Family Twist: A Podcast Exploring DNA Surprises and Family Secrets

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Nicole thought TikTok was being ridiculous. After posting wedding videos online, strangers flooded the comments insisting there was “no way” she was half white like she’d always believed. Some people were curious. Others were cruel. But the comments kept coming.

“You look Black.”
“That’s not your dad.”
“You should take a DNA test.”

So she did. What Nicole expected would be a funny way to shut down internet trolls turned into a complete rewriting of her identity, family history, and understanding of herself.

In this unforgettable episode of Family Twist, Nicole shares how a viral TikTok video led to the shocking discovery that the father who raised her was not her biological father. Raised in Maui in a conservative Christian household, Nicole never seriously questioned the story she’d been told about her background. But one DNA test uncovered an entirely different reality, including a biological father in Texas who never knew she existed.

What follows is one of the most emotional and hopeful reunion stories we’ve heard on the podcast.

Nicole opens up about confronting her mother, finding her biological father through an obituary and Facebook search, and the overwhelming moment of realizing she finally saw herself in someone else. Corey and Kendall also explore the complicated emotions that come with DNA surprises, race and identity, reunion, loyalty to the parent who raised you, and the emotional whiplash of discovering a whole new side of your family overnight.

This episode covers:

• DNA surprises and NPE discoveries
• Viral TikTok DNA stories
• Race and identity revelations
• Late discovery biological family
• Reunion with a biological father
• Family secrets and emotional healing
• Nature versus nurture
• Adoption-adjacent identity journeys
• The impact of ancestry DNA testing

Somehow, this story also includes one of the sweetest father-daughter reunions imaginable.

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Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us on Patreon for Family Twist: After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus show with personal stories, behind-the-scenes conversations, family chaos, and plenty we wouldn’t normally share on Family Twist.

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What happens when you spend more than 40 years sensing something about your life doesn’t add up… only to discover you were right all along?

In this deeply emotional and unforgettable episode of Family Twist, Corey and Kendall sit down with Dr. Syb, a late discovery adoptee whose world changed forever just before her 42nd birthday. What began as a lifetime of unanswered questions became a journey through adoption secrecy, grief, rage, identity, reunion, and ultimately, healing.

Dr. Syb shares the shocking moment she learned she was adopted after decades of feeling different from everyone around her. She opens up about discovering that nearly everyone in her family already knew the truth, the emotional fallout of uncovering long-buried secrets, and the devastating reality that both of her biological parents had already passed away before she found them.

But this conversation goes far beyond DNA tests and paperwork.

Together, they explore the emotional impact of adoption trauma, the pressure adoptees often face to “just be grateful,” and the importance of allowing adoptees, NPEs, and donor-conceived people to fully process their anger, grief, and confusion without judgment.

Dr. Syb also discusses:

•  The healing power of adoptee community and therapy 
•  How music, movement, and dancing helped her process trauma 
•  Why adoptees deserve agency over their own stories 
•  The dangers of family secrecy and hidden truths 
•  Reunion experiences with both maternal and paternal relatives 
•  Why telling the truth matters before it’s too late 

This is one of the rawest and most honest conversations we’ve ever had on Family Twist, and Dr. Syb’s voice is one that will stay with listeners long after the episode ends.

If you’re navigating adoption, a DNA surprise, NPE discovery, donor conception, or complicated family secrets, this episode will make you feel seen.

And remember, family secrets are the ultimate plot twist.

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Want more Corey and Kendall?

Join us for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus podcast featuring personal stories, family secrets, behind-the-scenes conversations and plenty we don't share on the regular show.

Your Patreon membership also helps cover the costs of keeping Family Twist going. Plus, subscribers get new Family Twist episodes a day early!

Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours

Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us on Patreon for Family Twist: After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus show with personal stories, behind-the-scenes conversations, family chaos, and plenty we wouldn’t normally share on Family Twist.

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What happens when your search for family stretches across decades, dead ends, sealed records, and fading hope?

In part two of this deeply personal conversation, Corey and Kendall continue their discussion with author and journalist Paul T. O'Connor. Together, they explore the emotional realities of adoption, foster care, identity, and the lifelong impact of family secrecy.

Kendall shares stories from his years-long search for his biological family, including placing newspaper ads in Arkansas long before consumer DNA testing existed, petitioning courts for records, and trying to piece together his origins from fragments of information. The conversation also dives into the strange experience of finally meeting biological relatives and seeing physical similarities reflected back for the first time.

Paul opens up further about his mother’s history in foster care, the disappearance of critical records, and how secrecy and stigma shaped generations of families. It’s an honest conversation about grief, resilience, truth, and the complicated reality that love for adoptive family and curiosity about biological roots can exist at the same time.

Paul’s new book, The Missing Child: The Life She Lived and the Life She Missed, published by Torchflame Books, is available beginning May 26 through bookstores and online retailers.

