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Topics: Life, Community, Sex and Relationships, US News
Niamh Shackleton
Topics: Life, Community, Sex and Relationships, US News
A woman who married a cousin and welcomed a baby with him has spoken out following his untimely death.
In 2019, first cousins Michael Lee and Angie Peang tied the knot. The pair hail from Utah, but they were unable to marry there as it's illegal in the state to marry your cousin so they were forced to have their nuptials in Colorado instead.
In Utah, it's seen as a third-degree felony for first cousins to marry and can see people land themselves with a $5,000 fine or possibly even jail time.
While their relationship raised eyebrows and caused them to become estranged from their family, Angie says their intimacy was heightened because they were related.
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"I definitely think the intimacy was heightened by being related. But, because we didn't spend much time growing up together, it circumnavigated the incest taboo," she told MailOnline.
"Honestly, there were several factors that brought us together besides physicality. We had similar looks, character traits, and it felt natural and meant to be."
After marrying, Michael and Angie went on to welcome their first child together, a little boy called Eric.
There were fears that Eric would carry recessive disorders with his parents being related, but the was born without any complications.
According to the UK's University of Bradford, children born to first cousins are twice as likely to carry recessive disorders as those born to unrelated parents.
Then, tragedy struck a year after Eric's birth and Michael died from an overdose. Apparently he'd been in and out of rehab over the years having struggled with drug addiction.
Angie claims she was stopped from giving a eulogy at her husband's funeral.
"It was very upsetting for me," she said. "I felt as if I could have delivered a message to our family that we could reach out to each other more from then on."
While Angie hoped she'd be able to repair her relationship with her and Michael's family for the sake of Eric, she's been unable to do so. Angie has a strong bond with her wider family, however.
She shared: "My extended family all look upon him with kindness and have been delighted to see him grow up."
Following Michael's passing, Angie has been advocating for the legalization of first cousin marriages in the states where it's banned.
She launched a petition in their home state of Utah, but it didn't go through.
Elsewhere, she is an admin for a Facebook group for cousin partners where Angie shares her and Michael's love story.