What do you make of this DM story

[Stepmum3]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6561079/Millionaire-reveals-moment-doctor-told-father-three-adored-boys.html#comments-6561079

Basically a man finds out after 21 years he couldn’t of possibly fathered his three boys he knew as sons due to being diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. Then sued his Ex wife for the CSA and walked away with 250k. He had paid her 4 million and maintenance following their divorce. Two of the boys no longer talk to him 1 saying if you sue mum I won’t talk to you again.

I get the anger and hurt caused by this however the value of the boys he placed at 250k. What will the money bring back I feel nothing. A real sad story and upsetting for all involved. Although, I do think the wife is a bit of a cunt.

@Genevieva - do you know the man?

No. What I have written is all extrapolated from what is in the article. If he is lying, then it is another matter. It is simple maths on pre-tax verses post-tax money and the average price of private senior school fees (though at the higher end for boarding they can be as much as 40K a year, which would increase the £45K figure to £120K post-tax. I was really responding to the person up thread who suggested he hadn't been paying very much.

I do have a relative who has worked with CF patients in a medical capacity. Early diagnosis and intervention is helpful. It can prolong a good quality of life.

On a separate note, I think he is a fool going to the newspapers, but that is a difference matter.

I think the "Jewish name" thing is a bit of a red herring. Most Biblical names, eg (Gabriel, Zach, Benjamin) are in the mainstream and no-one would bat an eyelid - I'm assuming it was names like this, rather than eg Menachem or Elchanan, which are exclusively Jewish.

There are an awful lot of people with very little knowledge if cf on this thread.

There are many hundreds ( possibly thousands new mutations are still being discovered) of different mutations that cause cf. ( only a small number of common ones are tested for with the heel prick test in babies ). With this many different mutations Dr's are identifying more and more older adult with 'milder' mutations - it's still ( very) shit!

I suspect that having lived for 20+ bringing up his children, he found out not only that he is infertile, the kids aren't his, he has a long term health condition - that as he hasn't been treated and picked up earlier may have significantly shortened his lifespan and his wife had affairs( this he may have known already.) he has lashed out - and I can't say I blame him!

The woman is despicable. And still won't tell the three kids who their biological father is

We have absolutely no idea what she has or hasn't told her kids. He doesn't have a relationship with them anymore so he wouldn't know what they have discussed with their Mum. Maybe they just haven't told him what they know. And after yesterday I doubt they would, in case he names the guy in the press.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6563121/MoneySupermarket-com-millionaries-offers-reward-father-three-sons-thought-his.html

Now he's offering a reward. What?

Poor man, what a horrible horrible shock to find this out all at once. A life debilitating illness, infertility, sons who aren’t genetically linked and an adulterous marriage. I can’t say I blame him for taking her to court, obviously trying to hurt her where it counts.
Like a pp mentioned, if she hadn’t got pregnant by someone else, his infertility would have been investigated years ago which would mean his illness would have been discovered earlier. What a devastating turn of events for him.

So in one small space of time the guy has.

Found out his 3 children arent his.

Found out he has a life limiting illness which he could have begun treatment on 20 years earlier if he hadnt married a whore with no morals.

Found out his wife has breast cancer and may die.

Found out they won't ever have children together.

Has it not occurred to those slating him and scratting out any reason to vilify the guy just because he's a man that all of this has probably had a serious impact on his mental health ?

That he isnt behaving very rationally right now, but people arent always rational in the face of extreme stress ??

The woman is an absolute disgrace, she's built a lifestyle on a huge lie. Hell, had I been the judge he'd have had the lot repaid........and her sons arent much better either.

The blokes loaded, he could literally 'buy a baby' like so many rich people do these days. But he obviously has some morals, this is all about the lies he's been told and what he's lost because of lies.

@Nottheduchessofcambridge I agree. I suspect that these ill judged tabloid articles are him lashing out as part of a grieving process. There is something almost Truman Show like about the discovery that such fundamental things you thought you knew about your life were a fiction.

It's very sad for everyone, even bad wife probably has regrets. We need to all take note. Nothing is secret any more and sharing the minutiae of daily life on SM is a Very Bad Idea.

