My Birth Certificate Has a Fake Name, Who Is My Father?! | KARAMO

Michelle, don't play with him.

I didn't know you came out to hurt him.

I see it.

Oh, I see it. Come on now.

Yeah.

Yes.

So Michelle, my producers tell me that you were very young, you started asking about your father.

Yes.

Pick it up from there for me.

So I have 3 other siblings. So being younger, we had separate fathers. And just seeing their dads coming around, bringing gifts, You know, it just, of course, made me curious as to who my other half was.

Of course.

So my little sister was being put in preschool, and I saw where my mom went to go get our birth certificates and stuff. So I'm like, oh, this is my opportunity.

Yeah, you about to go search and get it.

I'm about to go see who my dad is because I saw on hers, it had her dad's name on it. So once my mom left out, I snuck, in her room, went in her little drawer, pulled my birth certificate out, and it said Mario Green.

Okay.

So in my mind, I'm like, oh, I found them. So I built up all my courage to say, Mom, who is Mario? So she chuckled a little bit, and she was like, Mario is . Whom was my mother's lesbian girlfriend at the time.

Got it.

And they wouldn't let another woman be on my birth certificate. So it was kind of like a sperm donor type of thing for a lesbian.

Yeah, just for the name.

Right.

Got it.

So I was just, at that point, I just felt very confused. Makes sense, yeah.

But my producers told me that a guy showed up at your door at 10.

Yes, so. At the time I didn't know, but it was James standing there. And he's like, you know, "Hi." And I'm like, "Hi." He looked me up and down, you know, he gave me $5, asked, you know, for my mother. So I went to get her, but I felt like I knew him, but I didn't know him. So I ran, my room was over top of the door. So I ran up to my window, I'm like, lick, trying to hear what they're saying. And you know, she's like fussing, like, "Why are you just showing up at my house? You know you're not supposed to be coming here." You know, that type of conversation.

I love that she's at the window. You was nosy like me.

Right, I was.

You was nosy like me.

I was ear hustling, ear hustling. I was not gonna play with it.

You wasn't playing.

You know, he's like, "Well, I just wanna see her," type of conversation. And I was like heartbroken that she's telling him, "You're not supposed to be here." You know, I was just—

Did you ask your mother about James and what did she tell you?

I asked her about him and she said, "Well, you know, it's complicated." I think he was married at the time, you know, so it was like, maybe they had an affair or something.

Got it.

And I was just like an outside child.

And how old were you at that point?

I was maybe 8, 9, 10.

8, 9.

You know, I was very young, but I questioned it until—

Because at 21, you then finally reconnected with his family.

When you don't know—

Young me.

Young you. When you don't know your family, it's a potential that you are dating your cousin. Mm-hmm. So my sister, my sister, we don't have the same father, but my sister started dating this gentleman and she kept telling me like, "Sister, he looks a lot like you." And I'm like, you know, I'm like, "Okay, whatever." Yeah. So one day I'm at my mom's house and she called me. She's like, "He really looks like you because this is your cousin." I'm standing here with your aunt and she says she's been looking for you for your whole life.

What?

Your mother kept you away from them and she was just like, they wanna meet you. She's, you know, you look so much like them.

So your sister Christina had something to say, so she sent us a message.

Can we see that?

Yes. When I was about 18 years old, I was dating this guy and we hit it off pretty good. He took me to go meet his mom. And when I walked through the door, she took one look at me and was like, "Is your mother's name Barbara Flewellyn?" And I said, "Yes, ma'am." And she asked me, "Did I have a sister named Michelle?" And I said, "Yes, ma'am." And she said, "We've been looking for Michelle for 20 years." And I called my sister directly on the phone and I said, "Michelle, I found your family." What a crazy story of how that all came about.

Listen, Christina's actually here and we're gonna talk to her shortly. Is your mother still alive?

No, she's passed.

She passed away. Okay, okay, sorry about that. But did she ever speak of James or any other possible men that could be the father?

There was another possible man, um, Elliot. You know, he would come around, but I never felt like connected to him.

Do you still have a connection with Elliott today?

Elliott passed away unfortunately in 2003.

Were you able to ever spend time with James?

I was after we connected with my aunt. They invited me to come to their family reunion.

What was it like spending time with James?

It's funny because We have a lot of the same jokester kind of characteristics, you know, and it's crazy because our birthdays are literally 2 days apart.

Yeah.

We finally got to spend our birthday together.

Oh, that's sweet.

But not knowing for sure.

