Bonus: NPE's Shocking Discovery

• In this episode of Family Twist, we welcome Jeremy Bryant, a fellow podcaster, to share his remarkable story.
• Jeremy's story is a unique and intricate journey that involves family twists, revelations, and a connection to the paranormal.

00:29 - Jeremy's Background

• Jeremy's upbringing as a typical white suburban American kid.
• His parents' divorce during his adolescence, leading to a pivotal revelation.

01:27 - A Startling Revelation

• Jeremy's mother's decision to share a secret with her children.
• The shocking discovery that Jeremy's father was not his biological parent.
• The revelation that Jeremy and his brother were conceived using a sperm donor due to his father's cancer treatment.

02:57 - Genetic Origins

• The discovery of the truth behind Jeremy's genetic heritage.
• The emotional reaction of his father upon learning that the secret had been uncovered.

03:57 - The Beginnings of a New Journey

• Jeremy's decision to explore his genetic roots and history.
• The purchase of ancestry tests for himself and his mother, leading to unexpected results.

05:26 - Uniting with Half-Siblings

• A message from a stranger suggesting a possible connection between Jeremy and his half-siblings.
• The formation of a group chat with half-siblings, revealing a larger extended family.
• The challenges and complexity of navigating newfound relationships.

06:51 - Donor's Background

• Insights into the donor's background, including his role as a medical student.
• The intriguing connections and similarities between Jeremy and the donor.
• The donor's role in the family's lives, even though they never met him in person.

09:01 - Perspectives on the Discovery

• Jeremy's mother's perspective on the newfound connections with half-siblings.
• The absence of ill feelings regarding the donor's role in their lives.
• Comparing their unique situation to more turbulent family revelations.

10:40 - Family Secrets and Discoveries

• A discussion about the common theme of hidden family secrets.
• The importance of honest communication when revealing such secrets.

12:08 - The Method of Discovery

• How Jeremy's sister found out about the donor through a family tree on Ancestry.
• The role of relatives in unraveling the genetic connections.

14:09 - Reunion Plans

• Considerations of a reunion with all half-siblings.
• The challenges of coordinating such a gathering due to busy lives and responsibilities.

15:32 - Perspectives on the Podcast

• Jeremy's half-siblings' reactions to his podcast, "Paranormal: The New Normal."
• The diverse interests and views among the siblings regarding the paranormal.

16:29 - Supernatural Experiences

• Jeremy's own experiences living in a haunted house.
• Stories of unusual events, including the deaths of chickens and strange dog behavior.

19:01 - Aspirations for Future Relationships

• Jeremy's hopes to meet his half-siblings and get to know them better.
• Balancing his podcasting endeavors and personal life with the desire for family connections.

20:57 - Lack of Donor's Knowledge

• Clarification that sperm donors typically do not receive information about successful pregnancies.
• Hypothetical discussions about the number of half-siblings potentially related to the donor.

21:26 - Closing Remarks

• The incredible and intricate story of Jeremy Bryant, encompassing family secrets, newfound connections, and a passion for the paranormal.

This episode of Family Twist offers a glimpse into Jeremy's unique journey, revealing the complexity of family dynamics and the unexpected twists life can bring.

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00:00

Thank you for joining us again on Family Twist. Our guest this episode is a fellow podcaster, Jeremy Bryant. Jeremy, welcome to the show. Thank you, glad to be here. So I understand you've got a very interesting Family Twist and I only know just a little bit about it, so I'm excited to hear more. You could say that, you could definitely say that. It's a elaborate, long story and a lot of changes over the years.

00:29

I don't know if you want me to jump right into it or not, but. Sure, let's let's go back to the beginning. Yes. All right, so I grew up, your typical white suburban American kid. I. Well, it's all stuff you see in the memes on Facebook is true. It's all it's all it's how it was, but. But I mean, I always. Well, I'm not going to say that yet, because but one, my parents are going to end up getting divorced starting when I was in middle school until I was like in high school.

