Wife Learns ‘Happily Married’ In-Laws Are Actually First Cousins & Now Wants a Divorce

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We all have things we "neglect" to tell our significant others for one reason or another at the start of a new relationship. A little white lie to spare their feelings, for instance. Or the omission of something we did years ago that they might frown upon. But one man apparently withheld information so major and for so long, it might just jeopardize his marriage. According to his recent Reddit post, the man apparently failed to tell his wife that his parents are cousins — a fact that could have more than a few consequences.

The man's parents have been "happily married" for 30 years.

Believe it or not, they had no idea they were even related until about two years into their relationshihp. (Oof — talk about a bombshell.)

"Their mothers (who are sisters) had lost contact after each of them ran away (at different times) from their strict super religious household," the man explained. "The day [the families] met it was almost in an instant that both of [the mothers] knew they were each other's siblings."

Needless to say, this did not go over well.

"That day was filled with a lot of chaos, and ended up with the breakup of my parents," the man wrote.

But it didn't last long.

"Five months into the breakup, they both realized they couldn't do it and they got back together," he explained. "My mother's mom supported them, whereas my father's mom had not and disowned my father."

A year later, the couple got married and started their family.

In addition to the Reddit poster, the couple also has a daughter. From the man's telling of the story, the fact that they had been first cousins was more or less swept under the rug for years.

That is until recently, when the man's father died from heart issues.

The loss hit his mother hard, leaving her "absolutely broken." But the real drama came at the funeral …

During the small family funeral, his father's mother showed up.

That's right — the one who had disowned him decades earlier.

And — spoiler alert! — World War III erupted.

"This created a huge shouting match with my mother, aunt, and grandmother," the man relayed. "In this, they disclosed the fact my parents were cousins."

Of course, this was all within earshot of the poster's wife, who was stunned.

"My wife looked at me in shock and asked me if that was true," he wrote. "I told her yeah, and she said to wait for a conversation about this when we got home."

Yikes.

When the couple got home, his wife unleashed every emotion she'd been bottling up.

"She just started crying [and] saying that it was disgusting that I was a product of incest and how I couldn't have told her and why I didn't trust her," the man shared.

The whole thing left him feeling shattered.

"I truly don't believe that my parents relationship defines me as a person, I've tried to ignore that fact for my whole life, and it was a really uncomfortable topic," he continued. "I told her that I had the right to keep it to myself, but she just screamed that I didn't and that what if we had a child and it could have complications because of me (although the chances of that are extremely low)."

Unfortunately, they could not see eye to eye on this one.

"I still stood my ground that it was my right, but my wife just continued to cry as she told me that we were going to take a break," the poster wrote. "I'm heartbroken because I didn't think that part of me defined me, and to know she was taking a break from me because of that reason really hurt."

That said, he took the matter to his sister … who told him that yep, he was totally in the wrong.

"I talked to my sister about this and she said that I was the asshole and should've told my wife, as she told her husband," the man wrote. "She said it's not something I should've hidden, because it was a deal breaker for many."

Um — YA THINK??

Still, he didn't sound remorseful in the least.

"I'm really tired of having my parents relationship define me as a person and I don't think I'm the asshole for not telling my wife," he said. "I haven't had contact with my wife but I know that if she were to forgive me I'd have to apologize, and even though it may sound so petty that I'm putting our relationship on the line, I don't [think] I need to give any apology."

Wow, wow ... WOW.

People really let the man have it in the comments.

"Your parents relationship does define you if you think you have to keep it a secret," one person wrote. "And incest being a huge, huge taboo (and with health ramifications) one would think it is ought to be mentioned to the person you are getting married to. So, yeah, YTA."

"I think it's not just that he didn't tell her," another person commented. "It's that he knew it has been this huge deal in his family that got his father disowned and has obviously caused problems for OP before, but he CHOSE to hide it. That's why she's reacting that way. Her trust has been betrayed."

Some people actually did defend him.

(Well, somewhat.)

"Cousins aren't really considered incest in a large portion of the world, and the health ramifications of cousins are actually really small and negligible," one person argued. "In fact I'd wager most of y'all have cousin marriage all over your family tree if you looked for it."

"Yeah this has been pretty normal for a lot of history even within cultures that now consider it taboo," another person commented. "I mean we should probably try to avoid it at this point in history, (given the wide range of romantic options we have) but otherwise I say live and let live."

But the bottom line? Commenters agreed he shouldn't have withheld the information.

"This isn't something you don't tell someone," one person wrote. "I'd want to know early on in the relationship. You need to apologize. This is a huge thing to keep from your wife."

In the end, it looks like the man saw the error of his ways. He edited his post to add that he realized he was in the wrong after all.

"I fully understand that I was in the wrong, this was my wife [and] I should told her, keeping this away from her was betrayal of trust," he wrote. "However my parents being a product of incest was always a sore spot for me.

"Perhaps I made it worse withholding this information," he went on. "I've contacted my wife but her sister said to give her a couple more days to gather her thoughts, when she does I will apologize. Thank you for showing me I was in the wrong."

Only problem? Looks like this one won't be resolved.

In a third and final update to his post, the man wrote: "Turns out a couple days means minutes. We're getting divorced. She can't live with the fact her children would be disgusting freaks."

That sure was a plot twist we didn't see coming. (Then again, we can't totally blame her?)