DAILY MAIL
A mom has begged for advice about how to tell her 30-year-old daughter that her brother is actually her father.
The anonymous woman wrote into The Atlantic’s Dear Therapist column to unravel the situation.
She explained that her husband had two kids of his own, and she had none when the pair tied the knot.
The couple ‘both wanted to have a child together,’ but since her husband had undergone a vasectomy years prior, which could no longer be reversed, they had to find another solution.
In the letter she sent to the publication, the unnamed woman wrote: ‘We didn’t want to use a sperm bank, so we asked my husband’s son to be the donor.
‘We felt that was the best decision: Our child would have my husband’s genes, and we knew my stepson’s health, personality, and intelligence. He agreed to help.
‘Our daughter is 30 now. How do we tell her that her “father” is her grandfather, her “brother” is her father, her “sister” is her aunt, and her “nephew” is her half-brother?’
Understandably, the woman concluded: ‘My husband and I are anxious, confused, and worried about telling her.
‘This is also hard on my husband, because he wants our daughter to know that he will always and forever be her father.’
In response, columnist Lori Gottlieb, who is a qualified psychotherapist, said that there were two truths that the woman’s daughter would be forced to grapple with.
