Woman Marries Her Dad
（ＣＮＮ）
長年連れ添った夫は、見たことも会ったこともない実の父親だった。
米オハイオ州在住のバレリー・スプルイルさん（６０）がこの衝撃の事実を聞かされたのは、夫が亡くなって６年後のことだった。
この衝撃の事実を知ったスプルイルさんは心身共に打ちのめされ、脳卒中で２度倒れ、さらに糖尿病と診断されたという。
しかし、スプルイルさんは、自分と同じ問題を抱える人の助けになればと、今月、雑誌でこの事実を公表することにした。
一体なぜ、そんなことになってしまったのか。
スプルイルさんは、２００４年に叔父からこの事実を聞かされて以来、この疑問の解明に努めてきた。
スプルイルさんは、夫が使っていたブラシから採取した毛髪でＤＮＡ鑑定を行い、夫が実父であることを確認済みだという。
スプルイルさんはオハイオ州アクロンで夫と出会い、結婚。
スプルイルさんにとって２度目の結婚だった。
夫は優しく、働き者で、スプルイルさんの前夫との間にできた３人の子どもにも優しかったという。
スプルイルさんの母親は、１０代の頃に当時１５歳だった父親の子どもを妊娠。
スプルイルさんは生後３カ月で祖父母に預けられた。
当初、スプルイルさんは、祖父母が両親だと思っていたという。
そして８～９歳の頃、時々家にやってくる女性が自分の母親だと知らされた。
父親については何も聞かされなかった。
現在、スプルイルさんには３人の子どもと８人の孫がいる。
スプルイルさんは、子どもたちに「義理の父親ではなく祖父だ」と真実を打ち明けるべきか迷ったが、セラピストに背中を押され、２年前に打ち明けた。
また最近、孫たちにも事実を打ち明けたが、皆、理解を示し、協力的だという。
(2012.9.CNN)
Valerie Spruill
'We had a good life... but truth almost destroyed me': Woman who unknowingly married her FATHER speaks out on their lives
Valerie Spruill, 60, from Doylestown, Ohio, found out through a DNA test
The confusion began as she was looked after by her grandparents from three-months-old
Believes her husband could have known the truth but feared telling her
Said husband was good provider and caring toward her three children from a previous marriage
The woman who unknowingly married her father today said: 'We had a good life', but that the horror of finding out the truth nearly destroyed her.
Valerie Spruill, who lives in Doylestown, Ohio, first told her story earlier this month to the Akron Beacon Journal, and today spoke with CNN about her story.
She said that she wasn’t sure if her late husband Percy Spruill even knew he was her father, saying: ‘That conversation didn’t come up.’
A DNA test using hair taken from one of Mr Spruill’s hairbrushes confirmed that the two were father and daughter.
In her interview with CNN, Mrs Spruill said that the only way to heal from the shocking news was to speak about her pain. ‘Pain and stress will kill,’ she said, ‘and I had to release my stress.’
After she and Mr Spruill met in Akron and moved to the nearby working-class town of Doylestown, she said she was happy. ‘He was a good provider,’ she said, and 'we had a good life'. She said he was accepting to her three children from her first marriage.
She worked at the Goodyear plant in the accounting department for 34 years.
However, after the truth came out following Mr Spruill’s death, the mother and grandmother said she had a crisis of faith. ‘It’s devastating. It can destroy you. It nearly did,’ she told CNN.
At age 60, Mrs Spruill’s grandparents are long dead, as are many of her husband’s relatives that could have provided valuable information to her.
Despite all of the hardship, Mrs Spruill has kept a remarkably strong spirit, something she credits to her faith in God. ‘I have no regrets in my life at all,’ she said.
Spruill, who has three children and eight grandchildren, is now telling her story in an attempt to find her other siblings from her father.
'It needs to be told, because children need to know where they come from,' she told the Akron Beacon Journal earlier this month. 'And I know it hurts, because I have been devastated by this.'
The confusion began because she was looked after by her grandparents from 3-months-old.
Her mother Christine was one the 'night ladies' - as she called them - who testified in the 1980 trial of Summit County Probate Judge James Barbuto, who was eventually convicted of sex charges.
Valerie's mother and father got together when he was just 15 and the number of children they had is unclear, but she is aware of six brothers
She was cared for by her grandparents and her mother visited, although Valerie thought she was a family friend.
Aged nine, she was devastated when she found out that Christine - who died in 1984 - had been her mother. It also meant the man she thought was her father was in fact her grandfather.
But she was not told who her real father was and Valerie later met and married Percy.
Percy, who was born in Mississippi, worked in Akron as a truck driver and a parking-lot attendant.
He died in 1998 after a brief illness at the age of 60, but for years, she had heard bizarre rumours about their relationship.
She finally learned the truth about her marriage from an uncle after Percy died, and confirmed the relationship with a DNA test after finding his hairs on a brush in their room.
She does not know for certain that he was aware he had married his daughter, but she said she strongly believes he did know but was simply afraid to tell her.
Since his death, Valerie, who is retired, has been seeing a therapist to help her deal with the horrifying revelation.
Valerie has fought through serious health problems, including a lengthy hospital stay, which she believes were only brought on by the stress of discovering the traumatic family secret
She is hoping her story may help her reach additional siblings she didn’t know existed.
'My biggest goal is to find them and let ’em know that [their mother] loved them, no matter what,' she said. 'And [to say], 'Thank God she gave you away like she did me, so you could have a beautiful life.'