It was love at first kiss. And just six months later, Celina and Joseph “Joe” Quinones wed and went on to welcome three children. After a decade of marriage, the couple had built their dream life together.
Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Until Celina began researching her family tree and discovered her lineage overlapped with Joe’s. The couple were cousins. “There was some of our friends who said we look alike, but we didn’t think anything of it,” Celina tells 7Life of how she unearthed their family secret.
“We were both in shock. “I was like, ‘Oh my goodness are we meant to be together?’.” The couple, from Colorado in the US, initially kept their ancestry link a secret.
Navigating the truth of their DNA connection behind closed doors, after months of deliberating the happily married couple decided to stay together. And their marriage is stronger than ever. Now, five years later, Celina and Joe have launched dating platform Before We Be helping prevent people from sparking up a relationship with someone they are related to.
Celina and Joe wed in July 2006 after just six months of dating. The mum of three says the moment she locked lips with Joe it was “love at first kiss”. Both brunette and with dark eyes, a few friends made passing comments about the couple looking similar but the couple never thought anything of it.
And when the big day came, family members didn’t recognise each other. For the Quinones, the thought they were rela.
