Family can be a great source of many things. They can bring us love and support as well as a sense of belonging. Our familias are often our first introduction to relationships and can be a mirror in which we reflect upon ourselves. They can also be a source of some telenovela sized drama.
Every family has their secrets but some are wilder than others. We asked our FIERCE readers to dig all the family skeletons out of their metaphorical closets and they were quick to spill the tea. Here are some of the most shocking and scandalous family secrets they shared with us.
1. The hidden family.
Instagram/ @mexicano._.memes
“Um, that my father fathered several more children [than what] we were told. I think we now have like 12 half-siblings now, only knew if half of them. He’s in his 80s but still, it’s for sure weird. ????” — @misslopez_if_youre_vasty
2. *Cue the novela music.*
Instagram / @coolrulex
“That my sister almost married our half brother ( not 100% confirm ) and when he found out he went and married another girl with the same name as my sister but different last name he just change the last name at the church.” — @karo056186
3. Romantic entanglements.
Instagram / @daniarenas.usa
“My husband’s brother left his girlfriend for her sister… who happened to date my husband back in the day. They’re married with a baby now.” — @thahomieguera
4. A grandfather in all but blood.
Instagram / @divitha.institute
“That my grandfather (May he Rest In Peace ❤️) wasn’t my biological grandfather. I always wondered why my mom told the doctors that diabetes didn’t run in the family when it was the reason he passed away. ????????♀️” — @ivonlabombon
5. A secret straight out of the closet.
Instagram / @juixcebox.2
“My moms neighbors tea… the wife thought her husband was cheating so she asked my sister to give her a ride to follow him.. turns out he had a male lover ….now the lady blames my sister for giving her a ride like that’s the problem… and her closet gay husband stayed living there like nothing happened.” — @fitmomofdolls
6. Just plain scandalous.
Instagram / @mudrope
“That my tia stole my abuelita’s will from my moms room in mexico and that she claims she doesn’t have it cause she left more for my mom and wants my abuelito to write another one with more dinero for her!!!!!” — @mishygoldfishy
7. Definitely a premise for a Lifetime Movie of the Week.
Instagram / @reacttothat_
“My mom’s cousin had a boy when she was young while still in Central America. When she immigrated over to the states she had to leave him behind temporarily while she got her life together. My aunt met a man in the US and made a life here. They had 3 daughters. During that time her son grew up and I’m sure became super resentful toward my aunt. At some point my aunt put papers in for her son and brought him to the states. Him and the oldest daughter got SUPER close to the point where it got hella weird. She fell for her brother and they tried to run away with each other. I believe there plan was to go back to Central America. Mind you she was still a minor. He ended up ditching her at the border.” — @pessiyerez
8. Throw the whole dad away.
Instagram / @ohh.she.wyld.af
“So 7th grade. My dad looked me in the face on the way inside our apartment and said ‘Hey! Its time for me to go. I’m leaving your mom next week.’ ????♀️” — @kelly_a_stackhouse
9. This tia sounds cool af.
Instagram / @libragoggles
“That one of my mother’s older sister’s owned a brothel in Guatemala in the 70s. And would get her military boyfriend to beat the shit out of any of the men that mistreated her ladies. ????????♀️” — @pixelatedgum
10. Lost a tio and gained an hermano
Instagram/ @reacttothat_
“My uncle was actually my brother….he was raised by my grandma and my mom played along. My mom was young so my grandma didn’t want my mom’s reputation to be ruined. One xmas when I was 15 my step-dad told my brother my mom was his mom. We didn’t believe it but then our mom confirmed it. We talk about it all the time, how we use to call him Tio but now it’s bro.” — @arco___iris___
11. Say a rosario after reading this secret.
Instagram / @thatsfunnythat
“That my grandma thought my grandfather was cheating and so she cheated him with their church’s reverend.” — @grestmarie
12. The literal definition of “primo-hermanos.”
Instagram / @reacttothat_
“That someone’s prima’s daughter was pregnant by their son’s father????♀️ now they’re literally ‘primo-hermanos.’ — @_lilasthebest_
13. Fame doesn’t mean much when you’re a cheater.
Instagram / @me_as_a_millennial_mom
“My grandma dated Freddie Fender back in the 70s, she went to SPI to watch him play.. well she ended up finding him w/ another woman. She was so angry at him she threw his keys in the ocean and left his ass there…men ain’t shit ????????” — @taramdelagarza
Spring is officially here and sweeping in with a new bundle of shows and films to binge and watch on Netflix. From the much-anticipated adaptation of Leigh Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone series to a new David Attenborough docuseries, there are tons of shows to look forward to watching this April.
That’s right, spring into action gang, this April has a world of great streams!
April 1
2012
Cop Out
Friends with Benefits
Insidious
Legally Blonde
Leprechaun
Magical Andes: Season 2
The Pianist
The Possession
Prank Encounters: Season 2
Secrets of Great British Castles: Season 1
Tersanjung the Movie
The Time Traveler’s Wife
Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family
White Boy
Worn Stories
Yes Man
April 2
Concrete Cowboy
Just Say Yes
Madame Claude
The Serpent
Sky High
April 3
Escape from Planet Earth
April 4
What Lies Below
April 5
Coded Bias
Family Reunion: Part 3
April 6
The Last Kids on Earth: Happy Apocalypse to You
April 7
The Big Day: Collection 2
Dolly Parton: A MusiCares Tribute
Snabba Cash
This Is A Robbery: The World’s Biggest Art Heist
The Wedding Coach
April 8
The Way of the Househusband
April 9
Have You Ever Seen Fireflies?
