Family Friend Admits to Affair 43 Years Later (Full Episode) | Paternity Court

You may be seated. Good morning, Your Honor. Good Morning, Ron. This is the case of Feagin V. Pinkston. Thank you, sir. Good day everyone. AUDIENCE: Good day. Mr. Feagin you're here to prove that Ms. Pinkston is your biological daughter. Yes, Your Honor. You claim you kept this secret for 40 years, but now say the DNA will prove your case. That's right, Your Honor. Ms. Pinkston, you stand before me without any doubts that Mr. Feagin is not your biological father, and the man who raised you, is

. Yes, ma'am. So, Ms. Pinkston, what upset you most about Mr. Feagin's claim, that you are his biological daughter? Well, Your Honor, I met Mr. Feagin here when I was 16 years old. I never knew of him, never heard nothing about him. And then all of a sudden, one day, my mom decided to take me with her to a friend's house. My mom calls me to the dining room and she goes, "I want you to meet somebody." They get to talking to me and Mr. Feagin and my mom, then my mom just says, "Hey, by the way, th

is is your father." Who did you think your father was? Did you know your father? This is my father. Mr. Gus Pinkston. This is who I've known my entire life. JUDGE LAKE: And he was married to your mother? TONIA: My entire life. And so you grew up believing, "This is my father, my biological father." Yes, ma'am... And it wasn't until this moment? This was my biological father for 43 years. When I was 27 years old, my biological father passed away. Mr. Feagin, start from the beginning. I want to un

derstand why you believe Ms. Pinkston is your biological daughter? Me and Ms. Pinkston's mother had an affair. We worked together, at a plant. We got to know each other. You spent a lot of time together. Lot of time... Because you worked a lot of hours together. Yes, we did. Okay. Did you know she was married? Well, yes, at the time. It was wrong what we... How long did the affair last? Five or six months, maybe somewhere... I mean, she came to me before I left the job and told me that she was p

regnant. When she told you, did she say, "And I think you are the father"? Or you might be? She told me I was the father. And she told me we're gonna keep this a secret. Well, then we knew we had to be quiet, 'cause she was married. And they knew it was wrong for what they did to my dad. She did not want this secret to get out, and you agreed? FEAGIN: I agreed. She was married... I agreed. So you knew that this child would be born into the marriage and that this other gentleman, the man th

at Ms. Pinkston believes is her biological father, would raise Ms. Pinkston as his own? Yes. Ms. Pinkston, as a child, you always thought your mother's husband was your biological father? That was my father. No one ever told you anything different? No, no, Your Honor. Only reason why this whole thing came out, for the cat to get out the bag, is when I was 16, they told me that Kenny was my father, the only reason why was because my mom thought I was dating one of his family members. And that's w

hy they told me. But needless to say, it was not me, it was my sister that was dating his family member. JUDGE LAKE: Oh! And so they felt like they needed to tell you because you were dating your cousin? TONIA: Yes. When they told me about it, it was... That was like the worst day of my life. Because, my mom sit down and goes, "This is your father." I'm like, "No, my dad is at work, "so what in the world are you talking about?" And next thing you know, there's tears everywhere, everybody's cryin

g. (STAMMERING) We... It was pretty much the worst day of my life. That was the... It was the worst day of my life. And you're 16 years old? Yeah. FEAGIN: Yes, she was. And I can see it hurts you right now. Oh, yeah! Just thinking about it. Did you not want to believe it? Or you just... I didn't believe it. She... To this day, Your Honor, she does not believe that. That's why... (TONIA STAMMERING) Did you ever talk to your father? The man you believed your... No! My dad passed away, never knowin

g this secret from the time I was 16 until I was 27. We never spoke on this subject, ever. So, at 16 years old, you were called upon to keep this secret as well? Yes. And you had to, you never spoke a word of it? No. You all asked a 16-year-old girl to keep a secret like that, Mr. Feagin? No, we did not. I did not ask her to... Her mom insisted that this would stay between us and her, when we told her. She was raised by Mister... By Gus. And I know how much she loved him. She never would call me

