What happens when a family secret rewrites your identity?
In this episode of Family Twist, Corey and Kendall welcome author Gail Lukasik, whose work explores the powerful impact of hidden family histories and DNA discoveries.
Gail reads a moving excerpt from her book What They Never Told Us: True Stories of Family Secrets and Hidden Identities Revealed, inspired by the flood of personal stories she received after sharing her own family revelation. At the Untangling Our Roots Summit, one stranger approached her with a brand-new DNA shock. The man who raised her was not her biological father.
Gail knows this journey firsthand. While researching her family history in 1995, she uncovered documents revealing that her mother had been passing as white despite having African ancestry. For 17 years she kept the secret at her mother’s request. After her mother’s death, Gail told the story in her memoir White Like Her, which eventually led her to reconnect with relatives in New Orleans she never knew existed.
In this conversation, Gail shares why strangers trust her with their deepest family secrets and why storytelling can help people rebuild their sense of identity after a life-changing discovery.
If you have ever wondered how DNA surprises reshape identity, family, and belonging, this episode will resonate.
About Gail Lukasik
Gail Lukasik is an award-winning author and genealogist. Her memoir White Like Her chronicles her discovery that her mother had been passing as white despite having African ancestry. Her follow-up book, What They Never Told Us, shares true stories of people uncovering hidden family identities through genealogy and DNA testing.