US couple discover they’re cousins after 10 years of marriage

Married for 17 years, Celina and Joseph Quinones don't recall seeing each other at family reunions, weddings or funerals before they met and fell in love. Photo / TikTok

This article was one of Herald Lifestyle’s best-read stories of 2023.

An American couple have spoken out after learning from a DNA test they are in fact related.

The New York Post reports that after 10 years and three children, Celina Quinones and her husband Joseph discovered they are cousins. Seventeen years on, they’re still happily married.

The Colorado real estate agent took to TikTok to share the shocking news and was met with mixed responses.

“Married my husband in 2006,” the mum wrote in her video. “Not thinking anything of it, we have three kids. Come to find out we were related and cousins.”

The video has been viewed over 4.4 million times and met with mixed reactions.

“Girl, that’s disgusting,” said one watcher.

“Bro this could’ve been a secret,” another said, suggesting Quinones may have been wise to keep her unconventional family ties off of social media.

“My literal jaw dropped. I rebuke this,” wrote another.

“Y’all even look alike. How did y’all not know?” one questioned.

Speaking to People magazine, Quinones said: “It’s horrible. People keep asking, ‘Why would you do that? Why would you post this?’

“But I take everything with a grain of salt. I’m a realtor, so I’m used to getting badgered all the time, so I’m like, ‘Ah, it’s nothing’.”

She said their families met, but still nothing seemed odd, or rather, familiar.

“We ended up having our wedding, and even then, our grandmas seemed to be a lot alike, and they got along, but still, nothing clicked,” she said.

“We didn’t think about it. I never saw her at family reunions, funerals or weddings,” her husband added.

But years into their marriage, Quinones decided to look into her family tree and took a DNA test through MyHeritage.com.

“I ordered the DNA tests,” she said. “They came in, and sure enough, we did our swabs, put them in the mail, and off they went.

“Then we got the results back, and I searched the family tree DNA — another part of the search — and saw him pop up there. And I go, ‘Oh no’.”

“I was in shock. I was a little depressed over it, to be honest.

“But this was after we already had three kids, and all of them were healthy,” she said of her two sons, aged 15 and 13, and a 10-year-old daughter.

“Joseph was like, ‘Babe, don’t worry about it. It’s not a big deal. Just brush it off’. I was like, ‘Should we get a divorce? Are we even supposed to be together?’

“I started rethinking … and then after a while, I was like, ‘Nope, we’re just staying together’.

“There’s nothing we can do about it. I’m not going to let some blood come between us.”

Just how closely related the pair are is unclear, but according to their DNA results, they’re between second and seventh cousins.

Quinones worked out the closest relative they could have would be a great-grandparent.

And while she’s put her family tree research on hold, she told People one day, she’ll go searching again for the ancestry that links her to her husband.

Asked why she chose to go public with their family ties, she said she thought it would be “funny” at the time. She never expected it to go viral like it has, she said.

But Quinones said ultimately, she’s glad she posted the video.

“I feel a little more free [sic].

“Like, it is what it is. There are people that love no matter what or who, so why can’t I love my cousin by accident?”

This article was originally published on April 9, 2023.