I Lived a Lie and Called It Family

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What happens when the truth about your origins arrives decades late and everyone else already knew?

In this episode of Family Twist, Kendall talks with Keith Sciarillo, a late-discovery adoptee who learned later in life that neither of the parents who raised him were biologically related to him. Even harder, siblings and family members knew the truth long before Keith did.

Keith shares what it is like to grow up inside a family secret, how silence reshaped his childhood, and why so many moments only made sense after the truth finally came out. He and Kendall talk openly about resentment, understanding, and the complicated balance between grieving what was lost and accepting what is.

They also explore identity in a literal sense. Keith grew up believing he was Italian Jewish, only to later discover Puerto Rican and Hungarian Jewish ancestry, including Holocaust survivor history in his biological family. That shift was not just informational. It changed how Keith understood himself, his body, and where he comes from.

The conversation moves into parenting, responsibility, and the decision not to pass trauma forward. Keith reflects on becoming a parent while still processing his own story, and why showing up honestly matters more than pretending everything is fine.

Toward the end of the episode, Keith mentions a film that deeply resonated with his own experience, Myth of the Ghost Kingdom. The film follows a late-discovery adoptee and captures the emotional reality of learning the truth far later than anyone should. Keith explains why the story feels uncomfortably accurate, and why seeing adoption and identity explored on screen can be validating in ways people do not always expect.

This episode is for anyone navigating a late-discovery adoption, a DNA surprise, or the long shadow of family secrecy. It is also for anyone trying to understand how silence shapes a child long after childhood ends.