Man Finds Out Charles Manson Is His Dad

A Man’s Helter-Skelter Search For His Birth Parents

Posted by: Jessica Goldberg Filed in: news
10:50AM, Tuesday November 24th 2009

Here is the best reason ever to not try to find your birth parents. Terry, a Wisconsin woman with a wild past, was contacted recently by Robert Matthews, a DJ in Los Angeles who was adopted and wanted to find his biological parents. Terry was confirmed to have been his mother, and it seems like she was willing to give him as many answers as she could about his family history. But she was significantly tight-lipped about the identity of Robert’s father. After repeated requests from Robert, Terry finally told him. She was pretty sure Robert was conceived in California, in 1967, during a drugged-out orgy, where she was raped—by Charles Manson. Comparing photographs of the two men seems to dispel any hopes that Terry ID’d the wrong guy—they look identical. Robert did some soul-searching and finally decided to get in touch with Manson. He now sends Robert postcards signed with swastikas and other familial gestures, like the phone number to Manson’s prison, which Robert has never called. “He’s my biological father—I can’t help but have some kind of emotional connection. That’s the hardest thing of all—feeling love for a monster who raped my mother,” says Robert. “I don’t want to love him, but I don’t want to hate him either.” If it helps at all, we can hate him for you, Robert. [BuzzFeed]

comments

Kiki T
wrote on November 24 2009 @ 11:02 am: [report]

to confirm, DNA test on Maury!!!!!!

spatula
wrote on November 24 2009 @ 11:06 am: [report]

@Kiki: I second that!

lea322
wrote on November 24 2009 @ 11:07 am: [report]

I think he looks more like Nathan Lane.

Jessica Goldberg
wrote on November 24 2009 @ 11:39 am: [report]

I think he looks more like Nathan Lane.

Good point, but Nathan Lane is a pretty unlikely prospect, unfortunately for Robert.

fireflyeyes
wrote on November 24 2009 @ 11:44 am: [report]

He does! But I doubt his birth mother is likely to say, “Oh, did you hear ‘raped by Charles Manson at an orgy’? No, no… I said “SEDUCED by NATHAN LANE at a FANCY DRESS PARTY’. Don’t worry dear, easy mistake to make…”

fireflyeyes
wrote on November 24 2009 @ 11:47 am: [report]

Also, when I saw that photo of Manson without reading the article, I thought for all the world that it was Joaquin Phoenix. Disturbing on several levels.

lea322
wrote on November 24 2009 @ 11:53 am: [report]

@fireflyeyes: Now that you mention Joaquin, I can totally see it! Maybe he’s been secretly preparing for a role this whole time!

Goldfinch86
wrote on November 24 2009 @ 11:58 am: [report]

I feel bad for the guy, his dad is a serial killer/maniac. Can you imagine the shame and anger you must feel when you find out your dad raped your mother and is a sadistic maniac? At least he’s a good enough person to realize it’s his father and he can’t hate him, but nor can he love him. I think he should clean himself up a little so he looks a little less like his dear old dad though.

gevlife
wrote on November 24 2009 @ 12:12 pm: [report]

That’s gotta be a terrifying revelation, but (AND I AM NOT PROUD OF THIS)
I have always thought Charles Manson was good-looking, so maybe having that bone structure isn’t the worst thing to inherit from him.
Look at that picture, he looks like Devendra Banhart.
Probably helped a lot with the whole charisma-aspect….

Ginger
wrote on November 24 2009 @ 12:31 pm: [report]

@gevlife Someone had to say it. He was charismatic and, back before the visible crazy set in, not bad looking. That’s why it isn’t shocking he had so many followers.

And since evil isn’t genetic, you have a point about the bone structure.

Oreo
wrote on November 24 2009 @ 04:21 pm: [report]

Hey, that’s what you get for abandoning your real family for your biological parents.

Adoptees who do this are actively hurting the chances of other children from being adopted. I know MANY families, both socially and professionally, who will not even consider adopting a child who they will raise and love, only to endure the child finding their “real parents” and splitting their time with their children and grandchildren with the people that abandoned the child that they love.

GreenAura
wrote on November 24 2009 @ 04:27 pm: [report]

Um, whats wrong with finding your biological parents if you are adopted? Finding out certain information can be vital, such as medical history, genetic disorders, etc. No one said he was “abandoning” his adoptive parents!

badger
wrote on November 24 2009 @ 04:47 pm: [report]

Wisconsin has an adoption disclosure process that requires both the adoptee and the donor parent to agree to specific levels of information exchange. If he was able to contact his birth mother through the program it is only because both of them were actively seeking contact.
As an adoptee from Wisconsin I investigated the program but have never acted upon it. Firstly, the idea that the medical/genetic info is important or useful is vastly over-rated; secondly, I’m satisfied with my life and knowing my birth circumstances would not improve my life; thirdly, the adoptees I know who have found their birth parents have all had unhappy results.

Oreo
wrote on November 24 2009 @ 05:18 pm: [report]

Firstly, the idea that the medical/genetic info is important or useful is vastly over-rated; secondly, I’m satisfied with my life and knowing my birth circumstances would not improve my life; thirdly, the adoptees I know who have found their birth parents have all had unhappy results.

EXACTLY. If we strop away the BS, there is no good reason for an adoptee to seek out their birth parent.

@GreenAura: It is abandonment of your adoptive parents in a very real way. It’s making a statement that the people who raised you, proudly call you their son or daughter and love you are not enough… you feel empty without some sort of forced connection with the people that didn’t want you. It’s a shameful, selfish decision that shows no loyalty or consideration to your real family… the ones you don’t have to look up online… the family in which you are always welcome and never abandoned.

Sure, it makes for a nice sappy tv movie or an episode of Maury, but I would argue that it is this phenomenon that has kept otherwise good parents from considering adoption, and as badger said, it frequently ends with unhappy results for all parties concerned.

Oreo
wrote on November 24 2009 @ 05:19 pm: [report]

~~strop~~ strip.

I can’t type. :(

retro chic
wrote on November 24 2009 @ 05:54 pm: [report]

Kiki and spatula said it: DNA test on Maury (hm, why isn’t Robert asking for one?). And Oprah would have been all over it. This “mystery” can be solved with a swab and a razor. I call ridiculous tabloid fake, reality show stunt or another urban legend suitable for emails – but not legit news.

wild-ting
wrote on November 24 2009 @ 06:17 pm: [report]

I don’t think they look alike. They have brown hair and eyes, long hair and beards. That’s at least 10,000 men in America. Was there any DNA testing done?

Anyhoo…talk about a bad day! That would be the worst day of my life finding out Charlie Manson was my dad.