In this episode of the Karamo talk show, host Karamo (Speaker A) mediates a deeply personal investigation into the paternity of two women, Aretha and Makeba, who suspect they share the same father, a man referred to as Bernal (also called Burnell) Ware, who is rumored to have fathered 17‑19 children. Aretha grew up believing her father was a man named Charlie Brown, but after a health scare with her own daughter and her mother’s revelations, she began searching for Bernal, eventually confronting him in person and learning he was married. Makeba recounts her own fragmented memories of brief encounters with Bernal during childhood, including a moment when he slipped $10 into her shirt pocket. Both women had been part of a five‑person group chat of alleged siblings, but all other members declined to submit DNA. Makeba volunteered to be the first to test. The show conducts an on‑air DNA test, which reveals that Aretha and Makeba are not biological sisters, shocking both participants. Karamo explains that without additional DNA from other alleged siblings, the true relationship to Bernal cannot be resolved, and he offers the show’s resources to continue the search. The episode blends personal storytelling, family rumors, emotional reactions to the DNA result, and a call for further participation to uncover the full extent of Bernal’s offspring.
Chapters
Areta and I are actually family friends. So my sister, this is her. Oh my God, look at her, baby me. My sister, this is my sister's best friend since I was 13 years old. So Areta has raised me, she has watched over me. This has been, I've known your story my entire life. What I do think is shady though, look at us.
Cute.
I was a baby. Yes. Oh my God, my hat was on backwards, come on. The one thing I'll say before we start this, is you shady. So Retta, even though she got my phone number, she didn't call me. She called the show. Why didn't you call me and say, hey, will you help me do this? You thought I was gonna say no?
No, no, I was overwhelmed.
I understand.
And I was like, I've always watched every one of your shows.
I know, you're such a supporter.
I'm such a big fan. But I called the show because that's where I was. I just needed some answers. I was like, This is part of my journey.
Of course, of course.
And I was open.
Of course, of course. For everyone who doesn't understand, have context, did you grow up believing you knew who your father was?
Yes, I grew up believing I was the daughter of Charlie Brown. I mean, if anyone—
Look at that, he is sharp, right?
If anyone has ever seen him in an airport, that's my dad and that's how he lived. Every day. And so I've always known him to be my dad, Charlie Brown. He loved me for life and I thought I was his only child.
Yeah, and then when did you suspect that someone else may be your father?
Well, actually I had a child at 14 and my daughter had some difficulties and my mother thought Maybe it was genetic and she thought that was a time for me to know that Charlie Brown really wasn't my biological, but it was indeed Bernal Ware.
Okay.
And she told me exactly where he stayed, the color of his house and everything.
So tell me about the first time that you met Bernal.
Well, shortly after she told me that at 16, During that time, I dialed 411 and I looked for the number. I asked for his number on that street and I called and I left a message. And Bernal called my mom back and told her I'd called. And he also indicated that he was married. So at that time, that was gonna be a secret. For the rest of my life.
So that was the first time you met him in person?
No, I didn't meet him in person. That was my first attempt.
Okay, attempt, okay.
So shortly afterwards, my mother passed away. It was like 3 years later and then my daughter passed away. So by the time I was 25 or 26, I took both obituaries and I knocked on that door on that street street and told him who I was and told him who my mom was and so on and so forth.
And what hurt you most about that encounter?
I guess I didn't get what I was looking for. I just wanted to show him who I was or, you know, if this is my family, I wanted to know if there was any connections.
Yeah.
But in return, he said to me, "how old are you?" And I said, "I'm 26." And he said, "When my wife come in, will you tell her that you are 5 years older than you are?" So—
See, that's where the part where this gets hurtful and wrong.
Yes. So instead I left. The next time I saw him was 2009. I'm in my 30s and he's like, You know, that's because I met some of his kids.
Mm-hmm.
So I saw him.
Do you have a relationship with Burnell now?
Oh, Burnell's deceased. He passed away in 2012.
Okay, okay, okay.
Yes.
So no relationship, but how many children could your alleged father have?
There could be 17 to 19 children. So that was another thing that made me call you.
Yeah.
'Cause in my mind, Karamo's show could definitely, you know, help us—
All get together.
Yes.
Yeah, I hear that. So how did you learn that you and Makeba may be sisters? How did that come about?
Okay, we've been in a group text for a while. For some years, but I didn't know she was in the group text. I just knew the siblings that I had met. However, on January 1st, she text and sent her pictures of her family and herself. We talked for maybe an hour. We had so much in common, but she didn't know. By the time I got home, I was on the phone trying to locate Karamo's show. This is like—
So before we bring out Makeba, I wanna let you know that we did reach out to some of the other siblings.
Yes.
And they did refuse to take the DNA test, but Makeba was the one that said she was ready because she wanted you to have answers. Yes. Yes. And so you and Makeba connected in January, but this is the first time the two of you are meeting in person. So everyone, please welcome Makeba to the show. Thank you.
Thank you for everything.
Hey, Makiba, let me give you some hugs too, okay? How are you?
I'm good.
How are you? I'm good. Thank you. It's good to meet you too. Good to meet you as well. So how does it feel to finally meet one another?
It feels great. It just feels great. I'm really happy to meet her. It's been a long, 2 months.
Yeah.
You know, from January 1st to now.
So growing up, what were the rumors that you heard about your potential father?
I heard that he had a lot of kids out there, you know? And then I also was told by my mother and my sister that I favored another one of my alleged sisters 'cause they went to school together. And so she would say, you walk like her, you talk like her, you're shaped like her, you know? According to my brother, my alleged father had babies, you know, kids all up and down that area.
Oh wow, okay.
Yeah.
Did you have a relationship with Bernal at all?
