NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE: Country artist Rory Feek's daughter Hopie, 36, has dropped a bombshell revelation about her lineage, sharing that the musician is not her biological father.
Over the weekend, Hopie took to her Instagram to reveal that she took a 23andME DNA test which confirmed her long suspicion that the county star is not her real father.
She further went on to explain her side of the story as the news came amid her and her 38-year-old elder sister Heidi’s ongoing legal battle with Rory regarding their minor sister Indiana.
Hopie Feek reveals Rory is not her biological father
Taking to her Instagram, Hopie shared a video of her dropping the news while explaining the results of her 23andME tests.
“Most of you know me through my family and their story,” Hopie started her video, before continuing, “I've always felt a little bit different and now I know why," per Daily Mail.
She explained, “So I took a 23andMe DNA test and I got the results I never knew I needed.”
She shared a photo of her with her birth father - whose initials she stated are BC - and said, “Turns out this is my dad, not the one that everyone knows.”
Hopie shared that following their initial meeting over six months earlier, she has “gotten really close and gotten to know each other,” adding “and it's so strange because we're so much alike.”
She highlighted that she had to stalk BC online to connect with him. But her biological father too returned the fervor, as he came to meet her within 24 hours of first connecting online.
“Within 24 hours of finding him and messaging him on Facebook, he was here at my doorstep just to give me a hug and meet me,” Hopie shared, and continued, “I've never experienced unconditional love like that before.”
“There's so much more love to my story than I ever thought there was,” shared Hopie, who was predominantly brought up by Rory.
Rory was married to Hopie and Heidi’s mother, Tamara Gillmor, from 1985 until their divorce in 1992. Hopie was born in 1988.
While the sisters primarily grew up with Rory, they recently reconnected with their mother.
Gushing about the meeting, Hopie shared, “I reconnected with my mom this past year, and she's freaking awesome. Learning how much she loves me and how much she wanted to be a part of my life but never really could…”
“To [now finding] a dad who I never realized I had, who just immediately loved me and is so excited to call me his daughter,” she continued while praising her newfound biological family.
“I'm just really grateful for all of this and the new people I have in my life and the new family that love me for who I am,” concluded Hopie.
Hopie’s latest revelation came amid her and Heidi’s ongoing legal battle with Rory where they accused him of exposing their little sister - Indiana - to an ‘abusive’ cult.
An insight into Rory Feek’s relationships
While Rory and Tamara decided to split in 1992, he predominantly brought up his daughters as a single father.
Ten years later, the musician remarried as he tied the knot with his musician wife Joey.
The Grammy-winning pair launched a successful musical career and sold almost million records from 2008 to 2016, as reported by his website for Homestead at Hardison Mill (the historic farmhouse that Rory restored to serve as his home and concert hall south of Nashville).
Meanwhile, the couple also welcomed their daughter Indiana, 10, who has Down Syndrome.
However, tragedy struck the family when Joey passed away in March 2016 after suffering from cervical cancer.
Rory tied the knot for the third time in 2024 when he married Indiana’s school teacher Rebecca in a ceremony in Greycliff, Montana on July 14.
The ‘One Angel’ singer and his elder daughters are currently at loggerheads after Heidi and Hopie accused him of putting their youngest sister in harm’s way.
Previously, Rory expressed his shock in 2018, when Hopie came out as bise.xual, attributing it to his Christian faith. But recently, their equation deteriorated when the sister duo claimed he blocked them from contacting their ten-year-old sister.
After they took legal action against Rory, Heidi claimed on Instagram that Rory - who was living in an agrarian Christian community tied to Homestead Heritage - left Indiana “in the care of a group with a well-documented history” of abuse of children.
She wrote, “Indiana, who has special needs, deserves to be in a safe and stable environment where her well-being is the top priority."
Rory, however, denied the allegations, claiming that it was rather his older daughters who are hurting Indiana the most.
“And lastly - contrary to what they say is the motive behind all this - the person my daughters, and everyone is hurting the most is our little one,” shared the star, as reported by Daily Mail.
Rory Feek reacts to the revelation
Soon after Hopie made the revelation, on Tuesday, February 11, Rory took to his blog to share his feelings toward the news.
Under the title of the post, 'A different dad', Rory wrote that while he "didn't know," the news, it didn't "completely surprise" him.
Hopie says Rory writing the blog was 'extremely disappointing'
Following Rory's confession through his blog, Hopie hit back at him through a recent Instagram post, where she wrote that when she had the conversation with Rory, she particularly asked him not to "shame" her mother.
Sharing it was "extremely disappointing," Hopie wrote that her father spun her private story into "content" for his fans who are often "unkind" to her online.