"Very Jerry Springer": 47 Times Newborns Looked Nothing Like The Father And Caused Instant Confusion Miguel OrdoñezFri, January 30, 2026 at 4:01 AM UTC 0 You've likely seen a film or two where a woman gives birth to a child that looks nothing like her or her husband. Many of these are comedic storylines, but the reallife versions are far from funny. The following responses to a Reddit thread from more than a decade ago should give you a clue. They're awkward at best, and painfully embarrassing at worst.
"Very Jerry Springer": 47 Times Newborns Looked Nothing Like The Father And Caused Instant Confusion
Miguel OrdoñezFri, January 30, 2026 at 4:01 AM UTC
0
You've likely seen a film or two where a woman gives birth to a child that looks nothing like her or her husband. Many of these are comedic storylines, but the real-life versions are far from funny.
The following responses to a Reddit thread from more than a decade ago should give you a clue. They're awkward at best, and painfully embarrassing at worst. Most of the burden, however, lies on the man when he realizes that the child his partner gave birth to likely isn't his.
These accounts come from obstetricians, nurses, and people who have dealt with these uncomfortable birthing moments.
#1
On rotation at a children's hospital. We had a light black skinned baby born to two white parents. We were all like uhhhh uhhh ummm. Shooting glances at each other. Parents were super happy and didn't say anything. We later meet baby's granddad who was black.
© Photo: justjoshingu
#2
I've had two situations like this in my career so far. Both were pretty similar situations. It was so painfully obvious that the guy was not the biological father. In both cases, it was so obvious that neither parent asked me any questions about it. That was fine with me because I had no desire to get involved in their pending drama. Mom is healthy...baby is healthy...y'all probably want to be alone...buh-bye...
© Photo: NealNYC
#3
Ob/Gyn...It's really awkward. Like REALLY awkward. Like get the hell out of that room as fast as you can awkward. Both times I can remember the "dad" was super happy about the baby until he got a good look at it. Nobody blew up or got in huge fights, they just left. I honestly can't remember wanting to be done with a delivery more in my life. I also remember doing a delivery with a black couple that got temporarily awkward. Sometimes black babies will come out very pale. I remember the dad looking at mom and then looking right me and saying "what's up". We were frantically showing them that this child was, in fact, not white. I could see that guy going from zero to furious until we showed him evidence.
© Photo: lamontsanders
#4
Not an obgyn, but it happened to a friend of mine. He's white, his wife was black. Baby came out and the docs had to do a double take. Baby came out very dark. He didn't think twice about it until they got divorced a year later and she wanted child support. Turns out it wasn't his. He just had a kid with his new wife. The baby looks exactly like him.
© Photo: -mikey
#5
My uncle is an obstetrician. He told me that one time the baby came put asian and both of the parents were white and the man actually punched the woman. Got sued.One other story was that there was a muslim couple and the baby was white. Skin disorder however the father was screaming.
© Photo: EvilElmoz
#6
Both of my parents are black, and my mom is darker than my dad, when I was born I came out white as a sheet with blue eyes and red hair, so people were more shocked I came out of my mom in the first place, apparently the nurse just kinda held me reluctant to give me to my mom saying "but she's awfully pale".
© Photo: poemsarefun
#7
Nurse-midwife here. Yes, have had this happen. The most dramatic had the supportive, hopeful-he-was-the-FOB guy at the bedside and contestant 2 was out in the parking lot drinking. Baby came out not looking like contestant 1's race. (Personally, I didn't think it was 100% impossible, but all the family and friends did). Contestant 1 left the room distraught, contestant 2 started texting the mom, who was also crying. It was very Jerry Springer. I don't get it, to be honest. If you know your SO had slept with someone else anyway, what does it matter whose genetic material the kid has?
© Photo: enfermerista
#8
Wife delivered a baby to a Japanese couple. Baby came out dark and she thought it had cyanosis until...woman liked the [black men]. After a few mins they realised that the baby was supposed to look like that with the big round eyes and dark skin. Parents in law were there and oh so happy to be grandparents. The dude connected the dots after a short while and apparently went very pale. At this point my wife bailed..."oh is that another needy birthing mother I hear?"Edit; cyanosis - the babies go dark purple due to lack of Oxygen.
© Photo: anon
#9
I personally haven't, but I had a friend from college that had this happen. The baby came out slightly darker than either of them, and with black hair. Well she had brown and he was blonde, so it really didn't add up. My friend said the doctor was acting very weird about the whole thing, But my friend didn't suspect a thing. Turns out she had non-dominant genes that took over, so it ended well.