Yeah.

So it's time to hear from Michelle's potential father, James. James is joining us remotely right now. So James, welcome to the show.

Oh, hey.

So James, share with us how you know Michelle's mother.

Way back when I was around 13, I took a certain liking to Barbara, but I was 13 and she was 50. But anyway, one day I was hanging out at a happy hour club. That's when we started talking, 'cause I was older then, you know. My wife and I was married at the time, but we were separated. Her and I, we hooked up. And you know, things led to, you know, one thing led to another.

Question for you, after that hookup, when was the first time you learned about Michelle?

I ran into her again. She was a bartender at another club. She said, "I've been wanting to tell you something." And she said, "You got a daughter." I was like, "What?" She said, "What I want you to do," she gave me her address. And she said, "Michelle's gonna be there." alone. And she said, I want you to knock on the door and ask for me, and Michelle's going to tell you that I'm not there, and you just tell her that James stopped by. And that's what I did. I did exactly what she asked me, but I looked at her real good. At the time, she did look like my next to the oldest daughter.

Wow.

But she said, I just figured it was better for me to tell Michelle that her dad was dead. Just to keep the confusion down. And she said, "Now I wanna tell her the truth." Wow.

Yeah. So when you knocked on that door, did you tell Michelle who you were that day?

No, no, I didn't tell her who I were. I respected her mother's wishes.

Yeah.

What made me have the doubts about it was 'cause her mom took so long to tell me. But when she told me, I knew she was not the type of person to just lie to me like that. So I automatically believed her, but I was still in denial 'cause I didn't know for sure.

Yeah.

Yes.

Makes sense.

I know, but it was like I was heartbroken 'cause it's like, well, what about me? Why? You know, I just wonder why you never fought for me. You know, why it took so long, which is heartbreaking, you know. I just always felt like half of me was missing.

Of course.

But the last time we connected, he hasn't let the connection go, you know. I came around, met his other kids, and you know, so I do feel like a part of their family now.

Yeah.

So.

That's good. Well, listen everyone, before we get to the DNA truth, I wanna meet your sister who is responsible responsible for finding James. So everyone, please welcome Christina to the show. Hi Christina, how are you doing?

Hello Karamo.

Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you as well.

Thank you for being here.

Thank you.

So how does it feel to know that you are the one that who had potentially found Michelle's family?

I felt like Dick Tracy. I was like, oh, I done cracked the case. I wanted to tell her, we've been looking for you too, honey. I've known James' name for 30 years. I've been waiting for Mr. James. And I had no idea that his nephew was, you know, it was such a small world. You don't know how small it is until you're put in a certain situation.

So from your opinion, what will this DNA truth mean to your sister today?

Oh my God. Probably the means to an end of searching, closure, you know, but My sister, seeing how it affected her through the years and how estranged she felt and different, I think that it'll be a blessing to her to know the truth. We've been on the hunt for most of our life.

Well, the hunt stops now. Are you ready for the DNA truth?

Yes.

I was born ready.

Okay, yes, well listen, I hear that.

Well, Michelle, come with me please.

See, Michelle, in this envelope is the DNA truth. It's your truth to open up mine, so good luck.

This not only is an answer for myself, but also my kids. I feel like in my heart James is my father.

Yeah. That's good. Hi, sister.

What does it say? Oh, she's not my father.

Oh, my God. I'm sorry, sister. Oh, she's worth it. I just knew it was going to be over.

Me too.

I love you. Oh man.

Oh my gosh.

Here you go, love. Here you go.

Let me give you a hug. Oh my gosh, I'm sorry, baby.

Thank you. I'm so sorry.

I'm so sorry.

James, now that you've heard this news, how are you feeling this moment?

I'm feeling a little bit disappointed and let down. I'm just happy that we know for sure now. I was looking forward to us being family, but we can still be family even though we know the truth now.

Michelle, You did say that your mother told you about Elliot, and I know you said that you met him, but he's passed. Do you know any of his kids, relatives? Like, do you know their names?

I do know of one, his sister's child that is still living in Pittsburgh. Yeah.

Any support you need, if you wanna make that connection, we will use every resource here to help you. You deserve your truth, you deserve your closure. And what I do know to be true right now is that you have an amazing sister who will stand by your side.

Yes, always.

And so you got Dick Tracy over here, you got me over here. We gonna figure something out. We gonna figure it out, trust me, okay?

Thank you so much.

We got you.

Thank you.

We will help you, okay? Thank you.