Surprise: Your Biological Father May Be Charles Manson
Categories: Adoption, In The News, Weird But True
Charles Manson, left, in 1969. (AP Photo). Matthew Roberts, right, was shocked to learn that he may be the secret son of the convicted killer. Credit: AP / Splash News
At some point, every adopted child wonders about his biological parents. Did I get my athletic abilities from my birth mom? Did my birth dad have these brown eyes?
In one particularly stunning case, Matthew Roberts of Los Angeles found out -- to his horror -- that he very well could be the son of convicted murderer Charles Manson.
Roberts, 41, started looking for his roots 12 years ago. Through a social service agency, he located his biological mother in Wisconsin.
She revealed that Manson might be his father. She claims she met the Helter Skelterite in 1967 -- two years before the infamous Manson Family murders -- and was raped by Manson in a drug-fueled orgy. After seeing Roberts' photo, she was convinced he is Manson's son.
Roberts was born March 22, 1968. The time line fits. Manson was released from prison March 21, 1967. He was arrested again Oct. 12, 1969. Any children he fathered near Roberts' age would have to have been conceived during that window.Manson doesn't deny he might have children no one knows about.
"Every time I get out, I get a woman and a kid, and then she runs off," he said in a typically rambling interview for the 1989 documentary "Charles Manson, Superstar."
"Then the kid shows up 20, 30 years later, fat and acting like his mother."
There is no hard, scientific evidence linking Roberts to Manson. He has only his biological mother's word and recollection as well as a resemblance to the killer.
Roberts notices the resemblance himself. "If I get worked up, my eyes get really big and that's really freaked some people out before," he tells the British newspaper The Sun.
"I've tried to tone that down quite a bit. I don't like having that effect on people," he adds. "I don't even like the fact that I'm big. It makes me even scarier. My hero is Gandhi. I'm an extremely nonviolent, peaceful person and a vegetarian.
"I don't even kill bugs."
Roberts grew up in Rockford, Ill. and tells The Sun he has exchanged some letters with Manson. The killer has even sent him his prison phone number. However, he doesn't want to meet Manson personally.
"I didn't want to believe it," he says. "I was frightened and angry. It's like finding out that Adolf Hitler is your father. I'm a peaceful person - trapped in the face of a monster."
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 20)
its justme 11-25-2009 @ 8:08PM
Doesn't matter who your birth parents are....its the person you have become that matters..........
Reply
alittletlc 11-25-2009 @ 8:29PM
This guy should feel no shame. He isn't Charles Manson... He is who he is.
All Winners LOVE Winners 11-25-2009 @ 9:21PM
True BUT Damn - Charles Manson? - SMH
LaVerna 11-25-2009 @ 9:46PM
Take it from someone who knows what its like to be adopted and find your biological parents, They only made up your DNA your adopted (and reall mom and dad) made you who you are today.
islandsinger 11-29-2009 @ 5:11AM
Correct. As an adult, you create your own path, and it sounds like this man is making good choices. On a lighter, happy note, I think he also resembles a masculine Nathan Lane, and that is one heck of a funny, adorable man.
lin 11-25-2009 @ 11:12PM
I agree. I was thinking the guy who did the voice on the lion king Nathan Lane I think his name is?
goofy8070 11-25-2009 @ 11:02PM
Even in the bible it says yours fathers sins are not yours! Don't take on his pain its not yours its his!
BJ 11-25-2009 @ 11:18PM
First of all, why does he worry that he has a face of a monster. He has become a much better person than Manson was, and Manson was only his biological father not the father that made him the peaceable person that he is. He has become a whole different person because his mother made a positive choice to him up for adoption so he could hopefull have a better life and it seems like he did. I am sure it is hard to know that your father is a very sick man but it is also so neat to know that this man has grown into such a caring person.
deeeeeeena 11-28-2009 @ 5:32PM
I think he looks more like Ice-T than charles manson....
Don 11-25-2009 @ 11:32PM
Biology is everything.
Sweetny 11-26-2009 @ 12:10AM
Ever hear of nature vs. nature...... Well it;s not a vs. it's a combination. I'm not saying genetics and the number one factor (or even close), but they are a factor.
Karen 11-26-2009 @ 12:43AM
Shaving his goatee and cutting his hair might lessen the eerie resemblance of that monster. JMO
sung21heart 11-26-2009 @ 12:45AM
Seriously.... he looks a whole lot more like Nathan Lane than Crazy Charlie!
Judy 11-26-2009 @ 1:08AM
I am also an adoptee. If it were me, I would want a DNA test so I would know for sure one way or another.
Judy
joycesammons 11-26-2009 @ 1:15AM
You control who you are. Don't let this get you down. I can tell you're a nice person and if others can't its their loss
Gloria 11-26-2009 @ 1:43AM
I agree. Life is made up of choices. Obviously you have been brought up by loving, careing parents that did a wonderful job. All you have to do is make the right choices and you will not have anything to be ashamed of. Just be thankful for the wonderful parents that brought you up and showed you the other side of life. If you feel bad about your looks, Go have a makeover and you'll be surprized of who is hiding under all that hair is a good looking man with a heart of gold that looks nothing like the monster you should'nt be compairing yourself to.
Master Shake 11-26-2009 @ 1:47AM
I love his mother's BS story. She obviously was doing drugs and going to orgies, like a million other hippies at the time. She didn't say she was kidnapped, did she? She knew Manson well enough to know who she was partying with. Sure, NOW she wants to call it "rape" - but if you take drugs and go to an orgy, you have given up your right to cry rape later.
Deb 11-26-2009 @ 2:25AM
get off it! just publicity,you better hope he don't "GROUND" ya
shumdit 11-26-2009 @ 2:31AM
I can't believe this is news!
sally Sherlock 11-26-2009 @ 8:25PM
What a wonderful testament to nurture vs nature. Best wishes to a man who gives hope to many people who want to be their own person, this story demonstrates the yin and yang of life.