Italian Man Buys A DNA Test, Finds Out He And His Father Are Not Italians At All
Pretty much all of us have heard about the recent hype of genetic genealogy tests. Your friends, coworkers and maybe even family members have taken the test to find out about their ethnicity. The companies providing these tests invested millions of dollars into advertising to stimulate our curiosity. For instance, according to Kantar Media, in 2016 Ancestry.com spent $109 million on TV and other ads in the US. And it worked well, the genetic testing industry had 12 million consumers in 2017 alone.
These tests allow you to gain knowledge about your ancestors, find estranged family members or distant cousins. However, not everyone is happy about what they find out. Earlier we wrote an article about how one of this test turned into a serious family feud during the Christmas. And to be honest, there’s probably a lot more stories like this one, where genetic genealogy tests help people discover their family secrets.
More info: reddit.com
Image credits: Ann
That is exactly what happened to another Reddit user TheAtomicPlayboy who received a DNA testing kit from his wife. Raised to be a proud Italian, he immediately thought that the test is a waste of money. However, when the results came in, TheAtomicPlayboy was shocked by the news. As it turns out, there’s not a single Italian bone in his body. “Goodbye meatballs, hello Matzah balls,” he wrote because the test showed that he, in fact, is Jewish. And that’s how his grandmother’s affair was discovered. Do you have juicy family secrets that were uncovered by DNA tests? Share them in the comments!
“I was raised in a big Italian family – Christmas dinner meant cannolis, pasta, and lots of red wine. There’s just one problem, thanks to 23AndMe, I found out today that I’m not Italian.
My wife bought me the kit two months ago; I spit in the plastic tube, and sent it in to back to the lab to be analyzed (fully expecting that she had just wasted $99 because, duh, Italian). In college I even majored in Italian Studies, learned the language, and spent a summer in Desenzano del Garda “connecting with my roots.”
The lab results came back unceremoniously today, with an email confirmation “A world of DNA discovery is waiting.” Sure, whatever, just serve me my heaping plate of Deoxyribonucleic lasagna and let’s get this over with. I was certain that my results would show that I was a mixed cocktail of milquetoast European, with a good splash of Italian Campari.
Well, arrivederci family heritage. And buongiorno Ashkenazi Judaism!
My grandpa had already taken a genetics test, and boasted to the family that he was 93.7% Italian. Bad news, gramps, we are not biologically related.
I called my dad and shared the news. He admitted that the rest of the family had teased him and called him a “bastard” growing up because all the other men in the family had straight black hair and he has tight, curly hair. He also told me that he discovered his mom had an affair with a Jewish man while married to my grandpa but he never believed it was really true. He had avoided taking a genetics test all these years because it was easier not to know.
Mazel tov!
Now we’re trying to decide how to confront his mom (my grandma), and if we should share the news with the rest of the family. He’s taking it a lot harder than me. Understandably, he wants to know who his real father might be.
Meanwhile, I’m over here at 30 years old like how the fuck do I make up for 240 lost days of Hanukkah.
TL;DR – Goodbye meatballs, hello Matzah balls.”
OP even share a photo to prove it
Here’s how people reacted
174Kviews
Share on FacebookWhy do so many people believe that family has anything to do with genetics. Family is a unique connection we form with the people closest to us. He was raised Italian, he is Italian. If I adopt a child can I not raise them with my culture?
Because we are tribal creatures with traditions and roots. If that weren't the case, adoption centers would be empty. While this may not diminish his history and experiences and feelings within his family, it does remove the foundation of bloodline that he thought was there, and bloodline still matters to the connections we feel.
Load More Replies...Oy vey, a surprise for sure, but your Grandpa will always be the man who was there for the good and bad times.
Am I the only one who hopes they don't confront Grandma? She already knows and probably had a lifetime of fear and regret over it.
Agree - you got the DNA result - know the facts. Why upset an elderly lady, who has lived with it for years.
Load More Replies...In spite of that, we love you just the same. We are italian, basically we are a mix of different ethnicity. Roman, Greek, Celts, Norman, Samnites..... Make yourself at home.
Cinzia, thank you. I am half italian/half german and I think that I have almost all possible european ethnic groups in me :-)
Load More Replies...Not 100% positive as it may only be an orthodox belief, but it's my understanding that Jewish lineage is matriarchal. You're considered Jewish if your mother was Jewish, not if your father were Jewish.
