History Main / SecretOtherFamily

* In ''Literature/EccentricNeighborhoods'', a heartbroken Roque Vernet finds comfort after his [[DrivenToSuicide son's death]] in the arms of seamstress Titiba. Eventually Roque keeps Titiba and their children in a household separate from his own family's. After his own death, Titiba asks Clotilde, his widow, that they share him in death, like they did in life. Since Clotilde has no idea who the woman is or what she is talking about, Titiba has to reveal about her life with Roque. Amazingly, Clotilde agrees and they hold a funeral with two rooms, one for each family unit.
* ''Literature/InTheMidstOfWinter'': After Lucia's father dies, she and her mother learn her father had a second family, including a son with the same name as her brother Enrique. Lena Maraz is so angry and she destroys all his pictures and discourages any mention of him.

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* The intended murder victim in the ''Series/{{CSI}}'' episode "Grissom Versus the Volcano". However, a short in the timing mechanism causes the bomb (planted by one of his wives) to detonate at the wrong time: killing three innocent people in a case of MurderByMistake that makes it harder for the team to identify the real target.
** In "Divorce Party" of ''Series/CSIMiami'' also had the father who had a Secret Other Family murdered [[spoiler: by his own son after the son discovered that he had been dating his half-sister. They fell in love and were having a baby together]].

[[folder: Film]]

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' did a joke about Peter having one where Peter was the ''mother''. He dressed as a stereotypical housewife and spoke in falsetto.

* Lois Lane discovers this about [[http://www.superdickery.com/superman-digs-mermaids/ Superman]].
** Don't worry, Lois--it's actually [[spoiler: a robotic clone of Superman]]. Obviously.

* As made obvious by the title, the 1953 film ''Film/TheBigamist''.

* ''Film/{{Eulogy}}'': [[spoiler:This is part of the VideoWill [[TheReveal Reveal]]]].

* Pasquinel in the novel (and later miniseries) ''Series/{{Centennial}}''.

* Shows up once or twice in ''Literature/JudgeDee'', usually due to a jealous First Wife denying her husband any concubines.

* The bartender from ''Series/KrodMandoonAndTheFlamingSwordOfFire''.

* Chris-In-The-Morning's dad on ''Series/NorthernExposure''.

* ''Series/{{Vera}}'': The VictimOfTheWeek in "Death of a Family Man" is revealed to be living this kind of double-life.

* The victim in an episode of ''Series/{{Life}}'' - "Farthingale" - had two wives under two different names. [[spoiler: Turns out he was living a triple life; in reality, an employee of the IRS and was killed by an anti-government bomber.]]

* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'''s Strong Bad claims to have one. "Claims" being the operative word. Ol' SB has a rather... ''overactive'' [[MrImagination imagination]].
** In any case, his "first family" is just his two brothers.

* In ''ComicBook/SecretIdentities'', the Front Line’s resident speedster Runabout has a wife and daughter in Halifax, and another wife and daughter in San Diego. He uses his superspeed and excuses of frequent business trips to be with them both. At the end of the series he marries and impregnates another woman in Florida.

* Eva Peron was one of the daughters of a wealthy rancher's SecretOtherFamily; however, on his death, her father left the family a document stating that the children were his so they could use his surname, Duarte. However Eva, her mother, and siblings were still refused entrance to his funeral, and his death left them absolutely, desperately poor.

* H.H. Holmes, often considered America's first (or at least first well known) SerialKiller and a textbook example of TheSociopath pulled this off two times by marrying three different women over the course of his life, the second while still legally married to his first wife, who he had abandoned in Vermont and filed for divorce from but never finalized. Myrta, his second wife, had a daughter with him and was completely unaware of his dual life, as was Georgiana, his third wife, who he married several years later while still legally married to Myrta. And that's not even getting into his various affairs, most of which ended when he killed his lovers in his elaborate TortureCellar.

