This businessman found out that his entire family life was one huge lie.
Richard was a loving father to his three young sons and had no reason to believe they weren’t his. Why should he? His wife was very loving towards him. This devoted father would soon receive news that would hit him like a high-speed car crash.
Once he found out the truth, what was he going to do about it? He was going to make his wife pay. Keep reading to find out what happened in this bizarre real-life story.
Millionaire Businessman
Richard Mason is a 55-year-old man from the United Kingdom. He also happens to be a millionaire as he is the co-founder of one of the UK’s biggest price comparison websites, MoneySupermarket.com. This website is an extremely popular one, which has grown in popularity through its reputation.
While he was building his career, he was married to a woman called Kate. They had met each other in the 1980s when they both worked in the same bank branch, got married, and had three sons together, or so Richard believed…
Three Boys
Richard and Kate’s eldest son, Will, is 23 years old, and he has twin brothers, Ed and Joel who are four years younger than him. However, by the start of 2007, Richard and Kate’s marriage was starting to fall apart.
So, they decided to split up and were divorced in early 2008. Richard never had any regrets about his marriage and subsequent divorce. He really loved his sons and wanted to make sure he was still providing for them after the divorce.
Massive Divorce Settlement
As part of their divorce, Kate received a $5 million lump-sum payment. This also included enough to cover the boys’ private school fees. Despite this, Richard said that for years, his ex-wife kept pestering him for more and more money.
Richard saw the settlement as more than enough money to let his ex-wife and three sons live a comfortable life. So, when Kate was behaving this way, Richard firmly believed that the only good thing to come from his joyless marriage were his three sons. However, he was in for a massive surprise.
The Day His Life Changed Forever
Richard had been divorced from his first wife, Kate, for almost 10 years when he was due to go for a routine check-up at the doctor’s office. However, this was the day that his life as he knew it was going to change.
One day in 2016, Richard woke up and got ready to go to a doctor’s appointment without knowing that it would change his life. He had no idea that he would leave the doctor’s office feeling desperately confused and uncontrollably angry.
Shocking Results
Richard had made an appointment with his doctor for a routine check-up, and he had no idea that the appointment wouldn’t be as ‘routine’ as he was expecting. Not even close, he was going to get some news that would turn his world upside down.
The doctor ran a few tests, and Richard could never have anticipated what the results would be. First, his doctor told him that he was suffering from Cystic Fibrosis. But that wasn’t the only shock the doctor revealed.
Disastrous Diagnosis
Cystic Fibrosis is a chronic disease that gives people chronic lung infections which over time, damages them and reduces their functionality. This leaves people with difficulty breathing and it only gets worse. There is no cure for this disease and the prognosis isn’t good.
Cystic Fibrosis is also a genetic disease, and Richard’s sister died from it years ago. Richard was obviously devastated by this diagnosis and then he also started to panic. He was concerned that he had passed on the condition to his three sons.
Brief Moment of Relief
His doctor told Richard that there was no way he would have passed the disease onto his children, and when he heard this, Richard felt a huge wave of relief wash over him. He didn’t want to put this burden onto his sons.
However, this relief didn’t last, because Richard felt this relief before the doctor finished talking. The doctor continued to explain the specific reason as to why Richard hadn’t passed on the disease to his children.
Reality Check
Richard remembers exactly when his entire life changed before his eyes, he said that the doctor told him that it would be impossible for him and his wife Emma to pass it on. Due to his Cystic Fibrosis, Richard was infertile.
Richard knew that this couldn’t be right because he had three sons. So he started to feel a small bit of hope inside his heart. He was wondering if it was a medical miracle, or that his diagnosis was wrong. It had to be, didn’t it?
Hope and Misery
Richard told the doctor that the diagnosis had to be wrong because he already had three sons. At the time, he was really happy to tell the doctor this because it proved that the diagnosis wasn’t true. Or at least, he thought.
The doctor felt really awkward and shocked by Richard saying this to him, so he just shook his head. Richard realized at that moment he was wrong. Of course, a medical professional wouldn’t get a diagnosis like this wrong.
Dazed and Confused
With all this news hitting Richard hard in the chest like a high-speed train, he took a step back and was able to look at his life with a fresh set of eyes. He then came to realize something.
He noticed that his sons didn’t look like him at all, but that they did look familiar. He felt heartbreak and anger and took out his phone to call Kate and confront her about the situation and he had no idea what she was going to say.
Almost Completely Certain
Richard started typing out an angry text to Kate, demanding that she explain everything. He told her that he was in the Liverpool Chest Hospital that day, and finally got diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis. He told her that the medical team told him that they had never come across a male patient with Cystic Fibrosis who had fathered a singular child, nevermind three.
He went on to say that he was 98% certain that he wasn’t the father of any children. He sent the text to Kate and saw that she had read his message, but didn’t reply. This made him sure that being civil wasn’t going to get him any answers, so he decided to play hardball.