"Family" is who is there for you, regardless of the genetics! I'm sure there have been lots of others with surprises or skeletons in their closets that came to light after having these dna tests run. Embrace your "new" heritage, but don't forget the one you grew up with. Hope everything goes well with approaching your Grandmother with this news...
"In college I even majored in Italian Studies, learned the language, and spent a summer in Desenzano del Garda “connecting with my roots.”" Well, now you have a whole new culture (and subculture) to explore. Good luck.
Oh, and all the while his mother knew this and didn't tell. I think she should have, before he invested so much time and effort.
Load More Replies...Tribalism is so weird. I can't imagine giving even a shred of a s**t about who humped who and where they were from. Taking pride in anything you didn't personally have a hand in is what causes 99% of the world's problems. It's fun to cheer for your home country at the Olympics or whatever, but beyond that it's sad that people form any form of opinion about themselves or how they "should" lead their life based on a DNA test.
Looking at it from the other side, I love my Italian heritage and all it represents. (Yes, I know about the bad s**t too like the mafia, etc.) We are family-oriented, will feed anyone who is hungry, and will hug anyone who stands still long enough to catch.
Load More Replies...It's funny how someone would say "I'm not Italian, I'm Jewish." That's like saying, "I need shampoo for dry hair, my eyes are brown." One has nothing to do with the other. You can be both Italian and Jewish.
Who is a proud member of the tribe. I love Henry Winkler too. Such a good menschy man.
Load More Replies...My husband took the test 2 years ago and found out his dad isn't really his dad. His legal father passed away a couple months ago not knowing the truth. He had a hard life and saw my husband as the best of himself, telling him the truth would have destroyed him. These tests can be great and my husband is glad he knows the truth but it can definitely turn up so painful information.
Im glad gou didnt tell your father in law. If he raised your husband, and did it well,then it was the best of himself
Load More Replies...Dont believe those DNA tests. I had one done a year ago and I was around 30 percent of three different things. 8 months later they send me an update and Im none of those things and 80 percent something else... I hope these tests dont break up families since they are very unreliable.
Have you Consider the possibility that 23andMe could have screwed up your test? And, there’s a Jewish guy wondering why he’s Italian?
And then we look at the photograph and... uh huh.
Load More Replies...Took a dna test through AncestryDNA and found out I’m half Italian. Grew up not knowing who my biological father is and also not knowing I was Italian. Big shock to the system. Now I’m trying to find my biological father but no such luck. Is 23and me and good ??
Very similar story in my family my mother took a 23 and me DNA test to find out about some health issues my grandmother is Italian and my grandfather is English well my grandmother also had an affair with a Jewish man my mother was so shocked she is half-Italian half Jewish we found out about a year ago when she approached my grandmother who is 94 years old with this information my grandmother said why are you digging up the past my mother is pretty upset that my grandmother was never going to tell her and she still has not told her sisters but I always thought that she looks different than them and my Uncle said to my mother that's why dad treated you differently so he must have known
My grandfather told me for years my grandmother was Native American (not his words) and I was excited to see what percentage I was. He lied to me or she had lied to him. I'm entirely European.
There supposedly isn't enough Northern American Indian dna in the databases to do these tests properly, they use central american and south american dna to compare, your family stories might still have merit, though your grandma having native blood doesn't mean your dna test will reflect this, its all about which bits you inherit. Even full blood siblings might have different percentages of ethnicity in what are termed as mixed blood families.
Load More Replies...Well, the dad looked like he could be related to Ben Stiller. Ha!
'm so excited my broken Marriage has been restored & my husband is back after he left me and our 3 kids for another woman. After 12 years of marriage, me and my husband has been into one quarrel or the other until he finally left me and moved to California to be with another woman. i felt my life was over and my kids thought they would never see their father again. i tried to be strong just for the kids but i could not control the pains that torments my heart, my heart was filled with sorrows and pains because i was really in love with my husband. Every day and night i think of him and always wish he would come back to me, I was really upset and i needed help, so i searched for help online and I came across a website that suggested that Dr Abel justus can help get ex back fast. So, I felt I should give him a try. I contacted him and he told me what to do and i did it then he did a (Love spell for me. 72 hours later, my husband really called me and told me that he miss me and the kids s
My mom found out what happened to her grandfather this way. He had up and left and disappeared. Turns out he changed his name, remarried a couple times, and my Gpa, my mom's Dad, had a bunch of half siblings he never knew about. My mom has been connecting with her "new" cousins!