* ''Series/AllMyChildren'': Del Henry came to town and rapidly befriended local MarySue Dixie Cooney, much to the alarm of Dixie's husband Tad, who feared that Del was a psycho. When the couple confronted Del about his intentions, he denied being in love with Dixie and revealed that he was in fact her brother, the result of an affair their father had had with his mother.

* In the ''Radio/SherlockHolmes'' radio drama "The Peculiar Persecution of Mr. John Harden", the title character is a millionaire who turns out to have yearned for a simpler life, an urge he indulges by having a secret life and family in a small village in Wales. Neither his Welsh family nor his wife in his own identity is aware of the deception, and his son is extraordinarily pissed off when he finds out.

* ''Series/TheNakedDirector'': Megumi discovers some mysterious photos in an album in episode 1.4 and then confronts her mother in episode 1.5 about how the two of them live in relative comfort despite having a DisappearedDad. It turns out that Megumi's strictly Catholic, religious fundamentalist mom was TheMistress of a married businessman, and she and Megumi are the SecretOtherFamily.

* ''Series/BrooklynNineNine'': Jake's father at one point confesses to Jake that he has several half-siblings scattered around the country. Downplayed in that he seems to have been just as, if not more, absent from their lives as he was with Jake.

* In the ''SherlockHolmes'' radio drama "The Peculiar Persecution of Mr. John Harden", the title character is a millionaire who turns out to have yearned for a simpler life, an urge he indulges by having a secret life and family in a small village in Wales. Neither his Welsh family nor his wife in his own identity is aware of the deception, and his son is extraordinarily pissed off when he finds out.

* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' had an episode where Roger, their live-in alien friend, was secretly a part of/spending time with dozens of other families as well. This was treated as if he was having an affair.

* RealLife example: Vito Fossella, a Congressman from New York City, was arrested for drunk driving in Alexandria, Virginia. When a member of his Virginian other family came to pick him up, he decided not to run for re-election.
* Chris [=McCandless=], who's had the book ''Into the Wild'' based on him (and a movie based on that book), found out his dad had another family. At least, it was secret to him and his sister. His mother knew and in fact, it was why they moved at one point.
* The late French president Francois Mitterrand revealed to the public shortly before leaving office that he had a SecretOtherFamily. The French have always taken a fairly relaxed view of their politicians getting up to this sort of thing so it didn't really affect his approval rating, except possibly with his wife, and both families were present together at his funeral.

* Eva Peron was one of the daughters of a wealthy rancher's SecretOtherFamily; however, on his death, her father left the family a document stating that the children were his so they could use his surname, Duarte. However Eva, her mother, and siblings were still refused entrance to his funeral and his death left them absolutely, desperately poor.

* Mets pitcher Bartolo Colon suffered some embarrassment in 2016 when it was revealed that, along with his wife and four children, he had a mistress and two more children. But since Colon was immensely popular with the Met fanbase the scandal passed.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

** [[spoiler:Historia Reiss/Krista Lenz]] was born from Rod Reiss a powerful noble and the secret ruler of the walls. He fathered [[spoiler:Historia]] with a simple farm woman named Alma, and gave her a life of ease, but later had Alma killed and forced [[spoiler:Historia to join the survey corps under the name Krista]]. Reiss seems like he wants to reconnect with her, but [[spoiler:really wants her to take up the Foundation Titan in his place so he will not be possessed by his ancestor, given he has no legitimate children to take the mantle]].
** [[spoiler:Reiner Braun was born when his mother Karina had an affair with a Marlayen kitchen worker. Karina convinces Reiner that joining the Warrior unit will result in the two reuniting, but when Reiner tracks him down he rejects Reiner in disgust, given that if his affair with an Eldian, who are seen by the Marlayan people as evil demons and forced into ghettos, was exposed he and his legitimate family could be executed]].
** Eren learns from his father's diary that [[spoiler:during the latter's time in Marley, he was married to a woman named Dina Fritz and had a son named Zeke. Likewise, Zeke deduced from Reiner's reports that Eren is his half-brother and sought to claim him.]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]

