What's some --more-- juicy gossip that you can't share irl but can share with nosy strangers on mumsnet?

[mumofoneAloneandwell]

The follow up thread to my one from last year 🤭

Well done for escaping!
Has he had any luck recruiting for his hareem?

But surely it's not ok to shag your cousin either???

I was told of a couple who adopted a child , she’s now an adult but they have never told her she was adopted yet people in the local area know she is , I worry she’ll find out and be deeply hurt by this secret .

As a kid growing up in a town in Ireland, I walked past a terrace of houses with little front gardens on my way to school/ mass/ bus stop/ main street. Always there was man in the front of a house who shouted hello and waved at everyone. He had obvious intellectual disabilities and was known as his first name only, let's say 'Jim'. He had long hair and a beard and as a teen I thought he was anything between 20 and 60. I asked how he managed to live and was told he got supplies from the local shop across the road. I saw staff over and back a few times. After a few years I saw him move from the garden to the street outside and eventually crossing over to the shop. People talked about this, Jim is outside now, good for Jim etc. One day I asked my Mum if he went to a day centre or what was the deal. She said that two single unmarried sisters lived there and one died shortly followed by the other. When the body was removed, Jim was found, a full grown man kept in a back room in the house. Presumably born out of wedlock. Everyone knew this and just accepted it. It still blows my mind. Years later I studied child psychology and child development incl attachment theory etc and there were a few examples around the world of children help captive in this way and all seemed high profile. Yet there was Jim and the whole town knew and no one made a thing of it.

Excellent thread @mumofoneAloneandwell many thanks. lt reminds me that apparently Thomas Hardy kept a large file of cuttings from his local newspaper as the basis for plot outlines for his novels, which all have those devastating and seemingly unlikely coincidences

😲

last week I was reading the news about an attempted murder and the attacker is someone I know. Photo of him in the news. That was a shock and sad too for everyone

I seem to remember that Laurie Lee commented that the traditional village idiot was often born of intermarriage and incestuous relationships that were known about and accepted because what else would you do, in an isolated village? I’m fairly sure that he wrote about a brother and sister in his village who lived together in a sexual relationship.

I have a colleague (I'm a midwife) who went on a date with a guy from Tinder, and a few months later encountered him at the hospital with his heavily pregnant partner. Another colleague attended a family home for a postnatal visit and the dad was - you guessed it - a guy she'd matched with on a dating site. And another colleague delivered a woman's baby, and a year or so later received a message from the dad saying he'd split from his wife and wondered if my colleague was single as he'd really fancied her during the birth! 😱

No worries 🥰

I feel better now ive had my gossip fix

I'm very surprised by this- its normally the other way round (she wants kids but he doesn't, so she stops taking contraception without his knowledge and gets pregnant anyway (claiming an "accident" or "pill failure), making the decision for him. More common than you think (but everyone on here seems to think it isn't!)).

in theory no but legally its permitted i believe under uk law

The man XH thought was his DF isn't. He was working abroad and XMIL had an affair and fell pregnant. XDFIL loved her, they stayed together and he accepted XH as his own. XH looks nothing like his older siblings and was the only one of them to look after XDFIL as he grew old. Strangely XDFIL really wanted XH to research his family tree, it's almost like he wanted XH to find out...

A couple who come into the local bar, are always looking for a “3rd”. Locals usually know, non locals don’t. Makes for a highly amusing evening, watching them scout the bar out

My sister married my first cousin. They have 3 children. It was a huge shock. I was 16 when they announced they were getting married. I actually thought it was a joke!

They needed to have tests before trying for children, & a special dispensation from the Bishop to marry (Catholic). You could have knocked my mam and dad down with a feather when they were told.

Apparently it's fine as it's the female line; the male line can be problematic genetically apparently.

2 of the children now have their own children, & it's not a big deal in our family at all anymore.

This is so sad, & actually really upsetting. That poor man.

My own great aunt moved in with her older sister when her mother died, also Ireland. The bastard of a brother in law fathered her child. She was 16 & the family line was 'They had an affair'- no, he manipulated her at best...

She was sent here to Scotland after the baby was spirited away. She married & had children & was the kindest, loveliest woman you could ever know. My childhood is full of memories of her.

Her child was raised by nuns & became a nun, & had contact with my great aunt throughout her life, which was much better a fate than many others. But still. Both have passed many years now. Both lovely, lovely people despite what life brought them.

Not necessarily. It could be that her will provides that his kids don't inherit from her. She wouldn't need to get him to sign anything. Her will, her business.

(Obv if she dies before him she won't inherit his half and her efforts are irrelevant)

Were they both married?

I agree. It's every bit as bad as an affair.

I’m white British and my husband is Han Chinese. Our daughter was born with bright blue eyes and they have remained so. My husband’s family are all ethnically Chinese as far back as we have information for. They have, however, always lived very close to the Russian border. According to Dr google our daughter can only have the eye colour she has if there is a recessive blue gene on my husbands side. We have no idea who had the affair with a Russian but someone surely had at some point.

An old school friend married a mutual friend, lovely guy. He wanted kids and a normal life, they bought a nice house and life was good. Then she developed a "health condition" that no doctor could diagnose, but meant she ended up bed bound and able to eat only a handful of foods that her dh lovingly made for her, after carrying her around the house all day long. She obviously couldn't work in that state, so he worked like mad to pay the bills and care for her. She ups and leaves him, moves away, accuses him of an affair and in the divorce takes more than half of the assets from the marriage plus some extra to cover her "health condition". His business failed, life turned upside down and it took him years to recover. She is mysteriousness totally fine now and living the high life.

I don't have anything to do with her anymore! So sad for the bloke.

This is terrible, but having workied in a school myself, I'm more fascinated about how they both make time for an affair. What about all that marking!

You can be a different blood group from one parent but not different from two

When there's a will there's a way I guess. A lot of busy people will make time for an affair - look at politicians!

I've just (belatedly) got into Person of Interest, it's not far off what you describe!