© Photo: prollylying
#10
My cousin met and married her first husband when she was already about two months pregnant. He knew about the baby and was happy about being a dad, even though he wouldn't be genetically related to him. Well, the time comes and she pushes out this obviously half black baby. I was in the room with them and got to watch the nurse do this back and forth between the two of them like she was just waiting on some kind of explosion. Also when the lady came in to do the birth certificate stuff when she asked about the dad she was trying to be very delicate in asking if he was going to be on the birth certificate or not. It was pretty funny.They ended up divorced a year later because she cheated on him every time she came home to visit and I finally broke down and told him that it really was happening. He got custody of the first baby and another baby she got pregnant with after the divorce. That's a different longer story though.
© Photo: ceose
#11
Anesthesia: first, I'll admit it, I love doing scheduled non-emergent c-sections.There have been occasions where the "dads" or significant other already knows that the child isn't theirs: it's an awkward moment sometimes, you have to feel out the dad if he is genuinely happy, unsure if he should be happy/sad, or he is just upset about the situation... More times than not it's the "I have a new baby in the family but I'm not sure how I should feel bc it's mine but it's not mine" so, my job is to care for the mothers well being first, you must maintain a high level of respect.Some do not understand that a black baby does not come out black or dark brown, I think they come out pretty shade of pink, grey, or a light shade of tan... I'll never forget one instance where a black male around 20 years old was furious that the baby came out healthy pink... At first he was quiet, then He started huffing and puffing, saying that's not my baby and things like that, pacing back and forth... I asked him to step out of them room and we'll take care of mom and baby.My responsibility is for the safety and well being of the mother first, I am all for having a good time, smiles and tons of picture taking and music... But ultimately my focus is 100% on mom... If you have any medical questions, consult your OBGYN or Anesthesia care provider.
© Photo: sschouest
#12
In my labor and delivery rotation there was a young girl about to give birth. I heard the nurses talking and making bets and stuff so I asked what was going on. The man that was in there with the girl was who I imagined the dad was. Girl and man1 broke up. Girl met man 2 and had a one night stand but it turned into a little more than that. But girl decided to get back with man1. Found out she was pregnant and didn't know who the dad was. Man 1 said he would raise the baby no matter what and that man 2 better never show his face. But man 2 wanted to be there for the birth of the kid in case it was his. Both men were there and they took turns seeing the baby after it was born. Man 2 was pretty excited like had his whole family there and everything. I secretly hope it was his. I never found out. Also man 2 was hispanic but you couldn't really tell any features about the baby. It could have gone either way.
© Photo: jamiesn
#13
I'm a resident now. Had a mom come in to deliver. As we got her back to the actual delivery suite the nurse was going over how many people could be in the room. The rule says 3 but usually in our hospital we'll allow more as long as you don't act insane. The mom mentioned something about the "baby-daddies" needing to be there. That's right, baby daddies plural. Sure enough, I come back for her cervix check and there are two men in there at the head of the bed. No one knows who the father is but in a raffle ticket drawing type situation they stood around for the delivery waiting to see who "won" the baby. Now, the guys were a light skinned african american guy and a very dark skinned african american guy. Now if you have seen black newborns they tend to be very light skinned initially even if the parents are both very dark. So the baby comes out very light skinned and the light skinned guy literally points at the dark skinned guy and yells, "told you it was mine." They started arguing and had to be removed from the room by the nurse while the other resident and I cleaned up down there. Oh city hospitals.
© Photo: anon
#14
Not a obstetrician but I have been told that something like this happened to my parents when I was born. My mom is white and my dad is black. When I was born however, I was white skinned with blonde hair and blue eyes. When I was birthed, cleaned up and delivered to my parents, my dad flipped and started screaming at my mom and doctors, calling her...mean names...and swearing at doctors. Honestly, I never really blamed him, who would expect a baby with any black in it to have blue eyes?Apparently however when babies are born, it is common for them to be much much fairer in color. Eyes can be blue and get dark later as well as hair. It wasn't until one of the doctors pointed out that the skin on the cuticles of my nails was much darker and was indicative of me not being completely white. My mom said he didn't believe it 100% and decided to "ride it out". I tanned up pretty hard over the next couple years and all worked out.
© Photo: stillcole
#15
My cousin is half black half white. So is her hubby. They are both dark skinned brown eyes. Her first son has dark and brown eyes. Second son? White as anything, red hair green eyes. People routinely think that he's adopted as he looks nothing like his parents or his brother!