Just like that terrible ancestry.com ad where the DelVecchios discover the husband isn't Italian, he's (said in an derogatory voice by the wife) Eastern European. Welcome to the tribe! There are thousands of people of Jewish ancestry who don't know it, but still remember great grandma lighting candles on Friday nights because it was a family tradition. Many in Louisiana of Jewish descent whose families came from Spain at some point, only discovered when children began dying of Tay-Sachs disease. It's an important thing to know.
I don't know why people seem to think a religion is a nationality. You are only Jewish if you choose to follow Judaism. You can't be born any religion as these are man-made concepts (yes, I deliberately chose to put "man" there). You can't, however, choose where you or your ancestors were born.
I think it's really sweet how yanks say 'I'm Irish/Italian/Dutch' or whatever when talking about their origins. It does make the racist ones look dumb when they talk about immigration though.
So an American, whose grandparents were even born in America suddenly considers himself Jewish just because one of four grandparents was Jewish? He isn't anymore Jewish than he is Italien. He's American.
Before he writes off his heritage, he should watch this report about identical twins (!!!) getting different results. Highly interesting - and I won't do a DNA test anytime soon, considering its unreliability https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Isa5c1p6aC0
I think you meant mixed, not bastard, I agree with the sentiment if your statement
Load More Replies...Perhaps that would be the best thing that could happen to our species.
Load More Replies...Why do so many people believe that family has anything to do with genetics. Family is a unique connection we form with the people closest to us. He was raised Italian, he is Italian. If I adopt a child can I not raise them with my culture?
Because we are tribal creatures with traditions and roots. If that weren't the case, adoption centers would be empty. While this may not diminish his history and experiences and feelings within his family, it does remove the foundation of bloodline that he thought was there, and bloodline still matters to the connections we feel.
Load More Replies...Oy vey, a surprise for sure, but your Grandpa will always be the man who was there for the good and bad times.
Am I the only one who hopes they don't confront Grandma? She already knows and probably had a lifetime of fear and regret over it.
Agree - you got the DNA result - know the facts. Why upset an elderly lady, who has lived with it for years.
Load More Replies...In spite of that, we love you just the same. We are italian, basically we are a mix of different ethnicity. Roman, Greek, Celts, Norman, Samnites..... Make yourself at home.
Cinzia, thank you. I am half italian/half german and I think that I have almost all possible european ethnic groups in me :-)
Load More Replies...Not 100% positive as it may only be an orthodox belief, but it's my understanding that Jewish lineage is matriarchal. You're considered Jewish if your mother was Jewish, not if your father were Jewish.
"Family" is who is there for you, regardless of the genetics! I'm sure there have been lots of others with surprises or skeletons in their closets that came to light after having these dna tests run. Embrace your "new" heritage, but don't forget the one you grew up with. Hope everything goes well with approaching your Grandmother with this news...
"In college I even majored in Italian Studies, learned the language, and spent a summer in Desenzano del Garda “connecting with my roots.”" Well, now you have a whole new culture (and subculture) to explore. Good luck.
Oh, and all the while his mother knew this and didn't tell. I think she should have, before he invested so much time and effort.
Load More Replies...Tribalism is so weird. I can't imagine giving even a shred of a s**t about who humped who and where they were from. Taking pride in anything you didn't personally have a hand in is what causes 99% of the world's problems. It's fun to cheer for your home country at the Olympics or whatever, but beyond that it's sad that people form any form of opinion about themselves or how they "should" lead their life based on a DNA test.
Looking at it from the other side, I love my Italian heritage and all it represents. (Yes, I know about the bad s**t too like the mafia, etc.) We are family-oriented, will feed anyone who is hungry, and will hug anyone who stands still long enough to catch.
Load More Replies...It's funny how someone would say "I'm not Italian, I'm Jewish." That's like saying, "I need shampoo for dry hair, my eyes are brown." One has nothing to do with the other. You can be both Italian and Jewish.
Who is a proud member of the tribe. I love Henry Winkler too. Such a good menschy man.
