Have you ever imagined that these people could be related?
It’s safe for us to assume that most of us would not want to marry anyone we were related to. This is especially true if you think about your cousins, with whom most of us spent summers playing back at our grandparents’ houses. It is a bit weird to do so, but back in the day, they had no qualms about marrying blood-related people in their families.
And while you might be tempted to think about the royals and even go back to the 18th and 19th centuries, there are plenty of marriages of this sort that are happening in modern times as well. This is despite the fact that we know the kind of health problems that can occur if you have children with people that are too closely related to you!
Even if a lot of us would like to think it doesn’t happen in our country or that it is only in certain distant communities, there are numerous famous people who have married each other! And some of them are thought to be some of the most famous love stories in recent centuries because they found love when it was less common to hear about such wonderful marriages.
While some of them did it unknowingly, others have gone to great lengths to lie about the fact that they are related by blood or through their spouse and tried to downplay the union. Here we have gathered some of the most famous related couples, and you would not believe who is on this list!
Let us know if you know about them or if any surprise you!
4 thoughts on “9 Famous People Who Were Related and Still Got Married”
It has been documented that Jefferson and his slave Hemmings were in love. It is not fair to say he abused her. She was half sister to his former wife.
Any couple related or not, also is at risk of having a child with genetic conditions or health problems! Although taboo in some cultures, marriage between first cousins is accepted in many cultures around the world. The vast majority of children of first cousins are healthy and do not have problems due to their parents’ relatedness. It is important to keep in mind that even for an unrelated couple, there is an approximately 2-3% chance that their child is born with a birth defect, genetic syndrome, or disability.
The risk for children of first cousins is increased over this background, by about 3%. ( Not enough to forbid or look down upon )
The above information is from the “Genetic Awareness Project”
Another note of fact: Mary and Joseph were first cousins…. and though Jesus supposedly was immaculately conceived his siblings were definitely born of Mary and Joseph. If G-d sanctioned their marriage then who are we to say that such marriages are taboo?
You missed another famous couple who were cousins. FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt..
The outlaw Jesse James married his first cousin, Zerelda Mimms. She tended to his wounds from the Civil War.