A WOMAN has revealed that she was married to her husband for 10 years, and had three children with him, before finding out he was her cousin.
Celina, 37 and Joseph, 44 met at a Halloween party 17 years ago, and have been inseparable ever since.
However, they discovered a dark secret after Joseph decided to do a DNA test to look into his heritage.
The couple revealed that they had “no suspicions whatsoever” that they were cousins before sending their swabs in to be tested and were completely in shock when they were sent the results.
“When I realised that we were cousins, I was a little sick to my stomach”, Celina told Love Don’t Judge.
Joseph was in complete denial at first, but after looking closely at the data, realised the truth.
The DNA test confirmed that the duo are third to fifth cousins, and the revelation left them questioning their relationship.
“I thought we were supposed to get divorced, but then I started thinking that for out children we need to stay together”, Celina said.
Celina described the revelation as a “pivotal moment” as “you’re not supposed to be with your cousin, but it happened that way”.
Joseph added that he meant it in his weeding vows when he said: “Till death to us part”, so decided not to leave his wife due to the discovery.
When the couple told their children that they were related, they were confused and a tad freaked out, but they have now come to accept their situation as normal.
“It’s kind or normal because they’re my parents and they’ve been married a long time”, their daughter said.
“Sometimes I feel a bit weird about it, because it’s not something you want to brag about”, their eldest son admitted.
He added that if his parents had found out they were cousins before they got married, it would have been “wrong”.
“But since they found out after, I don’t see a single problem wrong”, he said.
Celina decided to share her story on social media, but was bombarded with hateful comments from trolls.
One person described their marriage as “disturbing”, whilst another said that they feel bad for the couple’s children.
ACROSS the globe, more than 10 percent of marriages are between first or second cousins.
In the UK, there’s no legal bar to two cousins having a relationship.
That means that if end up falling for the children of your aunts and uncles, there’s nothing stopping you from eventually tying the knot.
If you’re over the age of 18, you can do this without the consent of your legal guardian or parent.
First-cousin marriages were once quite common in Europe, especially among the elite.
Joseph said that the comments regarding his children upset him, but added that the family try not to let the negativity get to them.
“We found out almost 11 years in and three year’s later, it’s not something you just walk away from”, he said.
“I think the future holds a lot more good, I just want to see our kids succeed”, Celina added.
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