Load More Replies...My husband took the test 2 years ago and found out his dad isn't really his dad. His legal father passed away a couple months ago not knowing the truth. He had a hard life and saw my husband as the best of himself, telling him the truth would have destroyed him. These tests can be great and my husband is glad he knows the truth but it can definitely turn up so painful information.
Im glad gou didnt tell your father in law. If he raised your husband, and did it well,then it was the best of himself
Load More Replies...Dont believe those DNA tests. I had one done a year ago and I was around 30 percent of three different things. 8 months later they send me an update and Im none of those things and 80 percent something else... I hope these tests dont break up families since they are very unreliable.
Have you Consider the possibility that 23andMe could have screwed up your test? And, there’s a Jewish guy wondering why he’s Italian?
And then we look at the photograph and... uh huh.
Load More Replies...Took a dna test through AncestryDNA and found out I’m half Italian. Grew up not knowing who my biological father is and also not knowing I was Italian. Big shock to the system. Now I’m trying to find my biological father but no such luck. Is 23and me and good ??
Very similar story in my family my mother took a 23 and me DNA test to find out about some health issues my grandmother is Italian and my grandfather is English well my grandmother also had an affair with a Jewish man my mother was so shocked she is half-Italian half Jewish we found out about a year ago when she approached my grandmother who is 94 years old with this information my grandmother said why are you digging up the past my mother is pretty upset that my grandmother was never going to tell her and she still has not told her sisters but I always thought that she looks different than them and my Uncle said to my mother that's why dad treated you differently so he must have known
My grandfather told me for years my grandmother was Native American (not his words) and I was excited to see what percentage I was. He lied to me or she had lied to him. I'm entirely European.
There supposedly isn't enough Northern American Indian dna in the databases to do these tests properly, they use central american and south american dna to compare, your family stories might still have merit, though your grandma having native blood doesn't mean your dna test will reflect this, its all about which bits you inherit. Even full blood siblings might have different percentages of ethnicity in what are termed as mixed blood families.
Load More Replies...Well, the dad looked like he could be related to Ben Stiller. Ha!
'm so excited my broken Marriage has been restored & my husband is back after he left me and our 3 kids for another woman. After 12 years of marriage, me and my husband has been into one quarrel or the other until he finally left me and moved to California to be with another woman. i felt my life was over and my kids thought they would never see their father again. i tried to be strong just for the kids but i could not control the pains that torments my heart, my heart was filled with sorrows and pains because i was really in love with my husband. Every day and night i think of him and always wish he would come back to me, I was really upset and i needed help, so i searched for help online and I came across a website that suggested that Dr Abel justus can help get ex back fast. So, I felt I should give him a try. I contacted him and he told me what to do and i did it then he did a (Love spell for me. 72 hours later, my husband really called me and told me that he miss me and the kids s
My mom found out what happened to her grandfather this way. He had up and left and disappeared. Turns out he changed his name, remarried a couple times, and my Gpa, my mom's Dad, had a bunch of half siblings he never knew about. My mom has been connecting with her "new" cousins!
Just like that terrible ancestry.com ad where the DelVecchios discover the husband isn't Italian, he's (said in an derogatory voice by the wife) Eastern European. Welcome to the tribe! There are thousands of people of Jewish ancestry who don't know it, but still remember great grandma lighting candles on Friday nights because it was a family tradition. Many in Louisiana of Jewish descent whose families came from Spain at some point, only discovered when children began dying of Tay-Sachs disease. It's an important thing to know.
I don't know why people seem to think a religion is a nationality. You are only Jewish if you choose to follow Judaism. You can't be born any religion as these are man-made concepts (yes, I deliberately chose to put "man" there). You can't, however, choose where you or your ancestors were born.
I think it's really sweet how yanks say 'I'm Irish/Italian/Dutch' or whatever when talking about their origins. It does make the racist ones look dumb when they talk about immigration though.
So an American, whose grandparents were even born in America suddenly considers himself Jewish just because one of four grandparents was Jewish? He isn't anymore Jewish than he is Italien. He's American.
Before he writes off his heritage, he should watch this report about identical twins (!!!) getting different results. Highly interesting - and I won't do a DNA test anytime soon, considering its unreliability https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Isa5c1p6aC0
I think you meant mixed, not bastard, I agree with the sentiment if your statement
Load More Replies...Perhaps that would be the best thing that could happen to our species.
Load More Replies...
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