00:57

So it was a long time coming, but one of the days, my mom just happened to be extra pissed off with my father that day. And she just told me, she's like, we're staying in the living room, and she's just like, I got something I wanna tell you guys, but I don't know if I should. And I started guessing, because I'm the wise ass, and that's what I do. And I'm like, my brother's not my real brother. I was like, kind of hoping on that one. But that wasn't true. I forget what the next one or two were, but eventually I said,

01:27

Dad's not a real dad, is he? And she was just like, look, the look she gave me was like, and she was just like straight out of set, like how do you know that? And I'm like, we look nothing alike. I mean, I towered over him since I was in middle school. Like, what do you mean? How do I know that? But, but yeah, it ended up being that my father had cancer when he was in college and the radiation killed the soldiers. So, so they had to use a donor.

01:57

they went through all the right methods and everything like everybody did back then, they wanted to do it, which apparently where I lived, you went to Albany for that, and there was a lot of different, Albany, New York for that, and there was a lot of different people I know, I now know of that had their parents do that to make them. But, so basically that's, we found out the truth then, apparently the whole family knew except for us basically, but they- Okay, how many siblings do you have? Just me and my brother, but it's expensive, man. They couldn't do it more than twice.

02:27

Did they use the same donor? Yeah, well, we'll get to that eventually, but yeah. Yeah, they did. All right. But yeah, so I mean, it's expensive. And they only did it twice, and then that was enough. They didn't want any more kids than that. But so, yeah, so I found out that day, my dad's not my real dad. My dad, of course, was at work, and as soon as my mom told him and said, hey, they know, he came out to the house and was just hugging and crying, like hugging while crying and like, like,

02:57

apologizing, saying he didn't want us to find out that way. And we're just like, it's not that big a deal. It doesn't change anything. You've always been our dad. It's not like that's not gonna make you dad anymore. Like you've always been the dad, whether you're genetically or not, who cares? You're still dad. But so moving forward from that, I mean, after that, just kind of like we knew it, but it didn't change anything. It didn't matter. So we didn't really talk about it for a good, I mean, unless I'm explaining to like one of my girlfriends throughout the years, like why I don't look like my dad.

03:26

03:57

04:27

Right, right. So I mean, that's majority why I am. And I'm like, that's not really what I want to hear. Like, I mean, nothing against that, but I just, you know, I kind of want to hear like, I'm Italian, I'm German. Like not, I'm not, oh, you're a clusterfuck of all these things putting together. But, but I mean, it's, it's whatever. So a couple months passed and it like, eventually I get a message, I think it was like in February or March after that Christmas and it's from this girl and she's straight up, she says like,

04:57

I think you may be my half brother. I think, did you have a donor as a father? Did your parents use a sperm donor? And right away I'm like, yeah, I know, yeah they did. I know they did. And she's like, I think we're from the same donor. Wow. And it basically has turned into this one, she already knew about two other half sisters before she found me and my brother. And since then we found two more half brothers, actually three more half brothers and.

05:26

maybe a couple of half sister or more too. We've had overall, there's about eight or nine of us in a group chat right now that we talk to each other through all the time. We call it DC family, Donoracy family. But I mean, it basically has turned into this amazing like thing where, I mean, I haven't yet to meet any of them. My brother has met most of them. My full brother has met most of them, but I don't travel as much as he does. So I really don't get a chance to go see people.

05:53

Might be seeing one end of this month. Maybe, maybe. I don't know. He said he was gonna go on a trip around to, I don't know if he was just drinking that night or something. But, but I mean, it's just, I mean, some of them want nothing to do with us. Like we've met a couple and like my one half sister even has like a basically a PDF package. She sends out with like all the information about our donor, Kirk, who I email back and forth with for like one message. And then just because I got nothing I really want, I need to get from him. Like.

06:21

Yeah, I mean, if I need to find some medical history someday, at least I can contact him. But I don't need to go to him and do anything. It's just like I'm not looking for someone to replace my father. And I mean, I would love to meet the man. Don't get me wrong. I've been told by my sisters that I sound just like him. So I would love to meet the man just to compare things. But and I mean, he was actually a he was a doctor. He was going to college to be a doctor at that time. And that was how he made money on the side was Donatex Berm.