** Don't worry, Lois--it's actually [[spoiler:a robotic clone of Superman]]. Obviously.

[[folder:Film]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* Near the end of ''After Her'' by Joyce Maynard the narrator Rachel discovers that her (now deceased) father had a daughter he never told them about when the now-adult woman approaches her at a book signing. In a variation, everyone was aware of the relationship that produced her and their father had been divorced from Rachel's mother (who's implied to have known about the girl's existence and not cared) for years by the time the other girl was born, but he never told Rachel and her sister Patti about her because Rachel once swore in a fit of anger she'd never forgive him if he had another child. At first Rachel rejects her half-sister, but the two reconcile after she saves Rachel from the SerialKiller who her father had tried and failed to find all those years ago.

* In ''Lives of the Monster Dogs'' Augustus Rank, the creator of the titular Dogs, discovered that his father had one of these after his mother died and his father moved back in with his mistress, whom he formally married shortly after. Later on, Augustus murdered his half brother from that relationship after he found out that they were competing for the same woman and that his brother planned to run away with her.

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]

* In ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'', after his mother dies, Howard discovers that his absent father remarried and he had a younger half brother who tracks him down.

* The premise of ''Series/BrothersAndSisters''. Rumor has it [[spoiler:that the spare illegitimate daughter is eventually revealed to have another father altogether]].

* In one episode of ''Series/TheCloser'', a man, his wife, and their young daughter are brutally murdered. The only surviving family member, a teenage boy, is initially the prime suspect, but the actual killer turns out to be [[spoiler:the man's ''other'' teenage son]], who had discovered that [[spoiler:his dad]] had another family.

** Mentioned in passing in "Pay It Forward." The unsub turns out to be killing hypocrites. After the team looks into the seemingly-clean second victim, Hotchner angrily confronts one of his friends who had called him a great family man, asking ''which'' family he was referring to: the family in town everyone knows about, or the secret family a few towns away.
** The unsub in [[spoiler:"A Place at the Table"]] turns out to be the son from the victim's secret family. Though, in this case, the son wasn't aware of who his father was. The relationship between his parents was more of a long-term prostitution arrangement (she had to be available to him as his mistress at all times, and in return he provided for her financially), and the son wound up targeting ''both'' families when he found out about it.

* In ''Series/ElEmbarcadero'', the whole plot kicks off with Alejandra's discovery that her recently deceased husband Óscar had been living a double live with another woman for eight years, and even had a daughter with her.
* An episode of ''Series/HawaiiFive0'' has a man about to testify on a gang gunned down in an office. His wife says the man had been busted for embezzling from his company and explained he was being forced to steal for a local gang. The team take the gang down only for the leader to claim they've never heard of the guy. Digging further, the team discover the man had a wife and son on a nearby island and was stealing the money to help set them up and cooked up the gang story as an excuse. Grover openly notes how "it takes a certain kind of sociopath to do this." It turns out [[spoiler: the killer was the boyfriend of the man's teenage daughter who was outraged at finding out what her dad was doing to her and her mother.]]

** Vaseline never gets around to actually marrying either of them, but spends most of the first season juggling two girlfriends, both called Marion. It's strongly implied [[RefugeInAudacity he chose to woo the second Marion specifically so he wouldn't have to worry about accidentally calling either of them by the other's name]], earning him a mixture of contempt and grudging admiration from the rest of Blue Watch for his sheer ''chutzpah''.

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[[folder:Radio]]

* In the ''SherlockHolmes'' radio drama "The Peculiar Persecution of Mr John Harden", the title character is a millionaire who turns out to have yearned for a simpler life, an urge he indulges by having a secret life and family in a small village in Wales. Neither his Welsh family nor his wife in his own identity are aware of the deception, and his son is extraordinarily pissed off when he finds out.

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[[folder:Western Animation]]

[[folder:Real Life]]