A WOMAN shared her unique family tree as she revealed her parents are actually siblings. The 46-year-old recalled how she learned that she was a product of incest at the age of nine. Speaking on the We're All Insane podcast, Vanessa broke down her experience being raised by a brother and sister.
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She explained that her grandmother was happy for her children, who are half siblings. According to Vanessa, her parents' family was happy both her parents "found someone t love.". She also revealed her mum and dad's different approaches to the taboo topic.
"My mother told me, she actually liked talking about it," she told podcast listeners. On the other hand, Vanessa speculated her dad "would have took it to his grave". The pair even received an official marriage certificate from their local courthouse in Ohio, US.
Their daughter explained how they took advantage of the fact that they had to different surnames to illegally marry. Her dad created a fake name for his mum when filling out the documents and the couple swore under oath that they were no closer kin than second cousins.
And while their family had no issues with the controversial marriage, Vanessa revealed the reason why one member was ostracised. She explained that her uncle was kicked out of the family, and refused from the Jehovah's Witness faith, for his sexuality.
Despite this, her own parents were still allowed to be baptised after admitting to their incestuous relationship. When her mum was 19 and her dad was 28, they moved in to their marital home and began having children. The couple had a total of seven children together, and suffered two miscarriages.
One of their babies died at just three months from pneumonia, setting off a period of turbulence for Vanessa's family. INCEST refers to sexual activity between close family members, such as siblings, parents and children, or grandparents and grandchildren.
Her dad moved out and her mum would regularly visit his apartment "with the sole purpose" of having another baby. "It became apparent that he was just stopping by to see his sister," Vanessa said of her relationship with her dad by that point. She was advised by the elders in their congregation not to have any more pregnancies.
To work around this, she moved her family to a different church location. Her sixth child was born with complications and church members asked doctors not to give the baby a vital blood transfusion. "Basically, my mum put this baby up for sacrifice for the religion after we just lost a baby one year before," she said.
Apart from these health issues, the baby was also born with cross eyes like one of his sisters. Vanessa explained that her mum "wasn't that motherly", adding that she didn't know why she wanted "so many children". "There came a point where I thought the whole thing just became a little like a fetish to her because she liked talking about her love for her brother," she said.
"By the time I was about 10, I knew how my dad performed in bed, I knew what kind of size he was, my mother liked talking about what she did with her brother even to children.". Vanessa revealed that her mum would've continued having children but her dad eventually drew the line after nine pregnancies, aged 52.
Fans of the podcast shared their thoughts on the family in the YouTube comments section. "Imagine thinking being gay is worse than incest. Unbelievable," wrote one viewer. "The gay man being kicked out but her parents being siblings and it being totally fine is just so crazy to me," said another subscriber.
