Basic Trope: A man with a family has another family without the others knowing.
- Straight: Traveling business executive Bob has a wife Alice and a son Dave in New York, while also having a second wife Carol and daughter Esther in California. Neither family knows about the other.
- Exaggerated: Sailor Bob has a wife and family in every port.
- Downplayed:
- Bob recently learned he has a daughter Fiona through a previous relationship, though hasn’t told his wife yet because he’s still processing having another child.
- Bob reveals that he got his now ex-girlfriend pregnant.
- Justified: Bob fell for Carol and had a daughter with her, despite still being with Alice and already having another child, but he seems to love both women too much to leave either one.
- Subverted:
- Bob doesn’t have another wife and child...
- Alice visits Bob on one of these trips, suspecting him of cheating, only to discover he does actually have a business trip there without any ulterior motives...
- Both Bob’s families are aware of the other despite Bob taking great lengths to avoid their meeting...
- Double Subverted:
- ...because he has a girlfriend with a baby on the way.
- ...because his second wife and child don't live in that state, but in the neighboring one.
- ...but they aren’t aware of Bob’s third wife Juanita, who lives in Canada with their twins.
- Parodied:
- Bob’s second family lives next door and yet no one ever figures out Bob’s secret.
- Bob’s second family lives with the first family but neither Alice nor Carol knows about Bob’s relation to the other (or refusing to consider the very obvious possibility).
- Alice is the one with the secret family, marrying a second husband, keeping up another household, working a second job, and having dozens of children with her second husband without her first husband and other children suspecting a thing.
- Zig Zagged: Alice thinks that Bob has another wife and child when she accidentally spots all them together. Turns out she’s actually his cousin Haley and her child Isaac, both of whom Alice has never met. But it turns out that Bob does have another wife and child - Carol and their daughter Esther. However, Carol is divorced from Bob and had been for a while by the time he met Alice. Then, another woman claims to be pregnant with Bob’s child.
- Averted:
- Bob has only been married to Alice, with whom he has one son Dave.
- Bob has only been married to Carol, with whom he has a daughter Esther.
- Bob is in a polygamous marriage to Alice and Carol with all parties living together under the same roof without any secrets between them.
- Inverted: ???
- Enforced: The network wanted a more dramatic subplot for Bob, whose convenient job as a business executive always out of town, provided an explanation for the storyline.
- Lampshaded: “Bob, you don’t have another family I am unaware about when you go on these trips, do you?” “No, dear, that only happens on TV.”
- Invoked: Bob, in order to divorce Alice, claims he has a second wife.
- Exploited: Carol’s brother Greg learns that Bob already has another wife and child and blackmails him into leaving them.
- Defied: Bob doesn’t want to end up like his father, who had another family with another woman while still married to Bob’s mother, and remains faithful to his family.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: Bob asks his wife Alice how she would feel if she found out Bob had another family she didn’t know about. Alice laughs off the question stating that wouldn’t happen in real life since it’s too much work for one to handle for so long.
- Deconstructed:
- When Alice and Carol find out, they are both angry at Bob, with them resolving to leave Bob and taking their respective kids with them.
- Bob’s frequent business trips lead to issues with his children Dave and Esther, who feel that they aren’t getting the proper attention from him.
- Dave and Esther meet, fall in love, and start having sex with each other without knowing that they're related.
- Played For Drama: Bob wants to come clean about the other family to both his wives, but can’t find the courage.
Go back to Secret Other Family but don’t tell them.
