Woman learns she 'accidentally married' her cousin while she was pregnant with his baby
A woman living in Utah learned that she and her husband have been a part of the same family tree long before they tied the knot.
In a video recently posted on TikTok, 42-year-old Marcella Hill made a shocking reveal to her nearly 300,000 followers that she "accidentally married" her cousin, and she learned this while she was pregnant with his baby.
So how exactly did this happen?
As she recounted, "I was sitting on the couch looking for names for the baby that we were about to have and I was on [family tree information site] FamilySearch."
While she was looking over the names of her grandfather, grandmother, great-grandfather, great-grandmother, and great-great-grandmother, it dawned on the both of them that there was something not quite right when they compared their family tree.
"Husband's next to me on his own FamilySearch and he's like, 'Oh that's funny, we have the same grandma and grandpa's names,'" she said. "Then we start looking at it and we realize my grandpa is his grandma's first cousin."
In an attempt to verify this rather unbelievable discovery, the two of them called their respective grandparents and asked them if they knew each other.
"Sure enough, sure do. They lived together when they were growing up as children," Hill said. "We are third cousins."
@beingmarcellahill Funny story... I accidentally married my cousin. We had no idea our Grandma and Grandpa were 1st cousins. Oops. #funnystory #marcellahill #wakeherup #marriage #marriedlife #awakening #momsoftiktok #grandmasoftiktok ♬ original sound - Marcella Hill
Nevertheless, they continued on with their marriage, which will be on its 12th anniversary in March. Speaking with DailyMail, Hill said that as soon as she and her husband found out about their relation to each other, they felt as if they had done something "totally unacceptable" and immediately researched about the risks of having a child with one's third cousin.
They later came across an article from science news site Live Science that said, "The researchers suggest marrying third and fourth cousins is so optimal for reproduction because they sort of have the 'best of both worlds.'"
Now, it seems that everything had gone back to normal for the couple, but of course there are still a few funny moments about it. "We have won a prize for being the closest related in a neighborhood activity, and when I go to my family reunion, he gets to go to his too," Hill shared in her video.
Responding to comments that questioned her why she didn't discover this fact on the day of their wedding, where both of their grandparents were likely to have been in the venue, Hill said that they didn't have a grand marriage ceremony like most couples.
"We got married at a courthouse after work on a Wednesday," she explained.
She went on, "Let's say we had the wedding, and my grandpa and his grandma were there, and we found out that we were third cousins at the wedding, what were we supposed to do?"
@beingmarcellahill Replying to @mrsmoore321 What wedding? We got married at a courthouse. #marriedlife #marcellahill #wakeherup #breaktherules #dolifedifferent #doityourway ♬ original sound - Marcella Hill
Some users, meanwhile, assured her that being third cousins isn't at all as alarming as it sounds.