I felt he was rather selfish to complain he has run out of time to have IVF with his current partner. He has cystic fibrosis, she has a "killer cancer gene" (quote from the paper). Why would you risk it?

and her sons arent much better either

The man is clearly very angry, and he has a right to be. However the anger is being directed at their mother. I expect they love their mother - and they know she is their only biological parent, of course they will feel protective of her. I suppose it would be a neat karmic ending if they sided with him and cut her off, but it's not realistic.

BabyShark - if his CF is largely asymptomatic, there is no treatment he could have had 20 years earlier. Only the symptoms of CF can be treated but not the infertility (the vas deferens doesn't develop)

if he hadnt married a whore with no morals

BabyShark - you are disgusting. Why don't you toddle off to the Daily Mail comments section.

Impossible, but, if it were possible for the situation to be reversed, how many women would sacrifice a relationship with children built up over 20 years? For £250k and public revenge? Not many I think.

BabySharkAteMyHamster

His current wife is 46.

If he had wanted children with her he could have started 10 years earlier.

I suggest you read the article again.

I take from it that at any point he could have found out about his infertility if he had gone for ivf with his first wife but he didn’t as that would have cost money or he just didn’t want kids.

Same with his 2nd wife.

I take from the article that he is tight.

Even if you work out the child support he paid which was supposed to cover private schools for all 3 boys.
If you add it up either he wasn’t paying what he should have done, hence her keeping asking for the money or those children went to very cheap private schools.

He might be a millionaire but I get the impression everything about him screams cheap.

And no I don’t think he has gone down the route of buying a baby because of any moral objections

More like he couldn’t bring himself to part with any cash.

This is the 2nd article the mail has published on this story, the first one ended with the following statement : "A donation will be made to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust in return for Richard Mason’s co-operation with this article."

I assumed this meant they had the story (presumably from the legal filing) and told him they'd be publishing regardless but he could have his say if he spoke to them now

I think that yes it’s a sad situation but saying that, he may not be biologically their father, yet he raised them.

So he is their dad. And yes he was a bit of a twat making it all about money

If this was a women suing a man it would be a completely different thread.

Ffs what she did was fucking atrocious. Maybe she should have thought about her kids feelings before fucking around with another man and making her husband raise them as his own.

Completely agree.

Only on MN would many posters twist this around so many times to somehow make out he is awful and she is ok.

As for those dismissing that he has CF because of his age or how he looks go give your head a wobble.

@Oliversmumsarmy unless you know him personally how do you know how cheap or stingy or unwilling to part with cash he is?

You made up a whole scenario and personality type in your head and you keep putting forward arguments that are based on those (made up) scenarios.

There is a whole lot more to this story than we are being told so I don't really think we should comment except to say it is all very sad

Dreadful woman and I don't understand the fantasies about the supposed "meanness" of this victim of a cruel fraud.
Some posters are trying to make the victim into the villain.

His ex-wife will continue to enjoy her money
Even his sons have the benefit of all that expensive eductaion and what they'll inherit from her, if not from him

He will be long dead

He is probably lashing out at her in fury at 20 years of fraud and lies, without thinking properly of the consequences for the boys.
It's natural he wants to know the identity of the man whose sons he was conned into raising & loving, to lash out at him as well.

Because of her actions, he has suffered simultaneous life-changing shocks:

he is not the biological father of any of the 3 boys
and he has a fatal disease

AND
maybe if she hadn't had those 3 sons, his CF would have been discovered 20 years earlier

There might have been palliative treatment, or he could have made different decisions knowing he would be unlikely to reach old age.

RebelWitchFace

Even his sons have the benefit of all that expensive eductaion

He got back his child maintenance payments which included what he paid for the children's private school education.

Do the maths and it comes out as £10,000 per child per year.

Even if this was solely for education and not for the maintenance bit, £10,000 per year is a very very cheap private school. (DD went to a specialised private school and I thought that was the cheapest I could find at £12000 per year)
Most private schools are £5-10,000 per term not per year.

It doesn't add up.

But it does add up when he says his exw was constantly after more money.

I am presenting an opinion based on what we have been told.
If some one says they paid £10,000 maintenance and school fees for a DC for a year I am entitled to call BS when the cheapest school fees I know of are at least £2000 per year more