DNA Mystery: Are You My Cousin Or My Father? | KARAMO

Welcome to the show, friends. Listen, 2 years ago, Neshay connected with a man named Michael on Ancestry. She originally thought he was her cousin, but get this, he told her that the Ancestry test led him to believe that he could be her father. Until now, Neshay has never questioned who her father was. She was raised by a man who she has always thought was her biological father, but 2 weeks ago, he revealed that he had doubts. Take a look at this.

Karamo, I need your help to help me solve this 29-year-old DNA mystery. 2 years ago, I connected with a man that I thought was my cousin on ancestrydna.com. I didn't think he was serious when he told me he can be my father. I already have a dad. He raised me since I was a little girl. Can you imagine how confused I was when he told me it was a possibility that he was not my father?

I used to be daddy's little girl and now I don't know who my father is.

I blame my mother. This is her fault. My mother has never been there for me and she needs to be held accountable for ruining my life.

Everyone, please welcome Neshay to the show. All right. Yes, outfit. You look great.

Thank you.

Yes, you do. May I have a hug?

Yes.

Come on, pretty in pink.

Yes.

Okay, Nishea, just tell me, how did you end up on Ancestry in the first place?

Well, basically, I was just going on there, honestly, to look up my heritage. And to actually help my mom as well. She doesn't know who her father is, so we wanted to look up some things and figure something out.

Wow, okay. And so you connect with this person, you realize you have connections.

Right, so as I was on the Ancestry, I seen that I was related to about 5,000-something people. And basically there was a match, it was a guy, on my dad's side, supposedly, 4th cousin. And we had about 49% shared DNA. So 50% is kind of a lot. So, you know, I hit him up like, "Hey cousin, what's going on?" And he didn't respond back. This was in 2021 and he barely responded back this year. So—

And when he responded back, And that's when he said, "I think I could be your father"?

He basically responded, "Do you think we could talk? Do you think you can give me a call or we can like meet up possibly? There's some questions I wanna ask you." Of course. So I was like confused. I'm like, "What do you mean questions?" So I found him on Facebook and we connected there. I gave him a call and he basically asked me like what was my mom's name. I told him my mother's name. He asked me for a picture, I sent him a picture. I sent him a picture and he was like, "Yeah, we have to talk in person." What did that do to you in that moment?

'Cause you're thinking this man is your cousin.

Yeah.

And you're like, "Hey, cuz." And then also like, "What, dad?" Yeah, it shocked me honestly 'cause I had no idea.

You know, I instantly started thinking about my mom. I'm like, "So did you even know?" Like, you know, I had so many questions that I just didn't have the answers to.

Were you a daddy's girl growing up?

Yes, I was, yes. I'm, my full name is Antwan Niche, but I go by Niche. I'm named after my father.

You know, he was everything to me.

He cooked for me, cleaned for me, we played together, we went to amusement parks together. He was my best friend, you know? And, you know, now that I have this information, it's kinda, you know, it makes me a little bit emotional. It makes me sad 'cause, the family that I grew up knowing as my family possibly could not be my family.

Neshay, are you ready to talk to your mom now?

Yes.

Okay, well, welcome everyone, Sharee, to the show. Sharee, thank you so much for being here.

Hi.

How are you feeling right now?

I'm feeling nervous and a little ashamed.

Okay, why are you feeling ashamed?

Because a lot of the things that my daughter said is true. I was a young mother. I was a young mother. I had a lot of kids to deal with at that time. And I did put a lot of things on her, responsibilities that should have been mine.

Has your mother ever acknowledged this before?

No.

Never? Mm-mm. Your daughter's here crying because she says she's never heard that from you before.

You know I love you, baby. You know I love you, Niesha. You my firstborn. You my first child. You was like my little mini me. I was not given a book on how to raise any kids.

Yeah, you wasn't given a book.

I did what the best that I could with what I had for you guys.

But you could have gained more knowledge to do better.

I am so sorry for everything that I put you through. What do you want me to do?

I don't, sometimes I don't feel like your apology is genuine. I don't feel like you really mean that.

But you 25 years old, Neshay.

29, Mom, 29, I'm 29.

Well, part of this is, Cherie, you can't say to someone, that just because they're older that they should get over it. Your daughter's pain from her childhood, which you acknowledge yourself was unfair that she went through this. You know that she went through stuff. She's still hurting. She said that there was a time in your life that you were at her award shows, that you were there with her, you did things and then you stopped. Why did you stop?

Because I had a busy life with raising kids and having to be there for all the kids that I had.

But she's one of your kids. So why did you stop? 'Cause your excuse is, and I understand that you were young and you went through, you were trying to figure it out. But you said you were there for the other kids, but she's one of your kids. Why did you stop with her? Like—

Probably because I had men in my life too that—

Yes, and that was one of my big problems.

Men played a big part in my life.

Yes, and you showed them more attention than you showed me, that's for sure. You know, I needed you in my life.

I needed you like to be there for me, to build me up, not break me down.

Are you ready to meet Michael for the first time?

Yeah, I'm ready. I'm nervous, I'm anxious, I'm feeling all type of emotion right now.

I get it. Well, this is the moment because this man could potentially be your father. So everyone, please welcome Michael to the show. Michael, you sharp. Thank you. How you doing?

Nice to meet you, Karamo.

You sharp. You are sharp.

Give me a hug. I heard all that. Beautiful.

Thank you.

I heard you just say that you heard all that.

Yeah.

What was going through your head when you heard that?

A lot of hurt for her. Just wishing I had known so I could have maybe been there to do something and make it, make her life a little different.

Got it. Yeah. And I heard you've been waiting for this moment for a long time.