Night in Paradise
Thunder Force
April 10
The Stand-In
April 11
Diana: The Interview that Shook the World
April 12
New Gods: Nezha Reborn
Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn: Seasons 1-4
April 13
The Baker and the Beauty: Season 1
Mighty Express: Season 3
My Love: Six Stories of True Love
April 14
Dad Stop Embarrassing Me!
The Circle: Season 2
Law School
The Soul
Why Did You Kill Me?
April 15
Dark City Beneath the Beat
The Master
Ride or Die
April 16
Arlo the Alligator Boy
Ajeeb Daastaans
Barbie & Chelsea The Lost Birthday
Crimson Peak
Fast & Furious Spy Racers: Season 4: Mexico
Into the Beat
Rush
Synchronic
Why Are You Like This
The Zookeeper’s Wife
April 18
Luis Miguel – The Series: Season 2
April 19
Miss Sloane
PJ Masks: Season 3
April 20
Izzy’s Koala World: Season 2
April 21
Zero
April 22
Life in Color with David Attenborough
Stowaway
April 23
Heroes: Silence and Rock & Roll
Shadow and Bone
Tell Me When
April 27
August: Osage County
Battle of Los Angeles
Fatma
Go! Go! Cory Carson: Season 4
April 28
Sexify
Headspace Guide to Sleep
April 29
Things Heard & Seen
Yasuke
April 30
The Innocent
The Mitchells vs. The Machines
Pet Stars
The Unremarkable Juanquini: Season 2
Leaving Netflix in April
April 2
Honey: Rise Up and Dance
April 4
Backfire
April 11
Time Trap
April 12
Married at First Sight: Season 9
Surviving R. Kelly Part II: The Reckoning: Season 1
April 13
Antidote
April 14
Eddie Murphy: Delirious
The New Romantic
Once Upon a Time in London
Thor: Tales of Asgard
April 15
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant
April 19
Carol
The Vatican Tapes
April 20
The Last Resort
April 21
The Great British Baking Show: Masterclass: Seasons 1-3
May 20, 1986, started out for Desireé Rodriguez and her family as an idyllic morning.
At the time, Desireé’s father (a 30-year-old construction worker by the name of Thomas Rodriguez) had taken her, her mother, and sister as well an aunt and uncle out to Catalina Island for a day of sailing. The plan was to go out, fish, and bask in the summer sun before heading back home. In the evening, just as they were headed home the family was impacted by a dense fog. Desireé and her 5-year-old sister Trisha awoke from a nap on the boat to calls from her father to abandon ship and within minutes the entire family was lost at sea. Out in the water and away from their boat that had capsized.
The family of six was stranded in the chilly Pacific water for hours and Desireé watched as her father first went to swim for rescue and never returned. In the hours that slowly stretched by Desireé witnessed the death of her sister, her mother, her uncle and then her aunt.
Decades have passed since her family’s accident but Desireé has lived to tell of the story thanks to the two men who rescued her.
In a recent piece by The New York times, Desireé was reunited with the two men who were remarkably able to save her after she spent a nightmarish 20 hours in the ocean.
Only 9-years-old at the time of the tragic events, Desireé recalls believing that her father would return with help when he first swam away from the boat. “My dad was like the superhero to me. I actually thought he would get help,” Desireé explained before calling the desperate hours that followed. After watching her family members die, she found herself all alone.
“At that point, I just kind of made the decision, I need to get away from this boat,” Desireé recalled to the New York Times. “I need to swim away, somewhere else. … Where? I don’t know.”
Just when Desireé decided to give up hope, the skipper of a commercial sportfishing boat spotted her orange life jacket in the water.
The boat’s first officer leapt into the water and fished Desireé out of the water. Desireé was ultimately transported back to San Pedro and never saw her rescuers again.
“I don’t think I would have lived, I’ll be honest with you. I think at that point, I was just kind of done,” Desireé explained in a recent interview about the incident. According to an article at the time that described the incident, Desireé had suffered no major physical injuries and was “in good spirits.” She left the hospital in San Pedro the next time.
“I had even hoped that my dad did make it somewhere,” Desireé explained of her thinking of the time. “Maybe he is living on an island and just got amnesia and didn’t know that he has a family. You know, you always have hope. But you get older, and reality sets in, and you’re like, OK. He didn’t make it.”
Paul Strasser and Mark Pisano, the two men who rescued her, ultimately earned commemorative plaques for their bravery from Mayor Tom Bradley. Desireé Rodriguez, now Desireé Campuzano, was adopted by another aunt and uncle who raised her. She went onto attend junior college in Fullerton, built herself a career in criminal justice, married and had a son. Still, she always wondered what had happened to the men who saved her.
It wasn’t until the COVID-19 pandemic that Strasser and Pisano came into contact with Philip Friedman who launched a podcast about his hobby as a fisherman.
“Friedman Adventures” which launched this past December, shares incredible stories from fishermen. Ine one episode Pisano spoke about the 1986 rescue.
“It’s kind of a weird story, kind of like there are some supernatural qualities,” Pisano explained of the experience on the podcast.
Friedman felt motivated to unite the two rescuers and Desireé. Ultimately a friend of Desireé’s heard the episode when it aired and made the connection. He reached out to Desireé and then Friedman and ultimately she and her rescuers were reunited.
“I was nervous at first,” Desireé said of meeting Strasser and Pisano “just seeing [the] guys and putting kind of finalization to the ‘what happened.’” The three were finally reunited during another episode of the podcast.
“I feel like she’s sort of our daughter, in a way, because we brought her back to life,” Strasser said during their reunion. “Even though we never knew each other.”
