A woman got the shock of her life after taking an at-home DNA test as she discovered the rumours about her grandmother’s devious past are actually true – and now she doesn’t know whether to share this information with her family
A woman’s entire world has been shattered after discovering her grandma’s secret when taking a DNA test.
She explained how she took a DNA test for fun but was not at all expecting to come face-to-face with an ‘unsolved mystery’ within her own family. She said on Reddit: “I think my DNA ancestry results revealed something my family is not ready for. My first cousin did the Ancestry test and it showed up as a 2nd cousin once removed.
“We share 3% DNA. Our parents, my dad and his mum are siblings. They have the same mother and father, as we’ve all been raised to believe. Why would I only have 3% DNA in common with my first cousin?”
She claimed there have always been suspicions her grandma cheated on her grandfather when their relationship reached a sour point – but no one wanted to believe it to be true.
But now the DNA results have come through, they’re starting to question whether this rumour was right all along. Confused, she asked Reddit users: “My concern is that either my aunt (my cousin’s mum) or my dad is not my grandfather’s child. Is there any way to know this without my aunt and dad doing their DNA tests? Also, my grandfather and grandmother have both passed away.
“I can purchase the package that shows which of my DNA comes from my father or mother. Would comparing that to my cousin’s DNA somehow give me answers? For example, if my DNA that shows as coming from my father is DNA that is not present in my cousin’s report… could that confirm that my father and my cousin’s mother are only half-siblings?
“I have loads of Indian, European, and African DNA. My cousin is basically 100% Indian. I know a lot of my mix comes from my mother, but if my dad has some of that European and/or African and my cousin doesn’t… that has to be confirmation, no?”
Commenting on her post, one user said: “Your dad and your aunt are most likely half-siblings – at best. It’s impossible for this match to be your full 1st cousin. You simply share far too little DNA for that relationship to be possible. Even assuming that your father and aunt have different fathers and are only-half siblings, a 3% DNA match would still be extremely low (but possible) for a half first cousin relationship (only an 8% chance).
“So unless your ‘1st cousin’ was actually adopted from another more distant relative in your family (a possibility) , there is no way for your father and your aunt to be full siblings. It’s also possible that either your father or your aunt could have been adopted from another more distant relative. You would be able to get much more clarity by having either your dad or aunt (or both of them) tested.”
Another user added: “See if your dad will do the test for you ‘for genealogical research’. My parents and grandfather did. They didn’t care about the results, they just wanted to help me research the family. Having your parents in there can be very helpful.”