If you’re part of the adoptee, NPE, donor-conceived, or DNA surprise community, this episode will likely feel very familiar.

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Join us for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus podcast featuring personal stories, family secrets, behind-the-scenes conversations and plenty we don't share on the regular show.

Your Patreon membership also helps cover the costs of keeping Family Twist going. Plus, subscribers get new Family Twist episodes a day early!

Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours

Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us on Patreon for Family Twist: After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus show with personal stories, behind-the-scenes conversations, family chaos, and plenty we wouldn’t normally share on Family Twist.

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What would you do if, on the day you buried your mother, you discovered a hidden bundle of records labeled with one clear instruction: Please destroy these?

In this gripping first part of Corey and Kendall’s conversation with retired journalist and author Paul O’Connor, a lifetime of hidden family history begins to unravel through DNA testing, courthouse archives, old birth records, and one relentless search for the truth. 

Paul shares how a mystery surrounding his mother’s identity turned into a years-long investigation that ultimately became his new book, The Missing Child: The Life She Lost and the Life She Led, releasing May 26. Pre-orders are available now.

What begins as curiosity about his mother’s background evolves into something much deeper: an emotional exploration of shame, secrecy, adoption-era stigma, and the devastating weight family secrets can carry across generations.

Using AncestryDNA, 23andMe, historical records, and help from newly discovered cousins, Paul uncovers shocking truths about infidelity, hidden relatives, and the biological grandfather his family never knew existed. Along the way, he and Kendall discuss the emotional complexity of adoption, identity, DNA surprises, and one question that lingers throughout the episode:

Is knowing the truth always better?

In this episode:

•  Paul discovers hidden family records after his mother’s death 
•  A DNA test reveals unexpected biological connections 
•  The emotional fallout of long-buried family secrets 
•  Adoption stigma and shame in the early 1900s 
•  How genealogy research helped uncover the truth 
•  Why Paul wrote The Missing Child
•  The complicated emotional legacy of secrecy 
•  Kendall reflects on growing up adopted without secrecy 

If you’ve ever searched for biological family, uncovered a DNA surprise, wrestled with identity, or wondered how hidden truths shape generations, this conversation will stay with you long after it ends.

Pre-order Paul O’Connor’s new book, The Missing Child: The Life She Lost and the Life She Led, ahead of its May 26 release, and subscribe to Family Twist for more stories about DNA surprises, adoption, NPE discoveries, donor conception, and the secrets families keep.

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Want more Corey and Kendall?

Join us for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus podcast featuring personal stories, family secrets, behind-the-scenes conversations and plenty we don't share on the regular show.

Your Patreon membership also helps cover the costs of keeping Family Twist going. Plus, subscribers get new Family Twist episodes a day early!

Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours

Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us on Patreon for Family Twist: After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus show with personal stories, behind-the-scenes conversations, family chaos, and plenty we wouldn’t normally share on Family Twist.

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What happens when a sperm donor from the 1990s suddenly discovers he has children decades later?

This is one of those stories that could only happen right now.

A decision made in the early ’90s, when anonymity was expected and protected, collides with modern DNA testing, where secrets don’t stay buried.

In Part 1 of this conversation around the documentary Dad Genes, we sit down with Aaron and Jess to unpack how their lives became connected in a way neither of them could have predicted.

Aaron donated sperm in 1994, thinking it was a closed chapter. Jess built her family years later, carefully choosing a donor based on what felt right at the time.

Neither of them expected that decades later, a simple DNA test would connect them, and open the door to a network of biological children, siblings, and relationships that were never supposed to exist.

This episode focuses on the moment everything changes. The discovery. The realization. The first steps into something completely unknown.

If you’ve taken a DNA test, are thinking about it, or are navigating a family discovery of your own, this episode will hit home.

Because this isn’t just about donor conception.

It’s about how technology is reshaping identity, how past decisions don’t stay in the past, and how people are left to figure it out in real time without a roadmap.

Stories like this are becoming more common, and the questions they raise don’t have easy answers.

What You’ll Take Away

• A clear look at how donor conception worked before DNA testing changed everything
• Insight into how families made decisions without knowing what the future would bring
• A grounded, human perspective on what it feels like when identity and biology suddenly collide

Listen now to hear how one decision in 1994 turned into a life-changing discovery decades later.

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Join us for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus podcast featuring personal stories, family secrets, behind-the-scenes conversations and plenty we don't share on the regular show.

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Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours

Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us on Patreon for Family Twist: After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus show with personal stories, behind-the-scenes conversations, family chaos, and plenty we wouldn’t normally share on Family Twist.

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What happens when a sperm donor from the 1990s suddenly discovers he has children decades later? 

This is one of those stories that could only happen right now.

