A doting father for almost two decades, millionaire and founder of MoneySupermarket.com, Richard Mason, 55, had the world pulled from beneath his feet when he found out that his children were never his children. In fact, he found out he couldn't have children at all. And to make matters worse, he discovered the truth ten years after he and his wife Kate, 54, settled their divorce and he paid her £4 million.

"You don’t know what’s real and what isn’t... It’s as if I’m living in The Matrix,’ Mason told Daily Mail. "Someone says to you, 'All that you know and everything you thought to be solid and true is not real, and never did exist. You are not a father, you are not able to have kids, your name will not continue."

Mason, a resident of North Wales, found out in 2016 that he was suffering from a genetic disease called cystic fibrosis which made it impossible for him to ever have children. But, to his surprise, he already had three sons — the eldest being 23 and 19-year-old twins. 

When he confronted his ex about it, he found out that she had had an affair with a man for four years in the late 1990s. However, she refused to disclose the name of the biological father and it is not known whether the person who was involved in the affair knew about the kids. She did reveal, however, that she had had sex with the other man up to 12 times but had always used protection.

At the time of their divorce, Mason had paid £4 million to his wife in their divorce settlement, but, after finding out the truth about the kids, he sued her for paternity fraud.

This did help get him back some of the money from the settlement but two of his sons have broken off any relationship with him.

"I still see what the boys are doing on Facebook and it’s heart-wrenching. We saw the graduation of the eldest on there, but I wasn’t invited," he said. He also grieved about how much he missed his family. "I walk past a toy store and it reminds you of buying Christmas presents for them and other family occasions. And when friends post things on Facebook about their own families like their first grandchild or saying they’re proud of their boy for something, I just think, 'My God, that’s all been taken away from me.'"

Kate became pregnant seven years into their marriage, and Mason felt that it would only be natural to wonder if they were really his. Mason believes that he was "tricked" into raising the kids.

He has also revealed in legal papers that, when she was pregnant for the first time during the course of their marriage, she had suddenly become interested in Judaism and even went on to give all three children Jewish middle names. Moreover, she also did not want them to be christened.

"After the divorce, she constantly hounded me for more maintenance even though I always complied with the Child Support Agency demands. Meanwhile, the biological father has never paid a penny as far as I know," he said. 

Mason is remarried now but the father's name still hasn't been revealed. After he sued for paternity fraud, the former couple reached an out-of-court settlement where Kate paid him £250,000 of the total amount from their divorce settlement.