Advertisement
© Photo: NurseAngela
#16
Not an OB. When our third child was born, she was very dark-skinned, and had black hair. The nurses were looking at each other suspiciously, and cutting glances at me to see how I was taking it. Of course, being caught up in the whole euphoria/terror of having a child (yay, a new baby/I hope my wife lives through this), I saw their responses but it did not exactly register. Things got even more awkward when people saw our neighbors, who were waiting to see us and the baby, as the neighbors "Sara" and "Jay" are Indian (as in, from Delhi). The nurses really freaked when "Sara" holds the baby, saying, "Oh, look, "Jay," she could be my baby!" It totally looked like "Jay" was the dad and I was just clueless. When I casually mentioned to the nurse that the dark skin and hair is due to my wife being Irish/Cherokee, the tension in the staff totally eased. We still call her our little papoose, even though she is a tall, stunning teenager and her skin looks more like her mother's Irish complexion now.
#17
Well clearly I'm not an obstetrician, but, I am a redhead and so was the doctor who delivered me. My parents are blonde and brunette, so that was a big joke in the delivery room after I was born.
#18
My boyfriend's parents are haematologists. Often they deal with patients who need bone marrow transplants and usually the best match will be a family member. So blood tests will be done, and we all remember the blood type chart from high school biology, right? If not, basically, your parents' blood type will determine your blood type.There's been more than one occasion where they've known with 100% certainty that the 'father' sitting there is not their father after all, but of course, they couldn't say anything about it.
#19
Well I was already 99% sure the baby was mine so I decided to have a little fun. I had warned my wife well ahead of time what I intended and she agreed to play along. Right after the baby was born I took one look at it and quickly burst into "anger" and yelled that the baby obviously wasn't mine and I couldn't believe what my wife had done. Everyone in there started looking really really uncomfortable. She managed to stay coherent long enough to explain that it was the milkman and there was nothing I could do. We both started laughing after a few seconds and everyone else calmed back down and went back to good spirits. I thought it made the birth memorable. Oh and it was mine.
#20
When my son was born he came out pink/white, blonde and blue. When my daughter was born she came out dark purple/brown dark hair green eyes. As I'm watching the nurse clean her up I commented "I guess they come in different colors..." the nurse froze for a solid 5 seconds and only looking at me out of the corner of her eye asked what I meant and I described how her older brother looked when he was born. Nurse nervously laughed and I realized what she was thinking and decided to be kind enough to explain my being part Indian and mommy being part Mexican. Don't think I've ever seen someone look that relieved before. In all the pictures of my daughter for her first month or two she looked black. Now 5 years later just has a natural tan and a grin that could cheer Ebenezer scrooge.
#21
Years ago, my mum saw a woman at church who had just had a baby. The woman was white. Dad was white. Baby was black. People assumed the kid was adopted because of the fact that the dad wasn't upset (or gullible).Turns out, the baby was both their biological child - they'd had a test done soon after it was born. One of the parents (I forget which) had had a black great grandparent or something, and the genetics had skipped a generation or two.
#22
Med student here.. was doing my OB rotation and parents came in for a post birth follow-up with a ginger child.. dad was joking about [it] but I got the feeling he wasn't really joking and no one was laughing.
#23
Boring answer but they knew ahead of time. He wasn't thrilled, but was supportive.
#24
A couple of Family friends are a white couple and they had a black baby. The husband left the wife after she was born, but the wife knew that she hadn't cheated on him. After a long time of fighting and the wife begging they did a paternity test and the baby did belong to him, they somehow had a black baby.
#25
Not a medical professional, but when I was in the Navy...we had gotten back from deployment in January, after having left on deployment in July. It was May, and my father passed away, so I was going home to bury him. My ship was visiting a Canadian city so we were taking a ferry back to homeport and then I was to fly out to bury my father. I was travelling with a second class PO from my ship that I wasn't very close with but was cool with. He was telling me all about how his wife and how she was almost due to pop with their kid. I was drinking at the time so I asked point blank how the [hell] that worked because the math didn't add up. He said the doctor told him that since they were [sleeping together] until the day we left on deployment they just had some wacky timing. I didn't buy it, but he seemed to and it's not my life so I didn't press the issue. One month later a baby of a different race was born to her and he promptly divorced her. Thing is he didn't seem mad about it. Navy life leaves you jaded towards relationships.