A decision made in the early ’90s, when anonymity was expected and protected, collides with modern DNA testing, where secrets don’t stay buried.

In Part 1 of this conversation around the documentary Dad Genes, we sit down with Aaron and Jess to unpack how their lives became connected in a way neither of them could have predicted.

Aaron donated sperm in 1994, thinking it was a closed chapter. Jess built her family years later, carefully choosing a donor based on what felt right at the time.

Neither of them expected that decades later, a simple DNA test would connect them, and open the door to a network of biological children, siblings, and relationships that were never supposed to exist.

This episode focuses on the moment everything changes. The discovery. The realization. The first steps into something completely unknown.

Why This Episode Matters

If you’ve taken a DNA test, are thinking about it, or are navigating a family discovery of your own, this episode will hit home.

Because this isn’t just about donor conception.

It’s about how technology is reshaping identity, how past decisions don’t stay in the past, and how people are left to figure it out in real time without a roadmap.

Stories like this are becoming more common, and the questions they raise don’t have easy answers.

What You’ll Take Away

A clear look at how donor conception worked before DNA testing changed everything

Insight into how families made decisions without knowing what the future would bring

A grounded, human perspective on what it feels like when identity and biology suddenly collide.

 Listen now to hear how one decision in 1994 turned into a life-changing discovery decades later. 

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Want more Corey and Kendall?

Join us for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus podcast featuring personal stories, family secrets, behind-the-scenes conversations and plenty we don't share on the regular show.

Your Patreon membership also helps cover the costs of keeping Family Twist going. Plus, subscribers get new Family Twist episodes a day early!

Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours

Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us on Patreon for Family Twist: After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus show with personal stories, behind-the-scenes conversations, family chaos, and plenty we wouldn’t normally share on Family Twist.

Join us: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours

What happens when your story starts with secrecy… and ends with a global family?

In this milestone Episode 200 of Family Twist, Kendall sits down with author, musician, and adoptee Zara, whose life began in England during the forced adoption era of the 1960s, a time when young, unmarried mothers were often given no choice but to relinquish their children. 

Zara always knew she was adopted. What she didn’t know was how deeply that truth would shape her identity, her relationships, and her lifelong search for connection.

From quietly wondering if she might recognize her birth mother on the street… to becoming her own detective in a pre-internet world… to finally using DNA testing decades later to uncover her father and a web of siblings across continents, Zara’s story is a powerful look at what it means to search for where you come from.

But as anyone in this community knows, reunion is only the beginning.

Zara opens up about:

•  The emotional weight of growing up adopted in a time of secrecy 
•  Searching for her birth mother before the digital age 
•  Using DNA to finally find her biological father 
•  Navigating complicated sibling relationships and loyalty dynamics 
•  Losing her father just two and a half years after finding him 
•  Turning her story into music, writing, and advocacy 

This conversation is about identity, truth, and the reality that family discovery doesn’t follow a script. It’s messy, beautiful, and deeply human.

If you’ve ever wondered where you come from… or how DNA discoveries reshape a life… this episode will stay with you.

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Join us for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus podcast featuring personal stories, family secrets, behind-the-scenes conversations and plenty we don't share on the regular show.

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Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us on Patreon for Family Twist: After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus show with personal stories, behind-the-scenes conversations, family chaos, and plenty we wouldn’t normally share on Family Twist.

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What happens when a life-altering DNA discovery becomes a feature film… and then gets unpacked in a room full of people who truly understand it?

In this special live episode of Family Twist, Corey sits down with filmmaker, actor, and storyteller Lisa Brenner at Untangling Our Roots.

Lisa shares the real story behind her film One Big Happy Family, inspired by discovering at age 40 that the father who raised her was not her biological father. But this conversation goes beyond the screen.

Together, they dive into:

•  The difference between real life and what made it into the film 
•  The emotional impact of late discovery and identity shifts 
•  Family dynamics, secrecy, and the question so many people ask, who am I now? 
•  Nature vs nurture, and what we carry from both 

Then the conversation opens up to the audience, and this is where things get powerful.

Members of the adoption, NPE, and donor-conceived communities share their own questions, reflections, and lived experiences, turning this episode into something bigger than an interview. It becomes a shared moment of recognition, honesty, and connection.

Because when you’re in a room like this, you realize something important. Your story may be unique, but you are not alone. 

If you’ve experienced a DNA surprise, questioned your identity, or are navigating new family relationships, this episode will hit home.

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Want more Corey and Kendall?

Join us for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus podcast featuring personal stories, family secrets, behind-the-scenes conversations and plenty we don't share on the regular show.

Your Patreon membership also helps cover the costs of keeping Family Twist going. Plus, subscribers get new Family Twist episodes a day early!

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Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us on Patreon for Family Twist: After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus show with personal stories, behind-the-scenes conversations, family chaos, and plenty we wouldn’t normally share on Family Twist.

