Couple With Three Kids Discovered They’re Cousins After Ten Years of Marriage

After three kids and ten years of marriage, Celina and Joseph Quinones discovered they were related through the use of a DNA test.

In an interview with People, the couple opened up about the discovery after sharing the revelation in a viral TikTok video last month. Mrs. Quinones, who is a realtor in Colorado, said that the reaction to the discovery has varied dramatically. “There’s a lot of negative comments, it’s horrible,” she said. “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.”

In her original TikTok clip, she revealed they married in 2006. “Not thinking anything of it, we have three kids,” she said, noting they took a DNA test in 2016. “Come to find out we were related and cousins. … I feared this when I was looking into our tree… DNA doesn’t lie. No, we didn’t have any clue till I started digging. Myhertiage.com was my worst enemy after.” The video showcased a screenshot that indicated they shared an ancestor approximately eight generations back, which they found to be “devastating.”

“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,” Mrs. Quinones told People. “I ordered the DNA tests. 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.'” She believes they are somewhere between second to seventh cousins, and the closest potential relative in common would be a great-grandparent.

Initially, she was “in shock” at the news, and she got “depressed” about the situation as a whole. “But this was after we already had three kids, and all of them were healthy,” she continued. “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.”

As for why they shared the news on TikTok? Mrs. Quinones said she thought it would be “funny,” and ultimately she feels “a little more free.”