#26
My father was/is the father, it just didn't look like it with my white redheaded sister.Note: Both of my parents are Bolivian my mom is *lighter* but holds a tan.
#27
Happened to my friend. His wife is a red head, he is blonde, baby is soooo half-black. We've never once spoken about it. She's 8 now and they have 2 more kids together. He's evidently raising her as his own. As I said though, we've never spoken about it.
#28
Not an OBGYN but I do have an interesting story. A black girl I used to know ended getting pregnant. She said the father was between a white guy and a Hispanic guy. So all throughout her pregnancy both of these guys are involved, just in case. Well the baby comes out and you can tell it is 100% black. She sees it and just goes "oh. It was THAT guy." The two guys in the room just look at each other and walk out together without saying a word.
#29
When I was an L&D nurse (this was around 2007ish)This mom comes in for induction of labor. She has her husband...and her "guy she cheated with" in the room. This was a "Um...OK" moment. Got her settled in and the induction started. Asking her questions for admit screening etc...She tells me: "If the baby is mine and my husbands- we are keeping it. If the other guy is the father- we are giving the baby up for adoption"I ask about what DNA/Paternity service they are using? **Well- I will just look at the baby and I will know" Note: each person in the room was the same race with both men having similar features (dark hair, brown eyes, skin tone)She kept the baby because she "just knew".
#30
Not a doctor/nurse, but when my Asian mom gave birth to me, my godfather, who is white, came to the hospital instead of my Asian father. My mom said the look on the doctor's and nurse's face was priceless. They felt so bad for him. What makes it funnier is that my godfather had long curly blond hair at the time, so he looked like someone in a hair metal band happily carrying an Asian baby that obviously wasn't his.Edit: forgot to mention my mom is Asian as well.
#31
I know two people, both Latino with black hair and brown eyes, who had a baby girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. I know a lot of kids have blue eyes at birth and then the color changes, but this kid is like 2 years old now and still has blonde hair/blue eyes. Could this guy still be the father, despite the above?I didn't pay attention when we did Punnett squares in school, so I have no idea what the chances of this are.
#32
I heard a story on my ob/gyn rotation about a dad who was worried that his baby was jaundiced because he/she was so dark and wanted to repeat bilirubin tests. The obs kept telling him that the bili was normal. Not sure if he got the message eventually.
#33
So I actually know a set of twins, born to white parents, where one twin is white as day with blue eyes and blond hair, and the other looks half-black; brown eyes, dark almost caramel skin, with black features like lips/nose. If they weren't twins I'm pretty sure a divorce would have been imminent, since this was also in the days before DNA testing.Their family history suggests that they had some black servants a few generations down the line, so they surmised that there must have been some hanky-panky earlier down the lineage where the kid was born looking white enough that nobody suspected anything, and the characteristics just happened to come out with this one kid 3 or 4 generations down.
#34
I was blond haired and blue eyed when I was born. No one in my family, or extended family (that I know of) has blond hair or blue eyes.Six weeks later I grew out of it.
#35
Irrelevant story about my housemate's friend Rob. Rob was born to two normal white folk. They had been together but not married for about two years.Rob was born. He was Asian yellow. Rob's father walked away not saying a word and never contacting the mother. Rob's mother raised him as a single mother in the 1980's.Rob had jaundice when he was born making him seem Asian yellow.
#36
I am a caucasian and so is my wife. When our third daughter turned up, she was had very dark skin colour and so fat she resembled a shar-pei puppy dog. I was quite surprised. Within around 30mins her skin had gone to pinky white, and the wrinkly skin disappeared but I must admit I was pretty surprised at first. She is now a gorgeous willowy blonde, but you would not have guessed from her arrival...
#37
I'm an OB and I've never really had a serious question of paternity in the delivery room. The newborns color and appearance can change pretty dramatically in the first few days, so I never read much into it. It's such an emotional and serious moment. Families usually focus on the joy and relief.The place where I often get questions about paternity is in the office. There are lots of situations where this can come up, but most commonly revolves around the due date. Most often it's the woman, but sometimes the 'father' will ask me to estimate the date of conception so they can determine who the father is likely to be (or not to be). So, for example, a husband has been deployed overseas for a known block of time, and the question is could he have fathered the child if they were not together during this time frame. This happens pretty often, and women especially try to camouflage their questions. It's pretty easy to recognize now, so I just sit down and ask if this is a question regarding paternity and take it from there.
