Update: AITA for ruining my brother’s childhood memory by admitting I photoshopped it 14 years ago?

Hello again Reddit! My post from a week ago got quite a lot of attention. Reading through all the comments was an experience, thank you all for sharing your thoughts (and gently or not so gently humbling me). Apparently, the consensus is that I’m kind of an a-hole, but like a well-meaning one? I’ll take it.

First, please read my original post: https://aita.pics/LLvVZ

‘ Update: AITA for ruining my brother’s childhood memory by admitting I photoshopped it 14 years ago?’

The thing that amused me the most, though, was how everyone just assumed I’m my brother’s older *brother.* For the record, I never said that! Could be his sister, could be his sibling— it’s 2024, people, let’s not default to dudes all the time.

Anyways, a lot of people told me to find a way to contact Daniel Radcliffe for real and get some kind of message to my brother. While I appreciate the ambition, I don’t exactly have Daniel’s number lying around, and cold-calling celebrities isn’t in my skill set.

Besides, I figured my brother might appreciate a bit of humour over me spiralling into some overly elaborate apology plan. We hadn’t seen each other since my post, but we finally met up saturday, and I brought him a new photoshopped picture of 20-year-old him with Daniel Radcliffe, captioned ”Reunited at last.” I just made it on my phone, and thankfully, he loved it (and definitely doesn’t think it’s real this time).

Seriously though, we had another conversation about the whole situation. My brother said it was still crappy to find out like this, and so late, but that he appreciates me telling the truth. I asked him about the memory and how it felt so real to him, since a lot of comments were wondering that too.

He said that, looking back, it’s possible he knew it wasn’t real at first but started telling a story about it to impress his friends, and somewhere along the way, he started believing his own hype.

I also told him about the Reddit post, and we had a good laugh reading through some of the comments together. But when I jokingly asked if I could share either photo, he gave me a hard no. So, sorry, reddit, these masterpieces stay in the family!

Let’s dive into the reactions from Reddit:

HarveySnake −  There’s a website called cameo.com where you can pay celebrities to record a short, personalized video for a friend and a link will be sent to them.  The guy that played Draco is on it. Don’t think Daniel or the other 2 main actors are. Probably there’s a few companies like cameo.com out there and Daniel Radcliffe might be on one.

SarkyMs −  False memories are incredibly real. That is why eye witness accounts are terrible evidence in trials.

Garrais02 −  I can imagine you two reading all the YTA comments and your brother being like: you’re terrible, the entire internet agrees with me!. Ahhaha nice!

mxquint −  NTA – here’s to brother one day meeting Daniel Radcliffe for real.

MorningLanky3192 −  Memory isn’t something we replay like a tape or digital file. It’s something we actively remake every time we recall it. Apparently we are more likely to accurately recall an old memory we have randomly been reminded of than we are a cherished (or challenging) memory we often think of. And when we “remember” an experience that sparks particularly strong emotions in us, the same parts of our brain are activated as when we live that experience.

acegirl1985 −  I’m glad you two worked it out. It’s unfortunate it got so out of hand but why didn’t your parents ever step in and correct it? I mean you were just the older sibling who tried to make their little brother feel better after a major let down. I 100% get why you did it and I think it was a really sweet gesture but why did the child’s parents never step in and correct him?

Why did they never pull him aside and tell him it wasn’t real? Hell they probably had the Santa conversation, they couldn’t have just tacked this on too? It’d of actually been the perfect segue. I get that kids like to play make believe and I’d never want parents to quash their child’s creativity or imagination but there’s a difference between letting you kid play pretend and letting them go all in on a delusion.

NTA but you weren’t the one in charge of raising the kid. You did something nice to cheer up your little brother. That was very sweet but when they realized it wasn’t just a childish game and he genuinely believed the story they should have stepped in.

Andr3aJones13 −  Maybe DR is on reddit or someone will show him it.

Loisalene −  NTA , in any way. That was one of the most entertaining sibling story I’ve ever read. Kudos!

snafe_ −  I have a false memory from childhood, I know 100% it’s false but it’s still a memory like all my other memories. I think wanting something badly enough and little external pressure allows our imagination to really do crazy things.

mrik85 −  If you live in the US, Daniel Radcliffe does Broadway every now & then & he is very easy to meet at the stage door. I’ve done is 2x.