06:51

Wow. Well, medical school is very expensive and sounds like he was pretty, uh, he was, he was at the clinic very frequently. Yeah. Yeah. We, we, they're actually my, my, uh, one half sister and her friend did a podcast about it called biohacked where, um, my half sister was on the first three episodes talking about like her situation and it was actually her recordings of her and Kirk meeting for like the first time. And like they're, they're like interviews with like afterwards, like how they felt about it and everything. It's interesting.

07:19

They moved away from that topic towards the second season, so I haven't listened to the show since. But I mean, but it's just, I mean, I got a shout out in the course, because all the half bros, half sisters did. But it's just, it's interesting. Like, you never would imagine you have all these people who are half family to you, and that you never knew they existed. And apparently we all lived within 100, 200 mile radius of each other growing up, because our parents all went to Albany to get

07:49

sperm from that sperm bank. Right, right. Makes sense, yeah. Now are they, because you're in Massachusetts. I'm in Massachusetts now, but I grew up in New York, so. Okay, so are they kind of all scattered around the New York area? My full brother, along with, I believe, one of the half sisters lives in Florida. A couple live around the New York. They moved upstate when COVID happened, but they still live in New York. But, and then the other ones, I am honestly not too sure where they live. I think it's more...

08:17

They're out Midwest somewhere now, but I'm not 100% sure. It's just, we stay in touch, but we don't, we're not talking to each other like on like a daily or weekly basis or anything. It's just like, we all have our own lives, our own kid, most of us have our own kids and our own specific and others to deal with. So, I mean, it's hard enough to say this life. What's the age range of your siblings? Well, I'm turning 35 this Friday actually, but my, I would say, I mean, my brothers, my full brother is,

08:46

almost two years younger than me. So they're all in their early thirties to maybe late thirties. I think I'm not the oldest, I don't think, but I'm close to the oldest. Gotcha. Really cool. And what does your mom think of the finding these half siblings? She thought it was cool. I mean, she did, she was more amazed and she felt like I'd see a picture of the donor. Yeah. That was the thing. Cause like you could see, cause we...

09:14

We always wondered where we got our noses from, because we always thought there was this big Italian nose, because that's what we were told. But, because my mom's side of the family is Italian, fully, for the most part, fully. But, so it turns out that it comes from Kirk, because he has the same exact nose I do, and he has the same exact eyes my brother does. It's just like, you look at the picture, and you could look at either picture of either of us, and you're just like, wow, the similarities are striking. So I mean, that's where I made sure the most. I mean...

09:44

She thinks it's cool, but I mean, she doesn't, she almost made, she made a joke at one point, like, what about all the moms? Should we have a support group for all this? I'm like, and I'm like, why? I'm like, ours is like the least tragic story of any of my half siblings. Like, it's just, because we, it wasn't like, like, I'm pretty sure one of them, like, even like, their parents hid it from them until they found out they were an ancestry test. And like, you can't do that. Like, that's.

10:12

Those are the stories you hear about where it's just like, oof, like on the podcast they did, Biohack, like a lot of people tell their stories like that where like it causes so much turmoil and trauma in the family and with us, it was something that happened that was over in like a day when they told us. Like it wasn't a big deal, didn't change a thing. Didn't change a freaking thing in the world except we knew what we always suspected anyway. And it's better than hearing, oh, I cheated on your father with a mailman. So. Right. Right. Of course. I mean, it is surprising how many people

10:40

find out that way though. I mean we've had several people on the show who have talked about how they found out was after their parents have died they're going through like their papers and stuff and then they find something that way. So it's like not only did they not find out you know their parents never tell them but they can't ask them about it either because they're dead. Yeah I mean yeah it's just I don't I don't get why I mean I get why they do it because we know when all this was first happened when they were using the

11:10

early 80s, whatever it was for all this, they didn't never suspected there'd be a day where you can get send your spit in and get DNA back from it. Like, who saw that coming unless you ended up being like a murder victim. But so it's just, it's just I mean, I could see that they thought this day would never come. But really, once your kids are mature enough to handle the truth, you should just tell them the truth. Like, if you're if you're really the parent, you're the whole life anyway, and you're there regardless, they're not gonna think anything different of you.