Needing Answers
He sent Kate another message, asking for her to tell him the truth about the boys, to save him the indignity of going for more tests, this time about fertility. He even told her he was happy to follow her lead as to how to tell the boys the truth.
He wasn’t quite done though, he informed Kate that if she didn’t tell him the truth, and he had to go for more tests then he would tell the boys the truth however he saw it. Kate, knowing there was no escape, replied to Richard in a couple of minutes.
Perpetual Denial
Kate replied to say that regardless of what science and Richard’s diagnosis suggested, that the boys were definitely his. At his point, Richard was fuming – Kate was full-on denying everything. How could she be so heartless and brazen when she had been caught out?
He thought fair enough, if Kate wants to play it the hard way, then he would play it the hard way. So, Richard went to his eldest son, who was in university at the time, and told him everything. But he didn’t know how he would react.
The Hard Truth
Richard told his eldest son that he had been diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis, which his son took quite well. However, that wasn’t the only difficult thing he had to tell him. He had still to broach the topic of paternity.
Richard told him that one of the other things he had learned was that it was incredibly unlikely that a man with Cystic Fibrosis would be able to father a child. At this point, his son jumped in and asked him, ‘So you’re probably not my father?’
So Many Emotions
Richard can still remember the day he had this conversation with his eldest son, Will, and the mixed emotions he felt. He had been told that his father has a very serious disease and that his father wasn’t really his father.
Richard told his eldest son that he was definitely still his dad, but that he didn’t think he had biologically conceived him. Richard was incredibly emotional, but also incredibly angry about it all. He had been given a double-hit that day, and the question remained: what was he going to do about it all?
Nothing to Leave Behind
Richard always believed that your children were a huge part of defining who you are. So when he found out that he had a dreadful disease, he also found out that he didn’t have any children. Talk about a huge amount of life-changing news in one go.
He was upset about it all and realized that his legacy would end with him. It was all so hard for him to handle. He had spent almost twenty years believing he had fathered three children. Eventually, Kate finally contacted him.
The Truth Comes Out
Kate had been confronted by her eldest son, so she was forced to call Richard and told him the truth. She told Richard that she had been dating another man during their 20-year marriage, and if that wasn’t bad enough, Richard had met him in passing a number of times. The man worked in Barclays Bank.
Kate told Richard that she and the other man would meet in a hotel in London when she was traveling for work. However, she still was adamant that Richard was the father of her children. Richard was left with no choice but to seek expert help, and he was going to make Kate pay for her betrayal.
Seeking Expert Advice
Richard knew he had no choice but to get advice from paternity fraud expert, Roger Terrell. Part of the process involved Richard getting lots of medical tests done, and it was confirmed that Richard was infertile.
The next step was that Richard had to get DNA samples from his sons. The twins’ agreed to give DNA samples, and these DNA samples proved that they weren’t his biological children, but Richard’s eldest son refused to give a DNA sample.
He Is Still My Father
The reason for this was because his eldest son said that as far as he was concerned, Richard was his Dad no matter what. However, Richard wanted to put a legal case against Kate, and he needed samples from all his sons.
Eventually, Richard had enough evidence (DNA and otherwise) to start legal proceedings against Kate in December 2016. But his eldest son had a serious warning for the man he accepted as his father for his entire life. And it wasn’t a good one.
Lies Have Consequences
Richard’s eldest son told him that if he sued his mother, he would never speak to him again. And, unfortunately, his son kept his word and as of this being written, he has not spoken to Richard since.
Richard has been seriously heartbroken by this and said that the effects of Kate’s lies have been enormous. He did say, however, that the twins’ reaction as the case went on was totally different.
Supportive Sons
Despite knowing that Richard isn’t their biological father, the twins still think of Richard as their dad. And one of the twins sent Richard a truly heartwarming message of support, which is exactly what Richard needed.
His son told him that from the very beginning of it all, Richard was still his dad. He told him that he will always stay in touch with him, and that will never change. He told Richard that he will always be there for him and that he loves him.
Small Victory
After Kate’s lies were unveiled in court, Richard won the case against her and she was court-ordered to pay Richard more than $300,000. This was a small amount to pay for the deception she put her entire family through for years.
Kate agreed to pay the money but had one condition, that the real father of the boys would be able to stay anonymous. This was a small victory for Richard, and he has a message for the boys’ biological father.
Come Forward and Say Who You Are
Richard told the media that he wants the biological father to hear the story and come forward because he thinks the boys have a right to know who their dad really is. He won’t expose their father’s identity, but he wants to encourage him to identify himself.
He said the boys will want to know who their real father is, and they hopefully will always think of Richard as their dad. He wants them to still think of him as ‘dad’ who was with them from the beginning.
*This is a made-up story for entertainment purposes. The photos that have been used are stock photos.
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