These stars made surprising discoveries about their parents, siblings and even children — while one discovered later in life that her mother had been murdered.
Every family has a secret or two that they hope no one will find out about — and often these secrets and techniques have been kept secret for so long that many relatives don’t even know about it! This is especially true for some celebrities who spent years in the dark about their major family drama. For some of these stars, it wasn’t until they were well into adulthood that they discovered their surprising family secrets and techniques. From secret siblings to murder mysteries, these celebrities were shocked when they learned about their family scandal.
Learn how to discover these amazing secrets and techniques…
1. Kerry Washington
In 2018, Kerry Washington realized that the person who raised her was not his organic father. In front of a look at the present ancestry Discovering your roots, Kerry’s mother and father had told her that she had actually been conceived by an anonymous sperm donor after they struggled with fertility issues. Before the gift, they had never planned to tell her. Looking back, Kerry says the news “turned my world upside down.”
“Once I bought that information, I thought, ‘Oh, now I know my story,’” Kerry instructed. Individualsincluding that she always felt like something was being saved from her. “I didn’t know what my story was, but I was playing a supporting character in their story.”
“I feel like this dissonance of ‘someone just isn’t telling me anything about my body’ made me feel like there was something about my body that I needed to fix,” she added, noting that she struggled with anxiety, self-esteem issues, and an eating disorder for years — which she believes may have been rooted in her parents’ secrecy.
2. Jack Nicholson
It wasn’t until Jack Nicholson was 37 that he realized that the girl who raised him, Ethel Could, was actually his grandmother and never his biological mother. It seems that the girl Jack believed to be his sister, June, was actually his mother. June had become pregnant as a teenager by a man named Don, who was married. In order to avoid bringing unwanted attention to the family, Jack’s grandmother raised him as her own.
Jack didn’t find out until he was fully grown when the key was discovered by Time magazine. Unfortunately, June and Ethel Could had already passed away by the time he realized the truth.
“I was very impressed with their potential to hold the key, at least,” he said later. Rolling Stone.
3. Liv Tyler
When Liv Tyler was a little girl, her mother Bebe Buell told her that her father was musician Todd Rundgren. It wasn’t until she was 8 years old that she met Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler — and began to suspect that he was actually her father, especially after meeting his daughter Mia, who looked just like her.
“I didn’t know who Aerosmith was. And my mom was like, ‘Come here, I need to introduce you to someone,’ and I was watching Todd play and I was like, ‘Ugh, I don’t want to go!’ And she pointed to a man standing at the bar and I was like, ‘Is that Mick Jagger’s son?’ And he bought me a Shirley Temple,” Liv instructed. Wonderland.
She continued: “I fell head over heels in love with him. I had no idea who he was. After we met, he, Steven, started calling and we would go see him. He had just gotten out of rehab, so part of following those steps is making amends by getting in touch with my mom after years of being addicted to drugs and never being there.”
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4. Jennette McCurdy
In her memoir, Jennette McCurdy revealed that after her mother’s death, she realized that the person who raised her, Mark, was not her biological father. Mark eventually told Jennette the truth after being prompted by his girlfriend. It turns out that her real father was a musician named Andrew, who had known about her existence for years but was prevented from seeing her as a result of a custody battle.
“This was possibly a year and a half after my mother died. My, who I believed to be my father, told me that he wasn’t actually my biological father,” Jennette said in Drew Barrymore’s Gift, including, “I remember feeling like I had lost my breath. My mouth was really dry and I felt like I had hugged him.”
Jennette famously said that she never had a relationship with the person who raised her and over time, she let their connection fade. She found herself meeting her biological father and after spending time with him over the course of several months, she stated that things “felt a little weird” and she apparently stopped seeking the connection.
5. Dylan McDermott
When Dylan McDermott was just 5 years old, his mother Diane was shot and killed while he was standing outside their front door. Although her death was initially ruled a suicide, the case was reopened over 4 years later when Dylan came to the police seeking answers. Soon after, it was discovered that Diane had actually been murdered by her boyfriend John Sponza.
As to why Dylan went to the police years later, Police Superintendent Michael Gugliotti instructed the Republican-American newspaper that Dylan stated, “’To make sure I survive and get to where I am right now, I wanted to bury that second of my life deep inside of me.’ He stated that it wasn’t until recently ‘that I got to the point in my life where I can start to process all of this.’”
6. Oprah Winfrey
In 2011, Oprah Winfrey realized that she had a secret half-sister named Patricia Lee. She was given up for adoption in 1963, when Oprah was nine years old and living with her father. Patricia was the first person to find out about her relationship with the famous talk show host, but she kept the information a secret for several years before contacting Oprah. After confirming things with a DNA test, Oprah was finally informed that they had reunited on Thanksgiving.
“What’s so extraordinary about Patricia… is that (she) acknowledged this secret as early as 2007… She never thought about going to the press,” Oprah stated about her gift. “I didn’t know if it was true or not, that you are my sister…(but) I needed to meet you because I wanted to meet someone who had that kind of character.”
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7. Tim McGraw
For much of Tim McGraw’s childhood, he was raised by his stepfather Horace Smith. However, when he was 11 years old, he was rummaging through his mother’s closet for Christmas presents and found his rookie certificates. He discovered that his father was actually MLB pitcher Tug McGraw.
“I called my mom at work, and of course she came home right away. We drove for a long time, and she explained everything to me… My mom grabbed him and said I had discovered him and wanted to meet him. Of course, I did in Houston, Texas. I think he gave up a grand slam that night,” he said in Larry King Stay.
Tim continued, “It was weird. I was 11. I was a kid. I feel like it was more traumatic for everyone around me than it was for me. I feel like it probably became a little more traumatic for me as I got a little bit older.”
8. Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood had a secret daughter that he didn’t find out about for years. Before marrying his first wife, Clint had an affair that resulted in a pregnancy. He was not told about the child and the little lady named Laurie was eventually put up for adoption.
It was supposedly many years before Clint realized about Laurie. Although he has not publicly shared the information about reconnecting with his daughter, she has accompanied him on many occasions, such as the 2004 Oscars.
9. Keyshia Cole
When Keyshia Cole was just a child, she was adopted by close friends of her biological mother. Although she knew she was adopted, she never learned the identity of her biological father. It wasn’t until she was 34 that she realized her father was famous boxing trainer Virgil Hunter. She later opened up about the situation. on Instagram.
“While in NYC I was often overcome with emotion, I defined while on stage at Barclays, the situation I was faced with at that moment, which was, my father and I finding our way to each other, after 34 years. I knew at that moment, a paternity test was in, well the results are in, and that’s my dad!!” she wrote.
Keyshia continued, “His identity is Virgil Hunter, and right now, I’m in Oakland spending time, trying to get to know him! The story behind this is beyond me!!! God has His hands full with this!!! I’m so excited, so excited to take this one day at a time!!!”
10. Gavin Rossdale
When Daisy Lowe was growing up, she was under the impression that her father was her mother Pearl Lowe’s ex-Bronner Handwerger. She eventually began to question things when neither of her parents shared her type O blood. After a paternity test, it was discovered that Daisy’s exact father was her godfather Gavin Rossdale.
“The funny thing was, the second I found out he could be my father, I was like, ‘Oh, that makes sense.’ We were expecting the same thing and now we have so many eerie similarities. The man I thought was my father, I didn’t really know, and when I did, I came home and I said to my mom, ‘I don’t really feel any connection to that man,’” Daisy said on the That Gaby Roslin podcast.