11:38

If you're a shitty father, then you got other issues anyway, so, woohoo. Like, that's on you. But, I mean, they're gonna find out eventually. Yeah, I always joke about my situation because I always knew I was adopted. And my joke about my hometown is that the town was so small. If my parents tried to hide it, there'd be no way everybody knew, you know? It's like because they had lived there before I was born and after. And...

12:08

And so there was no hiding that. Right. Yeah, it makes sense. I mean, it just I mean, we grew up in a small town too, but I don't think our town knew about this fact. Like it was just they some of them might have because they're friends my parents and whatnot, but just was never like a big thing that everybody knew about. Mm hmm. Now, how did your sister find out who the donor was? Was it was that public information available or? Oh, my. See, this is a part. I was I was really actually. I think.

12:40

Oh yeah, that's how she um, on her ancestry tree, there was somebody on there who he ended up being the nephew of our donor. And like she, she said like how we related and he's like, and like he kept coming up with blanks for how they were related. So at that point it was just like, and she said like she said I think I'm gonna be related to your, she asked like, even your family ever donate sperm.

13:09

or before, or were they around the Albany area? I think she might phrase it that way first, but basically that's how she found out. She found out through a relative that was on the family tree with her. And it took him a while to, at first, his family didn't want him talking to her at all or saying anything. And then eventually, Curtis aside, why do I care? They're not gonna come to me for money. If they do, I just turn them away. It's not a big deal. So it took him a little while to open it to her too.

13:39

How many of your half siblings kind of have a relationship with him now? One or two, I mean All the three half sisters that that started have all met him together and they had like a little weekend out of it or something But and I'm pretty as far as I know none of us have brothers have met him yet Okay, so I mean, I don't I'm not sure other than that like I'd love to meet him someday But he's also on the other side of the country. So it sounds like

14:09

Right, right. Not convenient, yeah. Has there been talk with your siblings about having like a full on reunion with all of you? We've talked about it plenty, but it just, we all, a lot of us have small children and this blind is just not feasible. Right, right, right. I mean, we're mostly on the East Coast, so it wouldn't be that hard, but still it just, I don't know, it just, we haven't really put it into motion yet, and I mean, we all have our own lives, we're all busy doing our own thing, so. Sure, sure.

14:37

So I'm guessing your brother has been sort of on board with this if he's met, you know, most of your half siblings. What's, what's his take on this whole experience? My brother doesn't like to talk emotions a lot. So, I mean, we never really even talked about like, it just, it didn't mean anything to us that he wasn't our father. It's just what it was. So we neither of us had any ill feelings toward anything to do with it. Since it started, I mean, he did a 23andMe DNA test before I did even, and, but they-

15:04

they were on ancestry and they contacted me first. That's just the way it went. And then I tied him into it. And that's just the way it went. Like, I tied him into it. And then we ended up meeting some of them because he was in New York City. And he met a couple of them. He met the couple that live in New York City. And then he met the one that lived in Florida when he moved to Florida. So it just worked out. I mean, in his travels, he met one of the half brothers too, just because they happen to meet up. So I mean, he's

15:32

My brother travels a lot though. So I mean, it was always easy for him to do that type of stuff. Right, right. So I've been listening to your podcast, Paranormal, The New Normal. How did you get into that subject matter? Since I was a kid. I used to take the one book out in elementary school that had Bigfoot and Lochness and all those well-known creatures in it. And I used to read it over and over again. And from there, it just kind of went away as I got older because, you know, girls aren't into Bigfoot.

16:02

So I had to kind of leave behind for a while, but then I got, when I started listening to podcasts, I just got into Bigfoot again more and more, and I got another paranormal stuff. And when I started podcasting on another podcast before that, they said, you need to start your own show with something you love. And I was like, all right, well, what do I love? I'm like, paranormal. So let's do a paranormal podcast. Cool. Have you had any supernatural experiences?