Yeah, for a while. Ironically, I started out looking for my father. I don't know my father. Then kind of transitioned into finding a sister on my father's side. After finding that sister on my father's side, ironically, It led me to finding her.

Oh, wow.

Yeah, it led me to finding her.

Wow, that's amazing that you were looking for someone else and then this connection happened.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Oh, wow.

Cherie.

We were doing the same thing.

Like, I'm trying to figure out who my mom's dad is.

Yeah. Interesting. What's going on over there, Cherie? What are you feeling?

It's like I see her face and his face together.

It's like, if they were like, I can't lie, we don't know the results yet, but y'all look a lot alike.

I know, but that's what you was saying.

Yeah. Let me see.

I know, right? Same.

It's a smile on them eyes, yeah. What's going through your head?

I just wanna know.

Yeah. We gonna get there in a little bit. So you first connected with Ashae, did you even think that she could be your daughter? What was the first thought? 'Cause she thought you were her cousin.

Yeah.

So that was the first thought. So I got like an influx of emails saying, "Hey, it's your third cousin. Now you have a second cousin and a fourth cousin." So when I got that influx, I decided to go on. And in doing that, I went through a lot of the various emails that I had and I saw Neshay's email that said, "Hey cousin." And I think it said, "How are you?" Or, "How are we related?" Something like that. Yeah. And then I saw one about 6 months later that said, "Hello." And I didn't respond to either one of 'em.

Right.

I think because it said cousin, there wasn't that great interest. To really move on it, you know, 'cause you got the third cousins, fourth cousins. And so because she said cousin, it kind of threw me a little bit. Ultimately, again, when I found the sister on my dad's side, and this is a crazy story 'cause I then started kind of looking through it, gave the phone to my wife, and I don't know how I missed this, but she said, "You either have a mother or a daughter." and I know she ain't your mother. And I was like, yeah, nah. So she handed me the phone. I said, oh wow, you know, use a different word. But, um, then I saw the percentile, and I also have a son that's on there as well, and they shared the same amount of—

same percent, same percentile.

Actually, hers was higher. Hers is actually a percent higher. So because men carry something I think is less gene that makes it a little lower. Yeah. So in that sense, I decided to reach out to her. I said, hey, give me a phone call. I left my number on, right, on Ancestry and asked her to give me a call. And I think she was reluctant, maybe, you know, I don't know who the heck this dude is, like, okay. And so I continued to pursue, trying to reach out to her. And then she eventually gave me a phone call.

Do you remember having a relationship with her mother? Yeah.

You know what, I do remember her face.

You know, you know, Michael.

It's weird because After she showed me, I asked her to send me a picture, and after she showed me the picture, I was like, oh, I remember her vaguely. I hate to use the word, I called it transactions at times back then when there was no relationship involved. So it was a transaction that I had at a young age, 22, I believe, or so. I do remember that. But that's really it. I don't remember anything outside of that. Well, you know, I know she was, She liked lavish, the lavish lifestyle. I knew she was high energy for sure.

Okay, okay.

Yeah.

Do you believe you're Neshay's father?

I do.

You do?

You know, I'm not a scientist, but I don't believe DNA lies. That's kinda how I look at it, right?

Yeah.

I couldn't look at it any other way, especially when I have a child on there already and they share the same amount.

'Cause you have one child?

I have three.

Three children.

Yeah. Okay. I have three. But I asked 4, I have 4, excuse me. I have 4.

Well, you're saying this, what would it mean to you to have her?

It would be amazing. I actually have 2 boys and a girl. I have a daughter that, it's always hard for me because she's 25, but she's like a 1-year-old. She wears diapers, she can't talk. And I've been taking care of since obviously conception. Her mom and I aren't together, but we, share 50% custody, and I have her very often. She's actually with my wife right now while I'm here. And I always had this conversation with my wife about, man, I wish I could just have a conversation with my daughter, just to be able to talk to her, right? And to be able to express things and be able to communicate and build a relationship. I love her immensely, but obviously I can't do that, right? She shows me in other ways that she loves me, but she can't do it through a a natural conversation. And so when I found out she could be my daughter, that was the first thing I thought about, which is strange. I can now build a relationship.

Yeah, that's where I got it from.

And I was like, she's always been there. I didn't know about it, right? Yeah. To have that kind of relationship as well, to have a relationship that could blossom and grow through communication and love and nourishment.

So Neshaya and Michael, are you ready for the DNA outcome? To find out if you're father and daughter?

Yeah, I'm ready.

Yeah, let's do it.

All right, let's get this over with. Well, Neshay, I'm going to hand you the DNA outcome. On here, this will let you know if this is your father and will give you either clarity if like there's new family out there, a new relationship you could be establishing. Are you ready for this?

Mm-hmm.

Yeah?

We'll be all right no matter what.

Oh my God.

I honestly don't really know how to feel right now. I'm nervous. I'm sad. I'm feeling all these emotions.

I don't really know.

I don't really know.

What happened?

This is your father?

Yeah.

Oh my God! Oh my God!

Oh my God!

Oh my God!

Oh my God!

Oh my God! That's their daddy!

That's their daddy!

That's their daddy! Karamo, thank you so much. You're welcome.

You're so welcome.

You and your staff are amazing. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. So—

Oh my God.

Cherie, I'm gonna start with you first of all, because I know Michael's happy about this. What is in your mind, Cherie, right now?

I'm excited as hell. Oh my God.

I cannot believe it.

I'm—

You're in shock.

Oh my God.

I'm elated.

Elated?

Yeah, oh yeah, most definitely. Thank you. Are you? I'm doing well. Thank you.

Thank you guys. Hold on, where you going? I'll tell you where you're going. Right here to subscribe and right here to watch more.

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