Woman Finds Out She’s Dating Her Own Cousin Thanks To A DNA Test

A TikToker created a (now-deleted) video that went viral about a harrowing experience she went through: discovering she was actually dating her cousin.

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She found out that her now-ex-boyfriend was actually her second cousin after he brought her a DNA testing kit for her birthday. He also purchased one for himself—and a month later, the two received their results: they share a genetic relative.

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In the clip, she explained, “My mom is adopted and I never really knew my biological father. So I was mostly interested in the health information you know to see if there was anything I needed to look out for. And he got one for himself because they were on sale at the time.”

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“So we got the results back about a month later and I was looking through the list of relatives because the only person I know I’m technically related to is my mom. And I scrolled down and turned to my boyfriend and said ‘hey, this is pretty nifty, I’m related to someone with the same name as you.'”

“And that’s how I found out I was dating my cousin.”

“I was able to do a bit of research into my biological father’s side of the family and actually found someone that had done a genealogical report back to the 1500s,” she said. “Based on stuff in that person’s research as well as the percentage of DNA that my ex and I share, which was a little bit too high to be third cousins.”

“My ex is a great guy and I still care for him deeply, but yeah,” she added.

Featured Image: TikTok

Patricia Grisafi

Patricia Grisafi, PhD, is a freelance writer and educator. Her work has appeared in Salon, Vice, Bitch, Bustle, Broadly, The Establishment, and elsewhere. She is passionate about pit bull rescue, cursed objects, and designer sunglasses.