diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/80669-user-return-actual-groups.yml b/changelogs/fragments/80669-user-return-actual-groups.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..22f6d7e8249
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/80669-user-return-actual-groups.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - user - return the actual system groups the user belongs to instead of only the
+    groups specified in the module input (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/80669).
diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/user.py b/lib/ansible/modules/user.py
index 849014a5205..8df45f00a26 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/user.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/user.py
@@ -422,8 +422,8 @@ group:
   type: int
   sample: 1001
 groups:
-  description: List of groups of which the user is a member.
-  returned: When O(groups) is not empty and O(state) is V(present)
+  description: Comma-separated list of groups of which the user is a member.
+  returned: When user exists and O(state) is V(present)
   type: str
   sample: 'chrony,apache'
 home:
@@ -3502,8 +3502,7 @@ def main():
         result['comment'] = info[4]
         result['home'] = info[5]
         result['shell'] = info[6]
-        if user.groups is not None:
-            result['groups'] = user.groups
+        result['groups'] = ','.join(user.user_group_membership())
 
         # handle missing homedirs
         info = user.user_info()
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/user/tasks/main.yml b/test/integration/targets/user/tasks/main.yml
index 85462e4e92d..7d9831bd17b 100644
--- a/test/integration/targets/user/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/test/integration/targets/user/tasks/main.yml
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 - import_tasks: test_expires_min_max.yml
 - import_tasks: test_expires_warn.yml
 - import_tasks: test_ssh_key_passphrase.yml
+- import_tasks: test_returned_groups.yml
 - include_tasks: test_password_lock.yml
 - include_tasks: test_password_lock_new_user.yml
 - include_tasks: test_local.yml
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/user/tasks/test_returned_groups.yml b/test/integration/targets/user/tasks/test_returned_groups.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..9c4e8da3ea0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/integration/targets/user/tasks/test_returned_groups.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+# Test that the user module returns the actual groups a user belongs to
+# See: https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/80669
+
+- name: remove test user for groups return test
+  user:
+    name: ansibulluser_groups
+    state: absent
+
+- name: create test user with initial groups
+  user:
+    name: ansibulluser_groups
+    groups:
+      - daemon
+      - bin
+    state: present
+  register: user_groups_create
+
+- name: validate groups on initial creation
+  assert:
+    that:
+      - "'bin' in user_groups_create.groups"
+      - "'daemon' in user_groups_create.groups"
+
+- name: append a group to the test user
+  user:
+    name: ansibulluser_groups
+    groups:
+      - sys
+    append: true
+    state: present
+  register: user_groups_append
+
+- name: validate groups after append includes all groups
+  assert:
+    that:
+      - "'bin' in user_groups_append.groups"
+      - "'daemon' in user_groups_append.groups"
+      - "'sys' in user_groups_append.groups"
+
+- name: run user module with no groups param
+  user:
+    name: ansibulluser_groups
+    state: present
+  register: user_groups_noarg
+
+- name: validate groups returned even when groups param is not set
+  assert:
+    that:
+      - user_groups_noarg.groups is defined
+      - "'bin' in user_groups_noarg.groups"
+      - "'daemon' in user_groups_noarg.groups"
+      - "'sys' in user_groups_noarg.groups"
+
+- name: clean up test user
+  user:
+    name: ansibulluser_groups
+    state: absent