Real-Life Soap Opera Moment of the Day: Black Couple Has White, Blond-Haired Baby

There can be a lot of surprises when a baby is born.  Finding out your little “Kim” is actually a “Tim,” as my disappointed mother-in-law experienced 29 years ago (sorry, Tim).  Or how much your newborn resembles a miniature-sized E.T.  But when you’re a black couple and your son turns out to be white…? There are bound to be some questions — not to mention a few raised eyebrows from the hospital staff.

Papa Francis Tshibangu admitted:  “My first thought was “Wow, is he really mine?'”

Yeah, that’s a fair question, I would say.

“I was too stunned to speak,” Francis added, “And I could see the doctors looking at each other, thinking the baby couldn’t be mine.”

Apparently, all it took was a smile from his wife, Arlette, to convince him that little Daniel was indeed his.  (Has he learned NOTHING from the soap operas…?)

Francis and Arlette already have a two-year-old boy, Seth, whose features reflect his African parentage.  Daniel, now 11 weeks old, is not albino; medical professionals believe his skin color may result from “a slight genetic mutation” or perhaps “dormant Caucasian genes.”

Interestingly, this is not the first time this has happened to an African-born couple living in England — Ben and Angela Ihegboro, a Nigerian couple living in London, gave birth to a white daughter last year.

Fingers crossed Daniel’s white features do not extend to his dance moves.  (Was that inappropriate?  My apologies… I should speak only for my lacking white dance moves.)