He kept the child a secret for 12 years from his wife and teenage daughter, until the boy's mother suddenly died
A man has taken to the internet for advice after a fight with his daughter and wife.
The post, which generated a tremendous amount of feedback on an anonymous forum, left many Redditors with a bad taste in their mouth.
While the story involves a boy who just lost his mother, most of the armchair experts in the comments section just could not get over the father's behavior.
Read on to see for yourself how the whole thing played out.
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The man titled his post: "AITA for asking my wife and daughter to leave the house if they don't want to reside with my son?"
He went on to describe the situation from his point of view: "My wife Rachel (35 F) and I (35 M) have been married for many years now, and I also have a daughter Lia (14 F). I am not proud to admit it, but I had another child while I was married to Rachel through another relationship. That's Aiden (12 M)."
"I kept it as a secret from them, and I paid child support to her mother," he continued. "I was meeting absolutely all of their expenses. She herself had a good job anyway. She passed away recently, and Aiden was alone."
I am rich, and I can make my own path & find another wife if I want to."
"I did not want my son to suffer like that, without any parents," he explained. "The reason I did not reveal his identity to Rachel and Lia is that I did not want to cause a fight, but now I had no choice. I went through all the proper procedures to get custody of Aiden. I made him live in my house."
"My wife and Lia did not take it well," the man wrote. "They went absolutely ballistic when they learned about him, and Rachel screamed about how I shouldn't even dare to think of letting him take even a step inside. Lia was saying the same stuff. But I did not back down, and they eventually had to be fine with the decision."
"They have been absolutely livid about it, and Rachel has been demanding to get Aiden away from the house. I told her that I am not going to do that, and warned her against doing anything to him," he concluded. "Lia got mad and asked me whether I value 'someone who was born out of a whore', and I lost my temper. I got up and asked them to 'get the f--k out of my house' if they do not want to reside with Aiden. In the end Rachel was crying and they're not talking to me now."
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As you might imagine not a single commenter on the post seemed to take his side. In fact, OP was promptly branded an "a-hole" by the subreddit.
As one highly popular comment advised (reaching over 12K upvotes): "YTA. Give her a divorce and let her move on with this horrible part of her life. I don’t think you know how badly you destroy people when you cheat some of them never recover again to be able to love. Some even commit suicide this is despicable behavior. And frankly give her a divorce and let her go."
"Leave your wife and your daughter in the house and go find an apartment for you and [your son,] kicking her out is ridiculous. She didn’t do anything, you [...] did it all," the commenter continued. "What’s more she had zero time to prepare no [background] information. All of this is a shock to your wife. How you can even be so angry with her is beyond me. I’m sure that [your] affair partner had family and people this boy could live with. [Y]ou, were sabotaging your marriage, and your whole life for a child who [you] created out of wedlock."
And yes, it is my house. It's theirs as well, but not legally. I own it."
"I would first look for other family members that can take him in [or] find an apartment for he and you," they concluded. "And divorce your wife so she can move on from this and try to recover."
Almost all of the comments offered the same criticism and advice, while not necessarily being so measured.
OP did not respond directly to anyone in the comments, but did provide a response with an "edit" on the original post.
"No, I don't want Lia absent from my life. And Aiden is also 'my own son'. I have the right to bring him to my house as his father," his update began. "For those who're gleefully saying that they hope Rachel divorces me: I'd rather have Aiden in my house than to live with Rachel (or Lia) without him. I am rich, and I can make my own path & find another wife if I want to. Absolutely nothing justifies calling her mother a 'whore' like Lia did. Using that language absolutely blames him, his mother, and is ostracism. Also, yes, Rachel also called her mother a whore, not just Lia. I forgot to mention that."
"And yes, it is my house. It's theirs as well, but not legally. I own it," OP stated. "Yes, I gave them time to process it, I did not bring Aiden in all of a sudden. Just to clarify."
What do you think?