her father or... I've never called him my father because my father died. So... It never felt right to call some other man "Dad" when my dad passed away. And I understood that Your Honor, I did, I... It hurt me that she couldn't, and I... For all these years, I believe, I always thought he had some kind of inkling that I was... You felt like he knew? It was just a feeling that, in my heart, that I felt that he had to know something. Because I love this girl so much. Did you have an occasion to m

eet her father, the man she believes? Couple of times, I met him. You did? Yes. He used to come out to the house when my dad was alive, and they... JUDGE LAKE: Mr. Feagin used to come to your house when your dad was alive? Yeah. I did. I did, Your Honor, I did. And what were you posing as? A family friend? Family friend, that's what it was. The secret was still on. The secret was still on. And so, you just come by the house? But you were really coming by to see Ms. Pinkston? Well, I was hoping t

hat she was there, so I could see her... Your Honor, just... All these years, just having something in your heart like that you could not tell, it... It hurts, like she's saying... It hurt me! TONIA: I live with this guilt. I've lived this guilt from 16 to 27, never telling Mr. Pinkston that Mr. Feagin's supposed to be my dad. My dad died, not knowing none of this! Do you regret not telling him? I def... Oh... I do. I felt like if they had enough... Well, to tell me about it, how come they didn'

t just let everything out the bag and everybody sit down and everybody talk about it. I can't imagine having to get such life-altering news at that point. What did you feel like when you were looking at the man you believed to be your father? TONIA: I was Daddy's little girl. I had kids, and I still lived home with my mom and dad. I never left my mom and dad's side. When it was time to fix stuff, it was me and my dad. When it's time to go to work, it's me and my dad. And so, Mr. Feagin, yo

u're saying that you, basically, kept the secret to honor her mother. Yes. And her wishes. Yes. What was it like for you? You believe you have a biological child, you've had an affair with a woman, and now you can't even say anything or be acknowledged as a father. How was that for you? (STAMMERING) It hurt me, Your Honor, it did, in that sense, and just to see her, do the things that a father would do. I missed all that. So, Ms. Pinkston, your mother told Mr. Feagin he is your biological father

. So, what is your doubt? I had only one father. And I had one father my whole entire life, and that's Mr. Pinkston. That's my dad! Mr. Pinkston's my dad. Me and... Was he on your birth certificate? Yes. Me and Mr. Feagin, we never... JUDGE LAKE: What is that? Is that your birth certificate? Yes, ma'am. Ron, will you hand me that please? Yes, ma'am. Me and Mr. Feagin, we never had that father-daughter relationship ever. He's always been, you know, this periodically in my life, out my life, in my

life, out my life. So, on this certificate of birth, your father's name is listed as Gus Pinkston Jr. TONIA: Correct. That's my father! FEAGIN: We had her believe that, too. We had to. She wanted to keep this a secret, her mom. I could've brought this out. But due to her wishes being married, which is wrong, we did this, Your Honor, reluctantly, I did. I went through this, I mean, it hurts to this day to hear her call him father. When my dad passed away, um... This is probably a few day

s after he passed away. Uh, we was all at my mom's house. And Mr. Feagin, he comes over, and I had my kids there. My kids really didn't know him. But when my dad passed away, he decided to take it upon hisself to tell my kids that he is their grandfather. When you went to speak to the children, had you had a conversation with her first, to ask if it's okay? I figured it was already done, Your Honor. Through her. No! You thought that there was a level of acceptance. You thought... From... From he

r too telling them that I am her father and I am their grandfather. But when he told my kids that he is their grandfather, my kids were destroyed. I always knew that she felt Gus was her father. As bad as I wanted her to feel me, she... I never got that from her. And actually, to this day, I do not have that from her because she does believe he is her father. Which I believe, this is, and I know this is my daughter, Your Honor. For the simple fact, it's in my heart, (STAMMERS) I know she is. Bef

