Imagine not knowing you were a father? That’s the heart-wrenching predicament The Last Resort participant Josh found himself in when his girlfriend Sharday told him the baby she was carrying two and a half years ago wasn’t his – only it was.
“One of the toughest things that I have ever had to do in my life was live apart from my daughter,” Josh, 25, tells TV WEEK. “Not being able to be there for the birth of my first child will always be a source of pain.”
Little Tyla was about five weeks old when Josh learnt she was in fact his daughter after undergoing a DNA test.
“Waiting to see if Tyla was my daughter was the saddest moments of my life,” he says. “Every day I remember feeling completely numb.”
Josh, a security operations manager, admits his relationship with Sharday had already reached rock bottom when the pair found out she was expecting a baby.
“We had gone through numerous hard times and situations that left a lot of resentment and hatred between us,” Josh explains.
“Sharday and I went through a vicious cycle that saw us splitting and getting back together more often than people change their bloody underwear. The constant trust and abandonment issues that I went through with Sharday literally changed our relationship on a weekly basis.”
For Josh, trust is what makes a relationship.
“I believe the most important thing in any relationship is trust,” he admits. “You need to trust that person has your back, trust that that person is going to always be true to you and trust that when hard times come, they will be someone you can count on.”
But now, all the trust he had for Sharday has now gone out the window.
“The hardest thing was when she told me Tyla wasn’t my child,” Josh says. “That is something that always stuck with me and confused me until I got a DNA test to prove that she was.”
Now, the proud dad is on a mission to make up for lost time.
“It’s cliché, but the proudest achievement in my life is watching Tyla grow and mature everyday,” he says.
“Knowing she has everything that she needs and seeing her turn into that confident young lady I know she will become is all a dad can home for.”
