This paper explores the mutual influence of emotions and family secrets, a central theme emerging from a qualitative inquiry, using grounded theory analysis, involving seven adult children who experienced family secrecy during childhood. Utilising the elements of constructivist grounded theory, the research employed in‐depth interviews, which were conducted and analysed simultaneously. The findings illuminate how emotions both shape and are shaped by the presence of secrets, silences, partial truths and disclosures within families where secrecy is integral to their communication patterns. Key themes, such as loss, grief, family loyalties, attachment patterns, family dynamics and fractured relationships, are critically examined, emphasising the profound emotional impact of secrecy within the family context. The study introduces an ‘emotional rollercoaster’ diagram, which not only encapsulates the collective experiences of the participants but serves as a conceptual model for potentially guiding therapeutic interventions with individuals and families affected by such dynamics. This model offers a framework for understanding the complex emotional trajectories from childhood to adulthood within secretive family environments.

In this article we examine the impact of Maltese online activism against gender-based violence and domestic violence, catalyzed by the tragic case of Chantelle Chetcuti in 2020. Chantelle Chetcuti was murdered by her ex-partner on 2 February 2020. This femicide triggered an unprecedented response in Maltese online activism, becoming a pivotal moment of collective action. Driven by this event and the subsequent wave of anger and activism on social media, the article aims to map the digital activism and support mechanisms that emerged to resist gender-based violence and domestic violence. Focusing on the period February to March 2020, we analyse responses from Women for Women, a Facebook group of over 57,000 members. We are guided by reflexive thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2019) and our interdisciplinary approach draws on feminist theory, gender studies, cultural studies, psychology, and family studies as theoretical standpoints. Our findings highlight anger, sorrow, frustration, and a call to activism and action; online solidarity and support; and systemic victimization: structural, social, and financial. We argue that anger drives activism and that activism drives various actions. Furthermore, we explore how digital spaces like Women for Women foster a feminist community, empowering women to seek help, support each other, and consolidate collective resistance to GBV and DV. We gather and build on the recommendations that emerged from the women’s narratives.

Most of the literature that has looked at children’s relationships with their parents in the domestic violence context has focused solely on the children’s relationship with one parent or is studied from the perspective of one parent, usually the mother. Sibling relationships in the same context are also under-studied. This paper explores in more detail the complexity of children’s relationships with their mothers, fathers, and siblings over time from the perspective of adult women and survivors of childhood domestic violence. Methods: A grounded theory methodology was used to analyse the interviews with 15 women aged twenty to forty-three years of age living in Malta. Results: the analysis showed that the domestic violence context remains significant in these important relationships for these women. The relationship with the father remains strongly influenced by the dynamics of fear, love, and retaliation, with cycles of cut-off and connection from the adult daughter’s end. The relationship with the mother is complicated—feelings of love that are seen as having been limited and complicated by betrayal if there was abuse from the mother. Similarly, for the siblings, the roles of the early family of origin remain persistent and significant. However, in some of these relationships, there has been transformation, reconciliation, and forgiveness. The article offers implications for therapeutic practice for dealing with the complexity of these relationships and ideas for future research.