A married couple in Colorado who has been together since 2006 and has three children found out in a DNA test that they are actually cousins!!
The big question is, what do they do?? The kids are all healthy and happy. Their marriage works. Are they supposed to give that up??
This story first went public a few months ago. Celina Quinones, a realtor from Colorado, took to TikTok at the very beginning of March to share a video about her interesting family tree. In the quick clip, she revealed to the world that a DNA test taken a few years ago proved her husband Joseph Quinones is actually her COUSIN!!!
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As you can see (below), Celina came right out and shared the shocking news in all of six seconds:
@quinqlan #CapCut My kids and my husband are my everything and we looked passed it. All our kids has 10 fingers 10 toes. It’s a good ice breaker lol
OMG!!!
Innerestingly, that actually wasn’t the first time she revealed this story online. Back in August of last year, she joked about a dream she had where Joseph supposedly cheated on her, and used the sleep story to crack about cousin cheating:
@quinqlan This is really why latinas are marrying white men! They don’t want to accidentally marry Primo ???????????? no one can stop us ????????
But March’s reveal video was the one which went MEGA viral on the social media app. Celina’s cousin clip from last month has gotten millions of views and thousands of comments in the last few weeks. And now she’s giving everyone the full story!!
On Thursday, the Denver-based realtor spoke to People about the story behind how she accidentally married her cousin, and what living through the online reaction has been like. On how she’s trying her best to get through this period of viral infamy:
“There’s a lot of negative comments, 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.”
The backstory is even crazier, though!
Celina says she and Joseph first met at the beginning of 2006. After a few months of dating, they got hitched quickly — in July of that same year. Their families met each other and meshed well — no, they weren’t the same family LOLz! Everybody made the marriage work right from the start:
“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.”
Joseph spoke to the mag, too, relaying his take on their early relationship:
“We didn’t think about it. I never saw her at family reunions, funerals, or weddings.”
So far, so good. And for a decade, they had no problems. They had three children together over time — two sons, who are now 15 and 13, and a 10-year-old daughter.
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Then, in 2016, Celina ordered a DNA test kit through a company called MyHeritage. The couple was looking to map out their family tree and learn more about their ancestry. But they had NO idea how the shocking results would turn out. Celina explained:
“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.'”
Oh no indeed!!
Immediately (and understandably), Celina started doubting whether the couple should stay together. Their kids were all healthy, but the stigma of marrying her cousin was nearly too much for the real estate agent to bear. She recalled:
“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. 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.”
But thankfully, she was able to move past it:
“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.”
Now, Celina is dead-set on learning more about how she and Joseph are connected.
She is still trying to find out exactly what family link bridges them together. The initial tests indicated they are “between second and seventh cousins,” with a great-grandparent potentially being the closest relative they would have in common. So it’s not like we’re talking about direct first cousins here! And like we said, they weren’t close enough to attend the same family reunions! But still, what a crazy thing to find out in a DNA test…
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For now, the realtor and her husband are trying to move forward together like they always have — just with a bit of new and unexpected information added to their lives. Celina continues to push on in her career, and she loves to post proud pics of her man on Instagram, like this heartwarming snap from February:
That’s sweet!
She even published a book late last year about her unique family history. She truly seems to be showing some resiliency through it all. Can’t hate that!
And she’s found a silver lining in the viral fame the TikTok vid brought her family over the last few weeks, too! Explaining how she never expected to get this much attention for the month-old video, Celina told the mag:
“I didn’t think it would go this viral. I feel a little more free. 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?”
That’s definitely one way to look at it. Good for her for taking all this with such a positive attitude, we suppose. What do y’all think, Perezcious readers?? Could YOU stay married to your cousin??
[Image via Celina Quinones/Instagram]
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