Hopie Feek Slams Rory Feek Over His Response to DNA News: ‘My Private Life Becomes Content for His Fans’
The country singer shared details of his relationship with Hopie’s mother in a blog post
Hopie Feek is reacting to country singer Rory Feek’s public response to the news that he is not her biological father—and she’s not happy. Keep reading to see what she said after revealing that she and Rory, who raised her, are not related.
Hopie Feek responds to Rory Feek’s blog post
Country singer Rory Feek took to his blog on Tuesday to publish a lengthy post titled “A Different Dad.”
The singer told readers that Hopie called him on February 6 following a year of not seeing one another, and more than two years of very limited communication, adding that her call “felt like an answer to a prayer.”
Hopie, born Sarah Hope Feek on September 13, 1988, in Tennessee, is the daughter of Rory Feek’s first wife, Tamara Gilmer. Later the same day Rory published his blog, she took to Instagram to share that she found Rory Feek’s recent comments “extremely disappointing,” stating that when she broke the news to the musician, she specifically asked him to “be kind and not shame my mom.”
She went on to explain her frustration over the fact that he delved into the personal history of her mother. Hope was referring to a blog post shared earlier that day by Rory, in which he shared personal details of the family’s history, including those of his ex-wife.
“I shared my story because I couldn’t keep the secret all to myself anymore,” she continued. “I’m really not a public person, but because Rory is, my private life becomes content for his fans (who are often unkind online).”
“From now on, I just wish my stories could be my own to tell and share,” she concluded. “I want to move forward and find happiness with the people who love me, far away from this online hate.”
Rory Feek responds to Hopie’s DNA test news
In her Instagram statement, Rory asked if they could speak in person, so the two met at the grave of Rory’s late wife Joey where Hopie shared big news.
Rory wrote that Hopie explained to him that she and her sister Heidi recently reconnected with their birth mother and bonded closely with her over the previous two years. Hopie continued that she didn’t want to hurt Rory, but felt the need to reveal to him that her mom told her she had been with someone else who she was relatively certain was Hopie’s father.
She took a 23&Me test, which confirmed this was accurate, she told Rory.
Rory said he admitted to Hopie that while he didn’t know for sure that he wasn’t her dad, the news didn’t come as too big a surprise.
“And I shared with her my memory of coming back from Japan in January of 1988 when I was in the Marines after my unit’s six-month deployment to the Middle East, and how me and her mom weren’t doing well, and when soon after, we found out that she was pregnant, how frustrating it was,” he wrote. “How it was a difficult time to add another child to the mix, when our marriage was a mess and we were already struggling.
And I shared how that next September I was in the hospital room on the day she was born and how special it was. That she’d come a week or two before her due date and how when the nurse handed her to me, I noticed how beautiful, but also how fully formed and long she was. And how long her fingernails were. And I told the doctor innocently, ‘Wow, she’s really developed for being so early.’ And how the doctor said, ‘Oh no, she’s not early…this baby is a week or two past due.’
And I told Hopie how I stopped and looked up, and I told him, ‘She can’t be late, because I didn’t get back from Japan until the second week of January…” And how the doctor and I stood looking at each other uncomfortably for a few seconds, me trying to do the math in my head, before he finally said, ‘I don’t know what to tell you, except… this baby is way past her due date.’”
When he split from Hopie’s mom, he continued, she was going to take Hopie and leave Heidi with Rory. Her mom did take her, but after months of pleading to be reunited with her, Hopie’s mom allowed Rory to come get her and bring her back to live with him.
Despite asking their mom many questions about his true relationship to them, she never explicitly told Rory Hopie wasn’t his daughter, he said. Hopie grew up alongside her sister Heidi, 38. Until this revelation, the girls believed that Rory, who raised them as a single dad, was their biological father.
“I’m disappointed and sad that it took three decades to learn this. But the truth is…I mostly hurt for Hopie,” Rory wrote. Hopie has such a tender heart, filled with child-like wonder and light, even in the darkest of days. It’s heartbreaking that she has had to deal with such an incredible amount of pain and loss in her relatively short life.”
He ended the post by saying he was looking forward to continuing to grow into a better dad to Hopie, Heidi and Indiana, 10.
Hopie’s announcement about her biological dad
After sharing the news personally with Rory, Hopie posted an Instagram video on February 8 to share that a genetic test proved her biological father was actually a man named B.C. She said the two have become very close since they met six months ago and are incredibly similar.
“I’ve never experienced unconditional love like that before,” she said in her video of meeting B.C., also including photos of herself with B.C. as well as her reunion with her mom.
Rory’s blog post came three days after Hopie broke the news on social media.
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