Brooklyn
Appearances
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Armchair Anonymous: DNA Testing
So she has my brother. They essentially take him away. She doesn't get to see him, doesn't get to hold him, does not know where he's going. So this is my full biological brother from both of my parents. Oh, my God.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Armchair Anonymous: DNA Testing
This is crazy. Yeah. So he's six years older than me. And so my parents are looking at us like, we are so sorry. I know we should have told you, but we never thought we'd ever see him again. But we knew they did 23 and me, but we kind of just thought it was like for fun, not knowing they were looking for my brother.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Armchair Anonymous: DNA Testing
But the funniest part about it is I wasn't upset because I was just so glad my dad wasn't dying. Yeah. All I could think about was like, oh my God, it's just a brother. Like, That's really not that big of a deal, guys.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Armchair Anonymous: DNA Testing
I think for them to hold on to that so much, you know, if somebody asks, oh, is this your oldest? And in your head, you're like, yeah, I was 28 when we found out. So that was a really long time for them to hold on to that. So we end up. Meeting my brother, it was right before COVID happens. We found out that he was married to his high school sweetheart and had an eight-year-old son.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Armchair Anonymous: DNA Testing
Yeah. But so the weirdest part of it all is how often our paths really crossed throughout all of our lives. He was adopted by a family that's 15 minutes down the road from where I grew up. His adoptive mother was a beauty queen and his father was the mayor of this New Jersey town that I lived in. Wow. They had two biological daughters before him and then adopted him.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Armchair Anonymous: DNA Testing
Him and I commuted to Manhattan on the same trains all the time. We have the same stories of being stranded because of train delays in the same places at the same time. My mom's cousins knew his sisters in high school.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Armchair Anonymous: DNA Testing
Exactly. My brother's a good looking, successful guy. Is he single? No, still married. Oh yeah, I forgot his high school sweetheart, damn it.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Armchair Anonymous: DNA Testing
His brother-in-law lived a couple houses down from me in the same town. Oh, my God. Wow. This is bizarre.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Armchair Anonymous: DNA Testing
No, they didn't know any of that. And that's what's so strange. But there's pictures of my brother in the newspaper with his dad. My parents have probably looked at those pictures not really knowing it was him.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Armchair Anonymous: DNA Testing
Yes. Totally. And then for him to reach out to us and see my parents are still together. I mean, he got two more sisters. Yeah.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Armchair Anonymous: DNA Testing
in my wedding. We've all gotten super close. We've gone on vacations with his in-laws. Oh, this is lovely. You can see my mom feels complete. Yeah, I bet.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Armchair Anonymous: DNA Testing
Oh my gosh, yeah. My mom is like constantly stealing her grandson to babysit. She annoys them all the time the same way she annoys me.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Armchair Anonymous: DNA Testing
They were totally cool with it. His adoptive mom lives in Florida now, so she's not local anymore. And his dad did pass away. But his sisters have reached out to me. They messaged me on Instagram and they could not be any sweeter. So it was really a wild, cool thing.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Armchair Anonymous: DNA Testing
Considering he's like a full brother too, I feel really bad. Yeah, that'd be real, real bad. Maybe do 23andMe before dating anybody.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Armchair Anonymous: DNA Testing
Well, thank you guys for everything you do. You guys are not just my favorite podcast. You're actually the only podcast that I will listen to.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Armchair Anonymous: DNA Testing
All the others are either too light, too dark. You guys really just kind of fit right in the middle.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Armchair Anonymous: DNA Testing
I couldn't decide. Honestly, everything felt silly. So whatever you guys want.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Armchair Anonymous: DNA Testing
I am in New Jersey. Almost Brooklyn. Which is super weird because I kept getting Cedar Point ads today. I don't know if it has anything to do with you, but I live nowhere near there.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Armchair Anonymous: DNA Testing
Yes. Just to set the scene, my parents met when they were 13. They had me when they were 21, my sister when they were 24. So they were always the cool young parents. And everyone was always like, oh my God, your parents are still together. They're so young. So fast forward 2019, my dad was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis and
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Armchair Anonymous: DNA Testing
It is an autoimmune disease that essentially fuses your spine together. So it's super painful. It's not anything that's curable. So at that time, he was going to a lot of doctor's appointments. The day after Christmas in 2019, we knew he had a doctor's appointment. I'm home. I'm cleaning up after Christmas. And dad calls and he says, I need you to come to the house right now.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Armchair Anonymous: DNA Testing
I was like, okay, is everything okay? I don't want to talk about it. Just come over. I immediately call my sister. I say, did dad call you? And she said, yeah, what the hell's going on? I said, I don't know. I'm on my way. In my head, dad's dying of cancer.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Armchair Anonymous: DNA Testing
He was supposed to be at the doctor. I am near tears. This is that kind of talk. So I get to the house. They're not crying, but my mom, you could tell she has been crying. So we sit down and say, what is going on with you guys? And my dad said, me and your mom were out today. We were on the way to the doctor and your brother reached out to us on Facebook.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Armchair Anonymous: DNA Testing
So he starts telling us this story. When they were 15, my mom got pregnant. She just hoped it would go away and it didn't.