Two women have revealed details of their taboo family lives after they began romantic relationships with their cousins and decided to have children with them.
Alexis, 20, and Grace, 23, have revealed the ups and downs of their unusual marriages as well as the fractures their relationships have caused within their families in a recent MTV documentary titled “True Life: I Had My Cousin’s Baby”.
Alexis, from Charleston, South Carolina began a relationship with her cousin Andrew and have a together called Genesis, who was born while Andrew continues to serve a six-year prison sentence.
The film shows Alexis struggling in her attempt to raise bail money for Andrew, receiving little help from her family who disprove of their relationship.
Ultimately, however, the couple do not remain together.
Alexis said: “Andrew and I aren’t together anymore. We broke up pretty much right after Genesis was born.
“It just wasn’t going anywhere, and I was getting more and more irritated each time I talked to him.
“He’s still my cousin though.”
Grace is married to her cousin Dylan who live together in Tennessee with their two children aged three and 18 months, according to the New York Post.
Dylan said: “She’s my cousin but everybody was like, ‘Man, she’s fine’ and I was like ‘Yeah, that’s kind of why I put a ring on it.”
The couple’s relationship has created huge ruptures in their family, causing them to move to Los Angeles.
Grace said: "My brother was like 'your baby could be super messed up'
“I’m really, really hoping that people in LA will accept me and Dylan and accept that we are in love, we have two babies and we are cousins.”
Marriage between first cousins is prohibited in 25 states in America, the National Conference of State Legislatures states. However six states including Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Utah and Wisconsin allow first cousin marriage if the pairs are over a certain age or one is unable to reproduce.
In North Carolina first cousin marriage is legal, however double cousin marriage is prohibited.