#38
I'm biracial (black/white), and my wife is white. We have three kids. Our first kid came out with my skin-tone. Our second kid turned out actually darker than me, but with rather straight hair. Third kid is as white as my wife, with curly blond hair (we both have a blond parent).I asked my wife if I could tell people when we were meeting for the first time that kid #3 was the result of an extramarital affair, but that we were working through things.She said no. :(.
#39
When my son was born he had very asian-like facial features and he was fairly white. Since his father hadn't been around the hospital much since he was born 2 of the nurses seemed rather shocked to see a black man coming in saying he's the father. As far as the father goes, I had warned him ahead of time that the initial coloring may not be his actual skin color for life. So he wasn't freaked or anything. But apparently he didn't relay that to his family because his mom was a [jerk] about the whole thing. She had seen how pale he was in pictures right after he was born. When she came to visit after we were home she was looking him over and declared, "Okay, I can see that he is yours now. He's got your nose and eyes. I'm glad to see that's the case." What?
#40
Not a doctor, gonna be that guy.One of my best friends just had his first kid, most people don't know that he's mixed, and that his girlfriend is also mixed. It's not that they hide this it's just like, they don't look mixed, and that's not something that comes up much.This kid is dark. For the past three weeks, we have let a rumor get out of control about how his son isn't his. People have said I should talk to him. People have taken him aside and asked him very poorly veiled questions about it...some people have just directly asked him.We think this is absolutely hilarious. I've even explained how it's possible to a few people who STILL want to believe that his wife is a horrible person. Anyway, the reaction people have is just priceless. My favorite was when someone asked if he was adopted, and without breaking stride in the conversation, my friend said no and moved on. This woman looked HORRIFIED and kept looking at everyone else, doing the "wait...wait this kid can't be his then..."
#41
Obviously labor is not like it is shown on TV. During the waiting period my wife and I watched TV. As luck would have it, a Maury Povich 'You are not the Father' episode was on. A nurse comes in to check on my wife and is sucked into the show during one of the vilest villainous father is 'denying' his son. There are huge overhead pictures of the father next to the almost identical looking baby, a screaming mother, a screaming grandmother, an audience who wants to smash the father's head in. Then the big reveal, Maury says we got the paternity test and you are not the father. (Stunned silence) The man immediately walks off the stage and when they ask him if he has anything to say, there is no response. He walks right out of the studio. Back in the delivery room are me, my wife and this nurse. I turn to my wife and say in a deadpan voice, 'I want the test...'. After ten seconds we both burst out laughing but then we saw the look on the nurse's face...
#42
Native American and Black Irish genes seem to skip generations. My father has blue eyes and is Scottish/Norwegian, and my mother has brown hair and light brown eyes. When my sister was born, she looked like an inuit. I have eyes that are nearly black, and am pale as a snow man. From what I understand, it was even more awkward because my maternal grandfather, who possesses both odd genes, was not in touch with the family and not there to explain the genetics.
#43
I used to date a pediatric nurse and she's come across a few instances where the mom's blood type + the child's blood type calculated out such that the husband couldn't be the father. It was always a bit of a "step lightly" moment because they never knew if it was because of adoption, surrogate, sanctioned donor or (gasp) unsanctioned donor.
#44
A friend of mine is about to have a baby in the next couple of weeks- it will be a black baby, we already know, and she is married to a blonde man. He is taking on the responsibility regardless. I just can't wait for the fb pictures, because only a few people know.
#45
My best friend's cousin just had twins about 6 months ago, and they are clearly middle-eastern. Mom and dad are both blonde with blue eyes, as is everyone else on both sides of the family. They both don't say [anthing] about it. I'm just waiting for the day it all blows up.
#46
I knew this family from my childhood, and the three kids all looked different (they were all half white, half Mexican).One had olive skin, hazel eyes, light brown hair.One had brown eyes, tan, brown skin, and dark brown hair.One had pink skin, light blue eyes, and blonde hair.It was pretty cool.
#47
I feel like my mother can relate. She is mixed but looks black, and my father is white. When me and my siblings were born, each time she had issues when it was time to take us home until my father was around (this was before hospitals had decent ways of identifying kids). Even now, I am somehow pale as heck and lighter than my father so growing up everyone assumed my mom was the nanny. Personally, it amused me more than anything.
Source: "AOL Entertainment"
Source: Entertainment
Published: January 29, 2026 at 11:45PM on Source: PRIME TIME
#ShowBiz#Sports#Celebrities#Lifestyle