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The original post about the 23andMe fail.

How A 23andMe Test Made This Redditor's Marriage Very, Very Awkward

When 23andMe DNA tests were created, they were a valuable tool for figuring out your heritage. But pretty quickly, they had a lot of unintended consequences. This story is one of the wildest ones out there, and since we all love some high-quality drama once in a while, this person thought they should share this with the rest of us on the popular subreddit /r/TIFU, which stands for “today I f*cked up.” And that seems like an understatement for what this poor Redditor did. He encouraged his wife to take a DNA test, and the chain reaction of revelations that ensued were unforgettable.

The Original Post

G r/tifu · Posted by u/PM_MeMyPassword 21 days ago 12 36.9k TIFU by talking my wife into getting 23&me TIFU Current wife and I were both married previously and both had 3 children each. We went to hs together in a small town. Both of our families are well known in the area with deep roots (both families been here a long time). Last year I got my wife a ancestry DNA kit as a gift because she wanted to know more about her European roots then her sister decided to do the same. When their results were posted it started making family connections which included my mother, my oldest son, my uncle etc. Wife's mom comes in the room so they ask her how we could be related. Her mom starts crying and says that when she was very young she overheard someone say "Tom"" isn't your father, "Jimmy" is. Her mom being from older generation says she just put it out of her mind and convinced herself it's just rumor. my mom asked if she's ever heard a rumor that her father could be my wife's mother's father as well. She gets quite for a moment and says yes I have and it was believed to be true by her mom as well and that her dad (my grandfather) was a well known cheater/womanizer. We look further into the information on 23&me and it literally says that my wife and my oldest son share a great grandparent. More of us are now getting test on the same platform but it appears a WW2 Era secret has come to light. TL;DR wife gets DNA test, discover decades old secret, turns out I married my 1st cousin :cu:

(Source: Reddit)

This post went viral, earning nearly 39,000 upvotes within the first month on the subreddit. While learning about anyone’s family tree is confusing, the tldr says it all: this guy married his first cousin, completely unaware they were related.

Other People Chimed In with Their Own DNA Test Stories

(Source: Reddit)

Others Congratulated Him on a "Victory"

Natryska +3 · 21 days ago 2,4 e 4 S 2 Now there's a guy who knows how to marry his cousin 12.8k Reply Give Award Share Report Save Follow O digitalvagrant +3 · 21 days ago S He's streets ahead. 2.5k Reply Give Award Share Report Save Follow thisduderighthear &· 21 days ago Stop trying to make that a thing! 4 865 Reply Give Award Share Report Save Follow O G

(Source: Reddit)

It’s Reddit, so we can’t be too surprised, but there was a concerning number of commenters who praised him for finding a legal and ethical loophole to marry a cousin. I’m worried about these people’s family members now.

Some People Tried to Console OP

GnomeMode +3-21 days ago Look, as long as you aren't using Ancestry.com as a dating site, you're fine. You didn't meet at a family reunion and decide "you know what, first cousin's lookin f kable" lol. You literally didn't know, don't have children together, don't sound like you intend to have children together. It's 100% your parent's faults who friggin knew t 6.1k O Q Reply Glve Award Share Report Save Follow PreferredSelection 3-21 days ago My cousin ran into her husband's previous girlfriend at her husband's family reunion. I'd love to be like "lol but she wasn't there for the reason you'd think." She was there for the reasons you'd think. 1 14k 3 Q Reply Give Award Share Report Save Follow GnomeMode 3- 21 days ago Well that's weird 1 329 3 Q Reply Give Award Share Report Save Follow PreferredSelection 3- 21 days ago Yeah. Not 1st cousins, but we still give him hell about it. t 278 3 Q Reply Glve Award Share Report Save Follow

(Source: Reddit)

This is better than the “good for you, that’s awesome” crowd that took up about half of the comments. Plus, that anecdote about a family reunion is a reminder that this happens more often than people might think.

OP Brought Up a Good Point

PM_MeMyPassword OP +3 · 21 days ago What bugs me most is both our moms knew there was the possibility but said nothing. 4.8k 3 Reply Give Award Share Report Save Follow Happy_Camper45 E +2 · 21 days ago INFO: Did they know the possibility that you two as individuals could be related? Or did they know that some men strayed and there could be half siblings/relatives around? (Apparently, I married my 10th cousin which we discovered through Family Search but haven't confirmed. Ancestry DNA shows no connection) 4 499 Reply Give Award Share Report Save Follow

(Source: Reddit)

This all could have been prevented if the parents had just spoken up and recommended a DNA test much, much sooner. Why didn’t they?

Some Good News

codismycopilot +3 - 21 days ago If it helps any you're half-first cousins which means you would share about 6% of your DNA. Which, unless it continues on for several generations, is unlikely to be an issue genetically. 4 14.8k Reply Give Award Share Report Save Follow eivelyn '+1 · 21 days ago ( OP says their kids are all from previous marriages so there's no known genetic issue with the kids. Though if their previous spouses are from this town also there might be more connections uncovered! 仓5.3k Reply Give Award Share Report Save Follow JerodsSuperCool +1 - 21 days ago Duder fathered the whole town 4 364 Reply Give Award Share Report Save Follow

(Source: Reddit)

Well, at least the bloodline won’t continue. We can celebrate that, and this’ll probably be a secret they take to their graves.

Some People Suggested They Have Children Anyway

monkwren +1 · 21 days ago I supposed he and his wife might consider having kids together. They already have 6! Why would they want more, even if the kids are from previous marriages? 351 Reply Give Award Share Report Save Follow davisyoung y +3 · 21 days ago „ota & 8 More Because kids with flippers would dominate on the swim team. 1.9k Reply Give Award Share Report Save Follow

(Source: Reddit)

Some Redditors used the excuse of the married couple being only 6% genetically related to insist that this couple should actually have biological children together, because they believe it will create a sub-species of human with enough genetic crises to become superior to the average human. Yeah, I don’t think they should test that theory.

An Update from OP

Edit: 1:to clear all kids are from both of 1st marriage 2:my mom and wife's mom are apparently half sister's 3: wife's mother is quite upset 4: WW2 was hard on everyone (Trying to not make a joke here) EDIT 2: At first wife was laughing about this but I'm afraid that the reality of it is caught up to her. Personally I think she's reading to far into it. I wasn't aware of how prevalent this particular taboo fetish is, some of yall are freaks. Maybe once this is settled I can have some fun with it. As I stated all kids are from previous marriages, we're in our mid 40s and will not be having anymore. We're definitely not in Alabama but we may have to move there now. Yes we're very much in love and will be staying that way. Although we probably won't be sharing this information with too many other people...guess we'll keep in the family. 2785 Comments Award a Share L Save

(Source: Reddit)

While many are not sure how we feel about OP’s decision to stay with his wife, we aren’t in his shoes and can’t decide whether the Alabama lifestyle would be for us or not. But after this trainwreck of a Reddit thread, we see now why DNA tests can have unexpected consequences, maybe in a different way than any horror stories we’ve heard before.

Related Memes 5 total

Sweet Home Alabama

Sweet Home Alabama

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23andMe

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Cringe

Reddit | The Reddit Mascot the Snoo

Reddit

FAIL / Epic Fail

FAIL / Epic Fail

     



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