Teen Revealing Dad's Secret Affair to Half-Brother Praised: 'The Truth'

The internet has backed a teenager who told his sibling the true reason why they're getting the cold shoulder when his mom comes to pick him up, leading to a massive argument with his dad and stepmother.

In a post shared on Reddit's Am I The A****** channel in June, under the username u/DailyKnightmare, the 16-year-old explained that his half-brother, Ethan (now 14), was the result of his dad cheating on his mom with another woman, which caused them to divorce.

The dad decided to stay with his pregnant lover rather than his wife and child. His ex-wife never forgave him for his infidelity and subsequently doesn't treat her son's half-brother warmly when they see each other.

"Needless to say, my mom isn't fond of Ethan," the Redditor wrote. "She doesn't hate him, but she doesn't love him either, or want any type of relationship with him. On the semi-frequently times where she sees him (when she picks me up and drops me off from my dad's house), she basically ignores him.

"She avoids making eye contact or ever initiating conversation with him, and when he tries to talk to her, she gives short answers and gets us both on our way asap," he added.

Recently, the 16-year-old boy's mom took him on vacation and invited some of his cousins—her ex-brother-in-law's children, whom she's still close to since he took her side during the divorce—but failed to invite her son's half-brother.

"When Ethan found out that his cousins were invited on the vacation but not him, he broke down and came to me asking why my mom hates him so much. He actually broke down crying, I felt so bad for him. I decided that he deserved to know the truth," the Redditor wrote.

"I tried to break the truth as gently as I possibly could, but there's really no good way to tell a sobbing kid that he's the result of cheating and that's why my mom never wanted a relationship with him," he said.

His half-brother immediately went to confront his parents who in turn angrily called the 16-year-old and blamed him for telling the younger boy the truth when they believed he still wasn't ready to hear it.

A recent survey by YouGov found that 63 percent of Americans who have ever been in a monogamous relationship say they have never cheated on a partner, while only 33 percent admit to having cheated, either physically, emotionally, or both.

Evan Schein, a partner and head of litigation at the Berkman Bottger Newman & Schein family law firm in New York City, told Newsweek that "it seems clear that the family dynamics are strained and this family could benefit from family therapy."

"Hopefully, with the guidance of a professional and a willingness to commit to therapy, this family can start fixing the relationships and unpacking any baggage before the family relationships become even more strained leading to trauma down the road," Schein said.

"A child questioning a parent's love is a heartbreaking position for any child to be in. This had to be a difficult conversation for [the] two brothers to have," he said. "The fact that the parents then turned around to blame their son for telling his half-brother the truth without any recognition for the situation he was put in or any acknowledgment of wrongdoing by the parents is also troubling."

The post quickly went viral on Reddit, getting over 9,800 upvotes and 1,500 comments. One user, perfectpomelo3, commented: "Your dad and stepmom absolutely deserve it. This is the consequences of their choices."

Reddit user loverlyone said: "[Not The A******]. it seems like the parents are the ones who weren't ready."

Helpful_Hour1984 wrote: "They were happy to let the poor kid think there was something wrong with him, rather than explain, in an age-appropriate way, that the two of them hurt OP's mother and that no, she doesn't hate Ethan, but every time she sees him, she is reminded of that pain, so she prefers to avoid him. They could also have told him that she is basically a stranger to him, and that strangers don't owe him love."

And weavs13 added: "They were happy to s*** talk OPs mom to Ethan. Where do you think Ethan got that she was a 'cold resentful old hag' from? I'd be willing to bet stepmom and/or dad refer to her in that way. [Not The A******]. They never would have told him the truth. It was easier to paint your mom as the bad guy instead of revealing they have been all along."

Newsweek reached out to u/DailyKnightmare via Reddit chat for comment. We could not verify the details of the case.

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