production of I Heart Radio High

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Speaker 1: Family Secrets. Family. It's Danny and we're back with an

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Speaker 1: episode of listener messages. Our mailbox has been rimming with

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Speaker 1: your amazing stories, so we're going to start dropping these

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Speaker 1: in from time to time as we continue to be

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Speaker 1: hard at work creating Season four of Family Secrets with

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Speaker 1: an amazing lineup of guests, launching in early October. I

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Speaker 1: know it's a long time to wait, and I know

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Speaker 1: we could all use the distraction, but good things take time,

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Speaker 1: and I promise it'll be worth it. In the meantime,

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Speaker 1: we're trying to bring you as much great bonus content

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Speaker 1: as we can, and to that end, here are some

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Speaker 1: stories recorded by you. Are wonderful, devoted listeners. I'm honored

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Speaker 1: and grateful that you're part of my world. By Danny,

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Speaker 1: I just stumbled across your podcast and was amazed at

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Speaker 1: the fact that I'm not the only one with such

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Speaker 1: family secrets. At age fifty five, I found out that

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Speaker 1: I was adopted. I had been out of contact with

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Speaker 1: many of my family since my mother's passing when I

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Speaker 1: was eleven and my father's passing when I was fourteen.

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Speaker 1: I was raised by family friends with intermittent contact with

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Speaker 1: those families members over the years. When I received that call,

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Speaker 1: I found that I had been adopted and may have

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Speaker 1: a half brother and half sister. Took me six weeks

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Speaker 1: to get to the bottom of that story by contracting

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Speaker 1: other cousins I hadn't seen in years. Subsequently, I found

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Speaker 1: that it was an adoption, but a very unusual one.

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Speaker 1: My biological mother went to the hospital and delivered me

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Speaker 1: using my mother and father's names on the birth certificate.

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Speaker 1: I've never had a reason to think I was adopted.

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Speaker 1: I found since that that I had a half brother

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Speaker 1: and half sister of my mother's side, whom I've met,

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Speaker 1: and just within this past year, with the help of

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Speaker 1: the detectives, researchers a little about my father's side of

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Speaker 1: his family, and have just within the recent few months,

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Speaker 1: found that I have another half brother, but on my

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Speaker 1: father's side. I've always been blessed that many family members,

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Speaker 1: biological or otherwise, but I had no idea how many

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Speaker 1: secrets there were, and the fact that for my entire lifetime, cousins,

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Speaker 1: aunts and uncles everyone knew but me. And now I

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Speaker 1: have information to share with my own daughters it's been

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Speaker 1: quite attorney, thanks for letting me share. I'm calling because,

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Speaker 1: like many families, we have a family secret. When I

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Speaker 1: was seven years old, I was molested by my brother

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Speaker 1: for over a year. He was a secret that I

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Speaker 1: held on two until I was in my mid forties

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Speaker 1: and felt safe enough to talk to my husband about

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Speaker 1: it and then got some therapy. In any case, the

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Speaker 1: situation started after my brother found out that he was

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Speaker 1: adopted by my biological father. My mother had been married

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Speaker 1: before and divorced, and his biological father wasn't interested in

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Speaker 1: keeping in contact. My mother married my father and he

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Speaker 1: adopted him as his My brother was twelve when my

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Speaker 1: parents told him this, and it really shook him, and

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Speaker 1: I think he became very confused about a lot of things,

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Speaker 1: and very shortly thereafter began to molest me and um.

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Speaker 1: This went on for over a year the time we

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Speaker 1: lived on the East Coast and and we moved to

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Speaker 1: the West Coast, and I was like a little bit older.

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Speaker 1: I was eight when we moved to the West Coast.

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Speaker 1: At the end of plan on how I would make

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Speaker 1: him stop, and I did, but I never told anyone

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Speaker 1: what happened, and I carried it with me for many years.

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Speaker 1: My brother and I maintained a relationship, pretty close family

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Speaker 1: relationship actually up and until I decided to come out

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Speaker 1: with the information. I spoke to my husband and then

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Speaker 1: went to a therapist who recommended that I talked to

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Speaker 1: my parents about it. They were divorced. Now. My father

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Speaker 1: was wonderful, very caring and loving towards both my brother

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Speaker 1: and I, exactly how UM I think he should have been.

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Speaker 1: My mother, however, was very angry at me for telling her,

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Speaker 1: and um decided that she was going to, in her words,

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Speaker 1: take my brother's side, and so she did. And also,

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Speaker 1: in the process of all of that volatility and that conversation,

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Speaker 1: said that she knew So I never really knew what

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Speaker 1: that meant. She and I have never discussed it since

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Speaker 1: um this was about four years ago. It's come up

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Speaker 1: now and then, but she's so volatle about it that

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Speaker 1: I don't engage in the conversation with her. I just

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Speaker 1: can't see that helping anything. HI at age fifty three,

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Speaker 1: on a Sunday evening, I just put my wife to bed,

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Speaker 1: tucked her in, and I want to watch some television

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Speaker 1: on my phone went off. The text from a lady

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Speaker 1: that said, you don't know me, but my husband was adopted.

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Speaker 1: The lady said her husband was adopted, and she gave

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Speaker 1: me a name that part of it was my uncle's name.

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Speaker 1: She gave me the birth mother's name, which was my

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Speaker 1: birth mother's name, and her birthday, which really shocked me.

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Speaker 1: And I said, I don't have a brother. It's only

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Speaker 1: me and my sister my entire life. And she kept

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Speaker 1: asking questions while she was asked the questions. I phoned

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Speaker 1: my parents, so I have the lady texting on their

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Speaker 1: match on the phone. I told my father what happened

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Speaker 1: the strange lady texting me. His immediate reaction was anger,

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Speaker 1: which told me he should have been asking questions, but

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Speaker 1: he was angry instead. Well, ultimately he admitted that I

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Speaker 1: did in fact have a full biological brother, and come

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Speaker 1: to find out, after fifty or three years, he did

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Speaker 1: fifteen minutes away from me. I'm a musician. He had

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Speaker 1: actually been at some of my shows. He didn't know

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Speaker 1: he had a brother or not. I little rough times

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Speaker 1: came after that. My parents were angry at the woman

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Speaker 1: for coming forward. They kept repeating that they were never

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Speaker 1: going to tell me. Ultimately, so through some pressure from me.

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Speaker 1: We all met and uh then I publicly broadcasted because

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Speaker 1: I was tired of after all that time not knowing.

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Speaker 1: Now you want me to keep it a secret. No, no,

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Speaker 1: that's not going to happen. So was put out there.

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Speaker 1: And my mother said afterwards, put out there ship the

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Speaker 1: best sleep of her life. And now they regret and

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Speaker 1: never telling me. So there was a happy ending in it.

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Speaker 1: And rather than be angry at the fifty three years lost,

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Speaker 1: my parents are seventy three seventy four, I said, I'm

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Speaker 1: not going to lose their relationship now, so I just

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Speaker 1: accepted it. Water into the bridge and it's all good now.

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Speaker 1: But I still not use the same brother. And it

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Speaker 1: was three years I didn't have one. It's really difficult

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Speaker 1: to get the concept, but I'm slowly going into it.

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Speaker 1: So that was my family's secret. If you'd like to

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Speaker 1: share your story, call one eight Secret zero and record

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Speaker 1: your story. We won't be able to run all the stories,

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Speaker 1: but we do want to shine a light on as

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Speaker 1: many a weekend. The number again is one eight Secret

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Speaker 1: and then the numeral zero. For more podcasts for my

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app Apple podcast

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Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,