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What happens when you go from being an only child… to one of twelve overnight?

In this episode of Family Twist, and Kendall sits down with Elizabeth Barbour, an adoptee, adoptive mom, and reunion expert who has spent more than two decades living the reality so many are just beginning to face.

Elizabeth shares her story of searching in a pre-DNA era, making that life-changing phone call, and hearing the words many adoptees dream of: “I’ve hoped and prayed for this day.”

But this conversation goes far beyond the moment of discovery.

Together, they explore what happens after reunion. The emotional complexity. The shifting identities. The joy that exists right alongside grief. And what it really means to build relationships with people who are suddenly family.

Kendall opens up about his own ongoing experience with rejection from his birth mother, leading to one of the most honest and emotional conversations we’ve had on the show.

Elizabeth brings a rare perspective. She has lived reunion as an adoptee and as a parent. Through her work as a coach and practitioner, she helps others navigate this exact terrain with intention, care, and grounding.

This episode is about more than finding family.

It is about what comes next.

WHAT YOU’LL HEAR IN THIS EPISODE

•  The moment Elizabeth found her birth mother and how it changed everything 
•  What it was like discovering 11 siblings after growing up as an only child 
•  The emotional reality of reunion after the initial excitement fades 
•  How Kendall continues to process rejection from his birth mother 
•  Why “family is addition” is more than just a comforting phrase 
•  What adoptees, NPEs, and donor-conceived people need most in reunion 
•  How to navigate identity, belonging, and grief all at the same time 

WHY THIS EPISODE MATTERS

With more people discovering DNA surprises every day, reunion is no longer rare. But understanding how to navigate it still is.

If you are:

•  An adoptee 
•  An NPE (Not Parent Expected) 
•  Donor-conceived 
•  Or someone supporting a loved one through discovery 

This conversation will help you feel less alone and more prepared for what comes next.

Elizabeth Barbour, M.Ed. is an author, speaker, life coach, and shamanic practitioner who helps people navigate life’s most complex transitions with grounding and intention.

An adoptee reunited with her birth family for more than 26 years, Elizabeth is also an adoptive mother whose family is in reunion with their daughter’s birth family. Her lived experience, combined with her professional work, gives her a rare and deeply informed perspective on the emotional realities of adoption reunion.

Elizabeth supports individuals moving through grief, identity shifts, and relationship-building after discovery, using self-care, storytelling, and ritual as tools for healing.

She is the author of Smart Self-Care for Busy Women and Sacred Celebrations: Designing Rituals to Navigate Life’s Milestone Transitions, and is currently writing a book focused on adoption reunion.

She lives in Asheville, North Carolina with her daughter and two cats.

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Join us for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus podcast featuring personal stories, family secrets, behind-the-scenes conversations and plenty we don't share on the regular show.

Your Patreon membership also helps cover the costs of keeping Family Twist going. Plus, subscribers get new Family Twist episodes a day early!

Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours

Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us on Patreon for Family Twist: After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus show with personal stories, behind-the-scenes conversations, family chaos, and plenty we wouldn’t normally share on Family Twist.

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What does adoption feel like for the person who never had a choice?

In this episode of Family Twist, Corey and Kendall talk with Leslie Pate Mackinnon, LCSW, a birth mother, therapist, and one of the most respected voices in the adoption and donor conception space.

As a teenager, Leslie placed her two firstborn sons for adoption during a time when young women were often given little say in the outcome. That experience didn’t fade with time. It shaped the course of her life and her work.

For more than four decades, Leslie has maintained a private psychotherapy practice, helping adoptees, birth parents, and families navigate the lifelong emotional impact of adoption, identity, and family secrets. She presents nationally and internationally on issues affecting families formed through adoption and third-party reproduction.

Leslie has been featured on Good Morning America with Robin Roberts, appeared on CNN discussing the impact of the internet on adoption, and was part of Dan Rather’s investigative report Adoption or Abduction. She also appeared on The Katie Couric Show alongside her oldest son, Pete. Her story is included in the book The Girls Who Went Away and the documentary A Girl Like Her.

This conversation goes where many don’t.

Leslie shares what it was like to lose her children without having a real choice, how that experience stayed with her, and what she’s learned after spending decades sitting with others navigating similar truths. She also talks about what therapists still misunderstand about adoption, and why education in this space matters more than ever.

This is a conversation about adoption stories, family secrets, and the emotional reality behind DNA discovery and identity.

If you’ve ever been part of an adoption story, an NPE discovery, or a donor-conceived family, this episode will hit close to home.

Listen now to hear Leslie’s story, and the truth she’s spent a lifetime helping others understand.

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Want more Corey and Kendall?

Join us for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus podcast featuring personal stories, family secrets, behind-the-scenes conversations and plenty we don't share on the regular show.

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Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours