A video posted by TikToker @notrealtrevorreid, which has received over 744,000 views and nearly 3,000 comments, describes a shocking revelation after a DNA test exposed a family secret that had been hidden for decades. But what Trevor's test ultimately uncovered was unsettling enough to lead to a reported restraining order from his grandmother.
Trevor began the video by explaining that his curiosity about his ancestry led him to take a DNA test through personal genomics company 23andMe in 2021. Initially, he said, he set the results aside because he felt he had accomplished what he set out to do.
But four years later, he became curious again about his mother's side of the family, specifically her biological father. That curiosity ultimately let the proverbial cat out of the bag.
Trevor explained that he became interested in learning more because his mother had not grown up spending much time with her father. He also never knew the man personally during his childhood. The only evidence he had that the man was his grandfather came from what other people had told him.
One commenter noted that DNA testing companies are exposing secrets that families had hoped would remain hidden. They wrote, "Ancestry.com and 23andMe are exposing a lot of family secrets that older generations thought would stay buried. . ."
Trevor's DNA Matches Led Him to a Family Secret About His Mother's Biological Father
And that's exactly what happened. Trevor said, "So, the more I started doing the matches on the DNA, I started realizing that on my Mom's side, there's all of these people who I'm like, 'Who are you?'"
He said he knew that his grandmother's brothers had children with multiple partners, but he generally knew their names. However, he began coming across relatives who were completely unfamiliar to him. One relative in particular was his mother's second cousin, who explained who some of the other relatives were.
Trevor then took the names she gave him and began digging further. After a year and a half of research, he eventually concluded that he had found his mother's biological father—and it wasn't the man she had grown up believing was her father. Unfortunately, the man had already passed away.
Undeterred, Trevor continued searching until he found a daughter of the deceased man who looked so much like his mother that he became convinced she was her half sister. He decided to reach out to her and explain his quest to find his lost relatives.
According to Trevor, she was cooperative and agreed to take a DNA test to confirm whether they were related. When the results came back, they confirmed that she was his aunt—his mother's half sister.
Armed with what he considered undeniable evidence about his relatives, Trevor informed his grandmother, hoping to get some answers. Instead, he was met with denial.
He said, "My maternal grandmother, my mother's mom, is denying everything. She can't possibly believe that this is true. She's telling me she doesn't remember. . . And now she's trying to prove me wrong."
In reacting to the video, many commenters agreed that DNA results don't lie, but people do. And his grandmother was trying her best to keep the secrets of her past life buried. One commenter wrote, "BINGO! You are correct in not knowing what you might find when doing a DNA test. I found out at 58 that the man that I thought was my biological father wasn't. Really rocked my world."
Another commenter said she had no intention of telling the truth. They wrote, "She planned to die with that secret."
A separate commenter advised Trevor to let it be because digging up the past may resurrect her trauma. They wrote, "Leave it and her alone. . . Not everyone wants to dig up the past; a curiosity to you could be trauma for someone else."
The Daily Dot was unable to independently verify the claims made by TikTok creator @notrealtrevorreid, which are based on his personal account shared in the video.
