A young couple has discovered an explosive family secret that could destroy their relationship – six months before their wedding.
Megan*, and her fiancé Tom*, both 22, began dating shortly after meeting four years ago when they went to the same university.
Fast forward to Christmas 2025, Megan was spending the holiday with Tom’s family when his grandmother made a passing comment to his mum Melissa* that piqued her curiosity.
‘She said, “Melissa, do you remember when you and Rachel* got me that planter for Christmas?”‘ Megan explained in a Reddit thread.
‘I leaned over and quietly asked Tom who Rachel was. He looked confused and said it was his mum’s twin sister, who disappeared years ago. He had never met her.
‘I immediately felt uneasy.’
Growing up, Megan lived with her mum Rachel and younger brother after losing their dad to cancer when she was just four.
Whenever they caught up with family, it was always on her dad’s side. She soon learned that her mum left home at 17 and never spoke to her family again. Megan’s grandparents on her dad’s side never met anyone from her mum’s side.
A young couple has discovered an explosive bombshell about their families that could destroy their relationship – six months before their wedding (stock image)
Megan said she knew her mum had siblings – one sister and one brother. Tom had mentioned he had an uncle who died.
‘At the time, I convinced myself it was just a strange coincidence,’ she said.
Later that night, Megan said to Tom that she didn’t know his mum had a twin sister.
‘I think at that exact moment it hit both of us,’ she said.
‘About a year ago, we had already realised our mothers shared the same birthday. We thought it was funny and even mentioned it casually once to his mum.’
‘We both started internally freaking out but kept it together for the rest of the visit.’
The next day, Megan flew to see her mum.
‘I told my mum I had been talking to my gynaecologist about some issues with my period and one of the intake questions asked was whether there were twins in my family. I said I didn’t know and figured I should ask,’ she said.
‘For the first time in my life, my mum admitted she was a twin.’
When she asked her mum why she never told her, the mum went on a ‘long, drunken rant’ about how her sister Melissa was a ‘literal demon’.
‘My mum is unfortunately drunk most of the time. She also mentioned cutting her family off completely when she was young.
‘What is wild is that my mum and Tom’s mum look absolutely nothing alike. One is tall and brunette, the other is short and blonde.
‘At that point, everything clicked. We confirmed last names, which were the same.’
The couple realised they are first cousins because their mums are fraternal twins. If their mums had been identical twins – known for sharing the same DNA – Megan and Tom would share as much DNA as half-siblings.
Eventually, Megan told her mum what she had uncovered.
‘I told her I had been at Tom’s house and learned that Tom’s mum had an estranged twin, and that I was confident it was her. I said the full legal names of Tom’s mum and his maternal grandparents,’ she explained.
‘I knew I was right by the shade of red my mother turned. She kept saying, “What?” and “Is this a f***ing joke?”‘ I even showed her Tom’s mum’s Facebook. My mother has no social media and never has, as far as I know.
‘At first, my mum went silent while I sobbed. Then she erupted. She told me I needed to leave Tom immediately and never speak to him again. I told her I wasn’t going to do that. She started yelling about how Tom’s family was spreading lies about her to me.
‘I told her I didn’t need to tell them anything, that she could keep this secret and simply never meet them. Since his family is paying for the entire wedding, I suggested she not attend, so she would never have to interact with them.’
Her mum didn’t take it well, calling Megan ‘every name in the book.’
‘Things escalated again when she demanded that I hand over my phone. She threw a bottle of gin at me. It hit my arm and shattered on the floor,’ she said.
‘That is when my brother stepped in and pulled me out of the house. We could hear her breaking things and swearing as we stood outside.’
Megan had a flight to catch the next morning so her brother arranged a hotel connected to the airport for her. He returned hours later with her suitcase.
During the drive, she called Tom hysterically crying as she told him what happened.
‘He told me he thought he should tell his parents, and I agreed. After we hung up, Tom pulled his parents aside and told them everything,’ she said.
‘They had seen pictures of my mother on my Instagram before and had not recognised her, but once they looked again, they confirmed it was the Rachel they knew.’
‘Melissa cried and cried. Tom’s dad Richard* said the situation was very strange. They asked Tom a lot of probing questions, including whether we had been sexual and whether my mother knew. Tom told them everything.
‘They were disappointed in him, but they did not dwell on that.’
His parents told Tom they still supported their marriage but the couple needed to make a ‘game plan for how to handle’ their relationship moving forward.
‘His father warned him not to share this secret with anyone,’ she said.
Tom’s parents sent a text to Megan reassuring her everything was going to be fine.
‘They texted me saying incredibly kind things, telling me nothing had changed, that I was still their daughter, and that they loved me,’ she said.
Melissa shared details on why her sister Rachel became estranged from her family.
‘So when my mum was in high school, she started to unravel emotionally. She would yell at her mother constantly and accuse her of favouring Melissa,’ Megan said.
‘Their father was the coach of the girls’ basketball team, which Melissa played on but my mum did not, and my mum felt rejected by both parents.
‘During their senior year, my mum ran away with an older boy, not my dad. His family knew my grandparents well, so they assumed she was safe, but my mum told them she would never speak to them again, and she kept her word.
The last they heard about Rachel was three years later when the boy’s parents mentioned they had broken up and she moved to another city.
‘This was the city where she later met my dad. The family wrote letters to her but she never answered… and eventually respected her wish for no contact,’ she said.
Megan said she and Tom are devastated but still happily in love.
‘If we had known earlier, we might never have had the love we now share, and I believe that love is worth it,’ Megan said.
‘I’m heartbroken and scared. I’ve only seen my mother be violent once before, when she threw a brick at my brother for sneaking a girl in.
‘I was always the perfect child, and now I cannot imagine her ever speaking to me again. It feels like I chose the people she felt rejected by over her.
‘My heart breaks for my mum, but I love Tom, and I do not believe it is fair to either of us to abandon this love.’
Megan said she’s worried about what her mum might do next but she’s considering moving in with Tom for safety.
‘His parents asked us to stop being intimate until marriage, and I do not think they would approve of us living together.
‘That said, they have been incredibly kind. They paid for my hotel stay. Overall, I am okay, but I am terrified of the unknown.’
She added: ‘Even though I regret telling my mother, I think it was better than lying and creating a long term deception.’
*Names have been changed