ore we continue with the testimony, I actually have an independent witness that I'd like to call. She's joining us from her hometown, it's Ms. Melissa Pinkston. Can you hear me, Ms. Pinkston? Yes, ma'am. You are the defendant's sister, is that correct? Yes, ma'am. Tell me what you know about this huge paternity secret. Your Honor, um, honestly, um, I don't even wanna talk about it. I mean, it's been this long. Should've left it alone. I love you, Tonia, but this is something I really don't want

part of. My mom was a good woman. My dad was awesome. If it was a secret, it should've stayed a secret. And if you can hold it for 43 years, you should've just left it alone! Now, there's family that didn't know that know. It just hurts. Did you ever overhear anything? Yeah, as a young kid, you know, when grown-ups doing grown up things. And they're with their friends and, you know, sometimes people just talk and they think kids are back in the background. But it's not always like that. And I he

ard it, but I act like I didn't hear it. What did you hear? Um... That Kenny was her father. (AUDIENCE GASP) JUDGE LAKE: Who did you hear say that? My mom and a couple of friends. This is something my mom didn't want none of her kids to know. But it took for my dad to pass away, for all these dark secrets to come out that should've stayed in. And I feel, even though he's gone, it's still disrespectful. For my dad. For my mom. It should've been left alone. And I see this really hurts you, Ms. Pin

kston. Yes, Your Honor. I can see. Just listening to your sister speak. Everybody gonna find out, because we're here! Other than that, no one would ever know. On my dad's side of the family. The Pinkstons know it's a secret that is just now coming out. And so, the stakes today are very high. Yes. Your Honor, it means a lot because Tonia would be my only surviving child. I lost my son. Um... And they were awful close. Yes. They were closer than me and her. Really? I was very close to him. Did you

, did you look at him and say, "Does he look like my brother, is this really my brother?" Or did you just accept him in your life as Mr. Feagin's son and... I just accepted him in my life. I've loved him. I've loved him. Not just I've just lost Mr. Feagin's son, I lost my brother, too, near two years ago. So... Now there's no more boys in our family. My son was crazy about her. And that's the closest I ever seen him with anyone that I knew of, his friends or anyone. He loved her. He really did.

And I loved him. Well, I think the only way we can figure out how to move forward is to get the results. Are you ready? Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: All right. Oh, Lord, yeah. Ron, the envelope please. I know this is emotional. If you'd like to take a seat, you're welcome. I know this is a very difficult day. I already know. In my heart, I know she's mine. In the case of Feagin V. Pinkston, when it comes to 43-year-old Tonia Pinkston... JUDGE LAKE: Mr. Feagin. Yes. Yes, yes. You... Yes. ...are

not her father. Oh, my God! Oh, Lord, no. (CRYING) Oh, no. No, no, no. Tonia... (CONTINUES CRYING) Oh, no! Tonia. Lord have mercy, Jesus. No. (SNIFFLES) Are you all right, Tonia? TONIA: This is something... I can't believe this. ...that needed to be known. Yes. JUDGE LAKE: It is! It is! I know this was not the news you wanted, Mr. Feagin. FEAGIN: Oh, no. I know, for you, Ms. Pinkston, this has been years! This has been... For almost 30 years, you've had to endure this level of confusion! Tonia,

I'm so sorry, sweetheart. And I hope you understand, Ms. Pinkston, that I don't believe they were trying to hurt you by telling you, I think your mother truly believed Mr. Feagin was your biological father. (FEAGIN CHUCKLES) Lifetime of torture for nothing. Mr. Feagin, you look absolutely shocked. I am, I am. 'Cause I always believed it. Where do we go from here? (CHUCKLES) Together. Together. (APPLAUSE) I'm so sorry. Wow... JUDGE LAKE: I know the truth does hurt, but I really think from this mo

ment forward, you don't have to live with doubt, uncertainty, confusion. And you know that this man loves you. He has loved you your whole life. And believed you were his little girl. And family extends outside of biological territory. Yes, it does. And so, I hope that you all will continue to be in one and other's lives. And please take advantage of the counseling and resources we have for you. I wish you the very best of luck. Court is adjourned. (APPLAUSE)