Imagine going your whole life believing something about your identity... only to discover that it was all a lie.

Throughout her entire childhood and adolescence, Nicole Enriquez never questioned her Mexican heritage.

However, her entire world changed in an instant when her father let slip a truth that had been kept secret for years.

“The day after I graduated, my ‘father’ told me he wasn’t actually my father,” Ms Enriquez told The Independent.

“He is an alcoholic and has always been really irrational so I thought this was just an attempt to get me down.”

However, her father made her feel upset and curious to find out whether there was any truth to his words.

Ms Enriquez knew that her father had previously taken an AncestryDNA test, so she contacted her step-mother to send over her father’s results.

By taking an AncestryDNA test herself and then comparing the findings with those of her supposed father, Ms Enriquez confirmed once and for all that she was not biologically related to the man who she had always known as her dad.

As a child growing up in Texas, people had been taken aback when Ms Enriquez told them she had Mexican heritage, due to her appearance.

“Since first grade, when your teachers call out your name to figure out who you are on the first day of class I’ve always gotten a crazy look by the teacher and my classmates,” she said.

Her AncestryDNA results informed her that she was in fact Irish and Scandinavian, with no trace of Mexican heritage to be found.

Her mother, who she is biologically related to, had been adopted as a baby, so all Ms Enriquez had to explore her ancestry further were her AncestryDNA results.

She decided to take the plunge by quitting her job so that she could put all her efforts into travelling around Europe.

“I was determined to figure out who I am,” she said. “I started by walking across Spain then I went to Ireland and Denmark to see if I am really like these people and to explore what my true culture and people are like.”

Travelling to Ireland made an especially big impact on Ms Enriquez’s outlook on life.

“I am a completely different person since that trip,” she said. “I have learned so much about my life and myself that I feel absolutely invincible and unstoppable.

“I have been doing amazing things and I am super proud of myself.”

Since gaining a greater understanding of her background from her AncestryDNA test, Ms Enriquez hopes to travel even more in future.

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