When TikToker Sierra (@kath.sierra0) was 13 years old, her dad asked her to take a DNA test. That day, her mom had asked her to stay home from school so that her dad could come talk to her.
Her dad lived in a different town about an hour and a half away. She only saw him on the weekends and during summers, so it was strange to see him on a weekday.
“But he came to our house, sat me down in the living room by myself, and asked me to take a DNA test,” recalled Sierra. “This is not the first time that I have heard about the DNA test.”
She has three older sisters who live with her dad, and they have always made jokes about her taking a DNA test. Her younger sister also lives with her dad. So, every time she went to her dad’s house, she felt like the odd one out.
Sierra doesn’t look like her dad at all. Growing up, she had straight blonde hair, while her sisters had dark brown, curly hair, just like their father.
So, when her dad asked her to take a DNA test, she realized that it hadn’t been a joke all along. At the time, she told him no. She is now 29 years old and still hasn’t taken one.
“A lot of it is because of the idea that if he’s not my dad, then my grandpa is not my grandpa, my grandma is not my grandma,” she said.
“I might do it someday. My grandpa just passed away, so he was like the last thing that was really tying me to my dad’s side of the family.”
Right after her grandpa passed away, one of her sisters reached out and said that she would keep her updated on the funeral. But no one ever told her anything about the funeral, so she didn’t go. She ended up blocking her family on social media.
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Her story went viral on TikTok, so she decided to take the advice of her viewers and finally do a DNA test. When she got her results back, she didn’t recognize any of the names on the list of relatives.
She took another test, which confirmed that her dad was not her actual dad. She knows who her biological father is, but has never met him personally.
In the comments section, many TikTok users shared their own experiences with DNA tests and family secrets.
“I have a sibling who won’t do a DNA test because our dad has always treated her badly (he wasn’t great to anyone TBH) and she wants him to wonder for his entire life,” commented one user.
“I understand this! My older siblings would joke that I was adopted as a child like most siblings do, but then I found out at 16 I really was adopted as a newborn. I was the family secret for years. Everyone knew but me! Heartwrenching,” wrote another.
“I had to take a DNA test with my dad when I was 15 because my mom wanted one, and my dad was very confident I was his. Turned out he wasn’t my dad. I was devastated. Guess what? My dad and his entire family never speak about me not being his kid. They’ve never treated me any differently after I told them,” someone else chimed in.
By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
