For Hopie Feek, the 36-year-old who spent much of her life thinking that Rory Feek was her father, the past few years have been tumultuous.
Her mother figure, Joey Martin Feek, died of cancer two years after Hopie’s little sister, Indiana, was born. Her father, Rory Feek, convinced her to let him talk about her bisexuality in his book. Given that Feek is a very conservative Christian, as is much of his audience, the public response wasn’t supportive. Her relationship with her father crumbled further when he started limiting her contact with her little sister, Indiana.
Her dad married one of Indiana’s teachers in 2024, and the rift grew as Rory accused his older daughters, including Heidi, 38, of not respecting his wishes regarding Indiana’s care. (Heidi‘s husband admitted that while they did not show Indiana, almost 11, screens, he played Disney songs and possibly Whitney Houston.) Hopie and Heidi were worried that Rory was raising Indiana within Homestead Heritage, a faith-based community they claimed in an Instagram post has a “troubling history” of child safety. The group strenuously denies the allegation.
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This week, Hopie and Rory shared they had learned that Rory wasn’t Hopie’s biological father. After reconnecting with her biological mother, Hopie learned there was a chance that Rory wasn’t her biological father and took a test to find out for sure. When the results confirmed that she and her sisters had a different father, she had a meeting with Rory in the cemetery at his home and shared the news.
Rory Feek: “I Was Not Expecting to Hear That”
Then she posted a video explaining what she learned, and Rory wrote about it in his blog, saying:
I’m not sure what I thought Hopie was going to say, but I was not expecting to hear that.
“My birth mom told me that there had been someone else and that she was fairly certain that I was his. And she wanted me to know”, Hopie said as tears streamed down her face, “and so I took the test, and it confirmed what she said.”
“You’re not my father.”
I just listened. Not quite sure that this was really happening. Processing it the best I could.
Hopie said she asked Rory not to shame her birth mother when Rory shared the news, but in a social media post, she says he disrespected that wish. And she shared what she believes is a history of undermining her requests.
Hopie Feek Calls Rory Feek’s Words “Extremely Disappointing”
Hopie wrote on Instagram that Rory shared her mother’s private history in his blog, which “is extremely disappointing.”
“I shared my story because I couldn’t keep the secret all to myself anymore,” Hopie wrote. “I’m not really a public person, but because Rory is, my private life becomes content for his fans (who are often unkind online).”
Hopie said that when she privately came out to Rory as bisexual, he was hateful and judgmental. Then he convinced her to let him write about her sexuality in his book—a choice she regrets.
“When his book came out, he had massive support, and I had the opposite,” Hopie wrote. “More hate from his fans. The things he wrote in that chapter still hurt.”
Rory Feek Felt He Had to Protect Indy From Sin
Rory wrote in his book, “Didn’t she understand that I had a two-year-old baby for God’s sake? And I had just spent the drive home from Indiana and the last five months before that thinking about how I was going to need to protect the baby now more than ever from sin?”
Rory said that due to his conservative Christian faith, he wanted to push Hopie away and withhold love from her, and she could feel it.
Rory said they had a conversation without words.
“Am I going to get to be around my baby sister? It’s the question she was probably most worried about, that and will you still love me?”
Hopie Feek: He Was Already Trying to Keep Me From Indy
My eyes were hardening around the edges like my heart. Probably not, they said as I looked away.
Hopie posted a clip of Rory reading the words from his book on her Instagram page. She said that the clip made sense with everything going on right now.
“He was already trying to keep me from Indy,” she wrote. “It’s like he was already trying to push me out of his life.”
Hopie feels like he used her story to sell his books.
“From now on, I just wish my stories could be mine to tell and share,” she wrote. “I want to move forward and find happiness with the people who love me, far away from this online hate.”
Rory hasn’t publically responded to Hopie’s comments.
Photo by Terry Wyatt/Getty Images for Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
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