A mother-of-two claims her life was ‘flipped on its head’ when she took an ancestry test that revealed the shocking truth about her husband.
The woman purchased the Ancestry DNA test on a whim as something ‘fun’ to do—hoping she and her husband would learn more about their families in the process.
But instead they received devastating news that they were, in fact, siblings.
In a viral post on Reddit the woman, who knew she was conceived via a sperm donor, wrote: ‘We got the results, and… I matched with him. My husband. As a half-sibling.’
The couple were horrified to discover they shared the same biological father—particularly as the husband had never known he, too, was donor conceived.
‘At first, I thought it had to be some kind of mistake, or maybe I misunderstood something.
‘But no, after looking into it, we realised his dad was also a donor, and no one ever told him.
‘Now, here we are, married for years with two kids, and we’re still trying to figure out how to process the fact that we’re siblings.’
A woman who was conceived through a donor received life-changing results after taking an ancestry test that revealed her husband is actually her brother
Around 4.7million of the British population is estimated to have used a DNA-testing kit—encouraged by the popularity of ITV series DNA Journey, which traced the ancestry of Amanda Holden (pictured)
The mother of two went on the detail the fallout following the unsettling match.
‘I don’t even know how to explain how I feel. It’s just… overwhelming. I love him, of course, but this changes so much. I just feel kind of lost.
‘We’ve already spoken to a genetic counselor, and we’re trying to move forward, but it’s like everything we thought we knew about our family has been flipped upside down.’
Around 4.7million of the British population is estimated to have used a DNA-testing kit—encouraged by the popularity of ITV series DNA Journey, which traced the ancestry of pairings including Ant and Dec and entertainers Amanda Holden and Alan Carr.
Customers simply provide a spit sample, which is placed into a tube then sent back to the company’s laboratory.
The £94 Ancestry DNA test analyses 700,000 genetic markers—specific points in a person’s DNA that can offer clues about ancestral origins.
Depending on how much DNA you share with any given person in the database, a possible relationship can be estimated and this is how DNA can help you find cousins or even siblings you never knew you had
The most famous mass donor was Jonathan Meijer, a notorious Dutch YouTuber who has so far fathered 550 children and was the star of Netflix documentary ‘The Man with 1,000 Kids’
The 43-year-old faced a lawsuit in 2023 due to fears of unintentional incest and inbreeding between his children
This genetic data is then compared to population samples from over 350 regions around the world.
These regions represent groups of people who have lived in the same area for many generations and developed distinct genetic patterns.
By identifying similarities between an individual’s DNA and these regional patterns, the test estimates where their ancestors may have lived.
Commenting on the Reddit post, one user wrote: ‘This was bound to happen somewhere in the world, at some point, given the current unregulated fertility industry that puts profits above the rights and interests of the donor conceived child.
In the UK, using donor sperm for insemination requires going through a licensed fertility clinic.
This ensures the sperm is screened for health issues and genetic diseases, and that the insemination process is overseen by qualified professionals.
A donor’s sperm can be used to create babies for a maximum of ten families, and the donor is not legally recognised as the father of any child born through the process.
However earlier this year, Dutch medics have revealed that sperm from just 85 donors was used to father thousands of children, leading to fears of accidental inbreeding among the country’s population.
The country’s gynaecology and obstetrics organisation, the NVOG, said that at least 85 men have become ‘mass donors’, defined as having fathered 25 or more children each.
The organisation revealed that Dutch fertility clinics have been breaking strict rules around donations for decades.
The most famous mass donor was Jonathan Meijer, a notorious Dutch YouTuber who has so far fathered 550 children and was the star of Netflix documentary ‘The Man with 1,000 Kids.’
The 43-year-old faced a lawsuit in 2023 due to fears of unintentional incest and inbreeding between his children, and because he had gone well past the Dutch limit of fathering 25 donor children.
