A WOMAN who fell in love with her cousin has revealed they still plan to wed despite their family being furious over their relationship.
Taking to social media, the 23-year-old revealed the pair were always close but after university they fell in love romantically and started a relationship.
The pair, who are paternal first cousins were now wondering how to navigate their relationship while the world around them urged them to break up.
Her cousin, now 26, and her were like childhood friends and constantly had sleepovers when they were younger, even some family members noticed their undeniable chemistry.
She said: “The younger cousins would always tease and joke and ask us if we were boyfriend and girlfriend and say “you guys are going to get married”. Kids are silly, but I can’t say their joking was far off from the truth, admittedly.
“We both have grown up a lot and have lived our lives and graduated from good universities and are thriving in our careers,” she continued.
“When the pandemic hit, I moved home and me and him once again re-connected as we always do. However this time, it was different… we fell in love. Not overnight, but it happened and we’ve been dating seriously for about a year now and envision ourselves together.”
The pair have done lots of research to see how things have to be handled and say they are both prepared for their future ahead – but their family isn’t.
She revealed the couple’s family have found out after a family meeting was called and their romance was uncovered.
“They don’t blame me for loving him and they respect our feelings, but they don’t and cannot support us,” she added.
“I’ve always been very involved with our families and extended family and we don’t want them to suffer, we want them to feel happy for us and to continue to live their lives.
“Why does this have to be the biggest thing in our extended families lives, they have their own families and their own problems to deal with.”
She said she realised they could still get married legally and wasn’t too concerned about genetic problems if they had children but was struggling to navigate her relationship with her family while keeping her relationship intact.
The post went viral on Reddit’s Relationship Advice forum and people were quick to share their thoughts.
One person wrote: “Expect your family to never come around on this. Or anyone, really.”
Another commented: “Would not recommend marriage. Family incest is never a good idea.”
While marrying your cousin is taboo, The Sun's agony aunt explains why it's more complicated than that.
Dear Diedre says:
You can have a relationship with your first cousin in the UK. You can even get married.
Cousins can be attracted to one another because there’s a familial trait, but socially it is still unusual for cousins to get together romantically or sexually and can test family relationships.
Some may even feel it’s akin to incest and with an existing family fall out, this isn’t going to straight forward.
Introduce your boyfriend as a friend first and tell your mother you’ve found out that you’re cousins. Then, if your relationship really does have legs then go for it.
Genetic counselling may allay any fears you have about having children. Contact Genetic Alliance (geneticalliance.org.uk, 0300 124 0441) for advice.
“As long as they don’t have kids there’s nothing morally wrong with it, just the social rejection they’ll have to deal with,” penned a third.
Meanwhile a fourth said: “There are a few people you can’t date in the world and most of them are your family for good reason. Please get a grip, this is not okay.”
“I wouldn’t expect 99% of people to accept this. Your family most likely never will and I can’t really blame them. Do you want to lose your family completely all for the sake of this guy? Seems pretty foolish,” claimed a fifth.
Someone else added: “Incest will always be a firm no from me. You should probably rethink this relationship.”
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