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Not quite the same, but I remember finding out about my mom when I was 9 or so. Slightly similar situation where I found an old book of my mom’s that she wrote her other name in.

My brother didn’t find out till later. We were eating dinner with family friends and they were talking about how they met and were married. My mom mentioned it and my brother spit out his water because he didn’t know.

I'd mention it the next time you have a chance. As a child or a person, I'd want to know. The longer you wait, the more it will "jar" them when they find out.

My parents didn't tell me for 30 years that they used a sperm donor to conceive me. They see it as no big deal, I firmly disagree. I know it's not the same as your situation, but I err on the side of not lying-by-omission.

I would mention it casually ASAP and just make it common knowledge.

My aunt who was married before didn’t tell her kids until they were teenagers and they were devastated and really hurt that they’d been kept in the dark about something everybody else knew.

I found out my mom had been married before when I was in my twenties. My brother found something with her old name on it. It was hard to find out. I wish we had just known all along. Kind of felt like being betrayed

Oh man. I've totally not considered this. My husband was married at 19 to a really awful woman and they didn't have any kids so I didn't really think about the fact that we should eventually tell our kids....
I suppose just the bare bones of they didn't end up loving each other? Ugh. Not many people know what really happened so I think we can safely leave it vague

Anyone have any suggestions for if it was not amicable? And the other person was just terrible? Like should be in jail terrible

This is not really helpful to your question, but I have a related story... My mom and her sister discovered that their mother had been previously married when they were in their twenties and digging through some of their mom's stuff to decide who to invite to a surprise 25th wedding anniversary party that they were throwing for their parents. They didn't feel like they could ask more because their mom would have gotten mad that they were looking through her stuff without permission. Their brother didn't know until my grandmother was like 80 and he took her to the VA, as her previous name was the one she was discharged from the military with after World War II.

My mom never did ask what happened, as she felt that she wasn't supposed to know. Funnily enough, the only person my grandmother ever mentioned it to was me. I was looking at her old album, and had asked her who all the people in it were. She told me she had been married to him before she met grandpa. She mentioned it like it was NBD, and I assumed everyone knew. I kind of feel like she put a picture of him in her album that was laying out on the coffee table because she was hoping someone would ask! Funnily enough, I now use her wedding ring from that marriage that we found in her stuff after she died, as it turned out to be a perfect match to my engagement ring (which is vintage from the 1930s).

To add to what others posted it was never that big of a deal that I didn’t find out about my moms prior marriage till later. Although I always assumed it was only a couple of months. I didn’t realize till after she died it had been for 5 years or so.

Also my grandfather apparently didn’t tell my mom about his prior marriage either. It wasn’t till my mom was getting divorced herself that he ever brought it up to her.

I don't know how I found out but my dad was married before my mom and OH WAIT I just remembered, I was playing softball age 12, and this girl Denise was like Hey, your dad was married to my mom!! And I went home and was like dad, what the fuck?! And he told me he was young and his 1st wife cheated on him while he was across the country white water rafting, and it truly truly broke his heart, and it was a terrible drive home. Damn! So I went to school with this girl and it was NBD. Then he cheated on my mom and he and the new lady (my stepmom, I love her) have been married 15 years. How bout them apples.

My kids know and adore my ex-wife. They also know about my other significant past relationship. I talk with them about my life experiences and the places I’ve gone and things I’ve done. Not sure how it wouldn’t have come up.

My daughter is 4. Not exactly the same so but my mom passed away when I was 19 so her grandmother (my father's companion) is not my mother. Only once has she said who is you mommy and I said my mommy is not alive. She said, "oh, she's dead? " and I said yes and that was it. Shortly after my mother passed, I saw my dad's divorce certificate in our family safe. I had not idea that he had ever been divorced and her first name was the same as my mother's so I assumed they were married divorced and married again. My father and I don't talk about things very closely so I never asked details. I asked him around the time I saw that paper how many times he was married he held up one finger and two. My whole world was a mess with my mom recently passing so I didn't care to know more. As my daughter gets older and it comes up, I plan to answer simply and honestly what ever she want to know.