How I learnt I was Charles Manson's son
Raised by a Swedish mother and German father, it took Matthew Roberts until the fifth grade to learn that he was adopted. It wasn’t until two decades later, however, that he discovered his real father’s identity – and it’s something he wish he could forget.
When his sister broke the news of his adoption to him in Year Five at school, Roberts was shocked but says he had no desire to find his biological dad.
About 15 years later, when he became engaged, his fiancee Gina expressed curiosity as to what nationality their future children would be. So Matthew started looking.
Four years later, he finally tracked down his birth mother. “I spoke to the woman who worked for the adoption agency at the time [of his adoption] and was still working there, and she tried to warn me about my mother: that she was a little mentally ill, I guess,” he told news.com.au.
They began exchanging letters, and that’s where things became complicated. “She seemed perfectly normal to me, talking about cats and growing rhubarb in her garden, and seemed like just a hippie — but then it became pretty clear at a certain point that she did have some mental problems that progressively got worse as time went on, it seemed, or at least that she was unable to hide.
“Then I asked about my father.”
Matthew’s mother, it turned out, was friends with Mary Brunner – a devout member of Charles Manson’s “family”.
“Mary and my mother were friends and she introduced him to her. They then drove back to Berkeley, and my conception happened somewhere in the interim. This was confirmed by him, in letters I have from him, addressing the issue.
“They hit it off right away. He was particularly fond of her, so much so that the other girls got jealous of my mother, and Charlie bought her a bus ticket to go home.
“Some of his letters seem to suggest that he knew she was pregnant, and that may have been another reason for sending her back.”
It took a while for Matthew to learn the true identity of his father – his mother refused to tell him his real surname unless they met in person.
“She said that I was the product of a rape — I was conceived in a drug induced sex orgy with multiple people involved, and that she was raped. Later she recanted, and said that she might have confused male aggression for male vigour, or male vigour for male aggression.
“She said she was part of a very infamous hippie group in the ‘60s that involved Charles Manson. I asked if he was at that orgy and she said, ‘Yes’, and I asked, ‘Did you have sex with him?’ and she said, ‘I don’t know’.
“Well, when I looked in the mirror, I looked like his twin.”
Matthew began corresponding with Manson directly, and the murderous monster confirmed he was his father.
Now 48 and a professional musician, Matthew revealed he still struggles with being his father’s son.
“I get a lot of flack from people saying I’m trying to ride on some kind of legacy or trying to build a career. It has done nothing to advance my career; if anything it has ruined it.
“From the age 29 until this very day – I am now 48 – I live in chaos and uncertainty, and frankly it sucks. I think it is the worst possible outcome.”
Charles Manson died yesterday at the age of 83 from natural causes.