No, I didn't. Not at all? I didn't have a relationship with him. I only met him a couple times. Well, 3 times actually.
3 times?
So I met him the first time when I was like maybe between, maybe I'll say 10, like between 8 and 12. And he came by and he said, "I'm your dad. Do you know who I am?" I said, "No." He said, "I'm your dad." and then he stuck $10 in my little shirt pocket.
She got $10.
She got $10.
I was rich.
I was rich.
So yes. And then the second time I met him, I was in middle school and one of my girlfriend's mom was allegedly dating him and he was still married. And so when I spent the night over at my girlfriend's home, He was there. And the next time that I saw him, he was sick. And I had a 1-year-old child at the time. So that was about 20, I was about 28 maybe.
Okay, got it.
Yeah.
So why did you have doubts growing up about who your father was?
Well, you know, now we have DNA, then we didn't. And everyone else had fathers, you know, I'm going off of what my mom is telling me. I just didn't have any way of knowing. And then I didn't know the sister that my maternal sister was saying was my sibling.
Yeah.
You know, I actually remember going to her house one evening and they talked, but I sat in the car and my sister, my maternal sister came back to the car, but she didn't wanna meet me.
How did that impact you emotionally?
Well, I think, you know, at that time it was hurtful because my sister, my maternal sister was saying, you look, and you look and sound like this lady, you know?
So I know y'all were in the group chat together, but you didn't know you were in the group chat because how many of y'all are in this group chat?
5.
Yeah, I think it's 5 of us.
5 of y'all in there. Okay.
Yeah, but there was 8 names that we have discovered. In the obituary. But we've been looking for one of them.
Uh-huh.
And, well, the other 2.
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Got it.
They were in the obituary because You know, when I was coming up, I knew that there were 4 of them. And then coincidentally, I actually ended up living in the same town and actually got to meet that other sibling.
Oh, got it.
Alleged sibling. After that, I found out about Ireta because of Bernal passed. And I, you know, like I said, in the obituary was Ireta and 2 more names. Got it. 2 more names, so.
Okay.
We know there were more out there.
Got it.
But one of those siblings is the one that told us told me that there were about 17 outside of his marriage.
Wow, okay. And so through the group chat, after you saw it in the obituary, through the group chat is how y'all got in contact with each other. And have you connected with any of the other siblings outside of this group chat?
No, not at all.
Okay then. Well, I think what's interesting to me before we get into this is that there's multiple sisters and no one really has confirmation who their father is. And so what our goal was and hope was when I talked to my producers was to test more of you because it would allow us to kind of see if there was any links. Because both of you, you were never raised with knowing for sure if that's your father and you never had any DNA proof, vice versa. So, you know, hopefully the, you know, this will be the first connection to allow all the other connections that could start with the rest of the family. Well, Ireta's brother Darryl is also here in the audience. Hey, Darryl. Darryl, what are your thoughts on the situation? Well, again, it's my sister. I love her.
I love her.
I love her to life. I'm just elated to see that she's moving that journey forward to find the people that are in her life that she's been missing. So that makes me happy. What did you recently confess to your sister? Growing up, I didn't think that her Charlie Brown was her dad. Do you see the similarities between that? I do, I do, I do very much so. I do. What do you want to say to Makeba? Whether this comes out this way or the other way, welcome to our home, our family. Well, Makeba, you know, Aretha has had a very important role in my life. She was like a sister. I only have sisters and she was one of them. Is one of them. And so you, I don't know what these results are gonna be, but I will tell you that she's one of the most wonderful people I've ever met in my entire life. And a part of the reason that I stand here today is because of the support and love she gave baby me. And so I'm actually very happy that I could be here to support you two in this journey. So I think it's time to unlock the DNA truth. Aretha, knowing you most of my life, I know that this has been something you've been searching for and wanting answers for. And so this is your moment. This is not my truth to open, this is yours. So here you go.
When I asked the whole group to come and take this DNA test, everybody declined except for Makeeva.
Yeah.
And so I'm just, again, thrilled to have this opportunity to please confirm that Makeeva is my sister.
Okay.
You ready?
What does it say?
Wow. No, no.
What's it say, bro? It says Makiba is not your biological sister. I'm sorry, baby. I'm sorry, baby.
Oh my God.
I'm sorry to both of you. I'm sorry.
I'm so Yeah, I don't know. It's okay.
It's okay. It's okay. It's okay.
I can't believe it.
Neither one of us could believe this.
Like, this is really shocking.
Yeah. Yeah.
Because— because— We're supposed to be siblings.
Yeah.
Like her name is in the obituary and so is mine.
Yeah.
And that means that, that means that he must have accepted us as being his children. Absolutely.
Mm-hmm. For it to happen.
Right. And now there's a matter of really finding out.
Yeah.
Am I a biological child of his?
Yeah.
Is Aretha a biological child of his?
Well, this is, First of all, I'm so sorry that these are the results because it does leave more questions. But this is where we were talking about those other individuals in that group chat who have confirmed. Their DNA is important in this because it would actually give you both answers being able to confirm with them. Because since neither of you had any clarity, we weren't able to confirm off of other than this. So hopefully they'll see this and one of them will reach out and wanna support in you two getting that answer because it's a possibility that you still could be his daughter and it's a possibility that you also could still be his biological daughter. But we won't know that until we get one of their DNAs to support. How are you feeling about this? You can come on down here. Come on, brother. You can come on down here, Daryl. You can come on down here.
Thank you.
Thank you, baby.
Um, I'll tell both of y'all, you know already, uh, if y'all want to continue this journey and get any My, my, my team here, my staff here is more than willing to help and do any work you need, any legwork you need. You know, this is what we do this for because we want people to have answers.