16:29

Oh, I live in a haunted house, so yeah, kind of. Oh, okay. All right. Wow. On purpose or? No, not on purpose. Oh, just kind of the way it goes sometimes, but it's Massachusetts. Can I have one of these? Yeah. It wasn't marketed that way, is what you're saying. I don't think anybody would mark it that way. Yeah. Come and live with us. Oh, I'm sure there's some people that would love to live in a haunted house. Well, yeah. Not one of these. But yeah, I mean, it's just, I don't know, paranormal or something always.

16:58

I like to think about things that could be true, but might not be true and try to connect the dots. That's the fun of it. Right. I missed it over.

17:10

What kind of spirit was in the house? Didn't your house know? Ah, we believe it's just the gentleman who lived here before us, but we don't know for sure. At this point, we just kind of want to get rid of it. Did he die in the house? No, no, but that's TV lore that they have to haunt where they die.

17:35

Hmm. So he's just coming back because this is the place he knows. Spirits can get attached to property just as easily as they can to an object or to where they die. I mean, just the ones that get stuck where they die, it's usually just a confusion of like after death. Like it's usually like a sudden thing where they don't know where they are. Hmm. Gotcha. Gotcha. What's one of the weirder things that you've encountered since you've been doing this?

18:02

Uh, honestly, I don't, I'm not like an experiencer, like to that degree. Like I, I mean, just knowing there's something around you and like, you could feel it. Like I never seen it, but you can feel it. And like, and like we've had chickens die from it. We've had our, we've had our dogs screaming, like they're being murdered, but they're perfectly fine. Just, so I mean, it's just weird things happen and you just can't, you can't do anything about it, but it's just weird things happen.

18:33

Right, right, wow, that's wild. What do your siblings think of the podcast? They have actually never talked to me about it. I mean, my brother is, my brother just says like, do what you wanna do, whatever makes you happy. But the rest of my half-siblings, I haven't really talked to about that much. I mean, they know I do it, but they just, I mean, I assume they do, because I, yeah, I assume they do. Because I posted enough on Facebook, they have to see it. So, but I mean, I assume they know. It's just, we never really talked about it.

19:01

So they haven't been on as guests or anything. No, I mean, honestly, I never even thought to ask him that. It's just, I never lack for guests because there's so many paranormal people, people who have experiences out there. There's so many people studying the paranormal field nowadays that it's just, it's never ending the amount of guests you can get. Right, right, yeah, I can only imagine. Ours is a little bit more, a little, you know, tighter. Right. It's like the type of people that, you know, would be good guests for here. For sure.

19:29

20:00

Right. So. So do you have any aspirations for like what your relationships will be like in the future with your siblings? I'd like to get to meet them and maybe get to know them a little bit. But I mean, yeah, I also went 20, some 20, 27 years of my life without knowing who they are or actually 30 years, basically. So, I mean, it's also like it's not going to change my life completely. They're there.

20:28

I mean, yeah, they may look a little bit like me or some of them look a little bit more like my brother. But I mean, it's just, I don't know, I just, I mean, they're there. I'd love to meet them. I'd love to spend time with them, but I don't get time to do much of anything between podcasting and real life. So, you know, it's just, if I want to lose, I don't know, maybe someday, someday. That's all I keep saying. Has anyone said, does the donor know like how many successful pregnancies there were?

20:57

No, you don't get they don't hear once they donate they don't get information back about it at all because that's how what the way it was supposed to be. Gotcha, gotcha. Okay. Yeah, was we we interviewed someone a few weeks ago who I think he's up to like 75 siblings. I mean, yeah, they I mean, we hypothesize there could be 100 out there easily. But and and he hypothesizes he actually has a pot size when he was on the other podcast, he said that there could have been anywhere from 100 200 like successful at least because he donated.

21:26

a lot over the years to pay for medical school. So. Wow. Right. Wow. Good for him. Apparently a lot of the, apparently a lot of the, they advertised that to college. So a lot of the doctors he was going to college with, they wanted intelligent young men who had good health to do it. So. Sure. Makes total sense. Absolutely.