Couple with three kids find out they’re cousins after DNA test
COLORADO, United States — A married couple with three children discovered they were cousins after taking a DNA test to learn more about their family tree.
According to an article from PEOPLE Magazine, Celina Quinones, a realtor from Colorado, shared the news in a TikTok video that has been viewed over 4.4 million times since it was posted in March.
PEOPLE reports that Celina married her husband, Joseph Quinones, in July 2006 and shared that though their families met then, no one suspected they were related.
“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 recalls.
“We didn’t think about it. I never saw her at family reunions, funerals, or weddings,” Joseph added.
The article states that the couple made the shocking discovery when Celina began piecing together a family tree and took a DNA test through MyHeritage about 10 years into their marriage.
“I ordered the DNA tests,” says Celina. “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.'”
Celina told PEOPLE that after reading the results she had doubts about whether she and her husband should continue their marriage.
“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,” says Celina of the couple’s two sons, ages 15 and 13, and their 10-year-old daughter. “They have 10 fingers, 10 toes, but it was just a shock.”
“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,” she continued.
Celina, who wrote a book about her life called The Dream Catcher’s Keeper, says she doesn’t know to what degree she and her husband are related. The DNA tests indicated they are between second to seventh cousins.
