Cousins Michael Lee and Angela Paeng have gone viral for being a pair after showing on the Amazon Prime actuality collection ‘Excessive Love,’ which follows tales of bizarre and distinctive relationships.
It has been a number of years because the present first aired and, tragically, Lee has since handed away. Nevertheless, clips are resurfacing of the couple’s uncommon dynamic.
Lee and Paeng are in actual fact associated, as they’re first cousins. Paeng’s dad is the older brother of Lee’s mom.
Whereas their relationship has left many individuals in shock, nobody was extra stunned by Paeng and Lee’s sudden love than their household, who had been “horrified” after studying about their romance.
Paeng and Lee instructed their household about their romantic relationship by sending a photograph of them kissing to their household group chat.
Lee and Paeng, each from Eagle Mountain, Utah, appeared on ‘Excessive Love’ in January 2020 and shared the best way they determined to inform their households about their weird relationship.
The pair made their relationship public by sending a photograph of them kissing of their household’s Fb group chat. The reveal did not go as easily as they’d have favored and ended with the 2 of them being kicked out of the group chat.
Lee and Paeng’s mother and father had been “shocked and horrified.” Paeng even confessed that their households tried to “hold them aside” after she shared that she had a crush on Lee whereas they had been each younger youngsters in main faculty.
“It was second grade, we had been about eight years previous. We instantly clicked and we had been like finest associates. We had been gradual dancing within the closet and we bought caught kissing,” Lee mentioned, likening their relationship to the William Shakespeare play, ‘Romeo and Juliet.’
Paeng mentioned she was instructed by her mother and father to not pursue any romantic relationship with Lee, her first cousin. “I bought pulled apart by my mother and father and so they mentioned, ‘What’s going on?’ And my mother mentioned, ‘Cool it, Angie.'”
They determined to rekindle their relationship after a decade had handed.
Paeng and Lee revealed that upon seeing one another after ten years of no contact, they realized there was nonetheless a spark there and determined to be collectively.
“9 months in the past, we noticed one another for the primary time in 10 years, and simply fireworks,” Paeng mentioned. “It felt like we picked up the place we left off.”
In 2019, the 2 determined they wished to marry, however had been compelled to drive to Grand Junction, Colorado, because it was unlawful for them to be married in Utah. Utah does enable cousins to be married if each events are 65 or older, or each are 55 or older with a district court docket discovering of infertility of both celebration.
Paeng and Lee, after getting married, determined they wished to have youngsters of their very own.
In an interview with the NY Put up, Paeng revealed that she and Lee had been excited to have youngsters and even did genetic testing to ensure there can be no problems in the event that they did conceive.
“We needed to do our due diligence as a result of everybody was saying to us, ‘No, don’t do this,’ and ‘It’s so dangerous and irresponsible,’” Peang instructed the publication. “So we did genetic testing and discovered it was OK for us to dad or mum collectively.”
Nevertheless, the couple briefly confronted the potential for 5 years in jail and/or receiving a superb of as much as $10,000, since intercourse between cousins is unlawful of their dwelling state because of the potential for start defects.
Based on a 2018 Columbia College examine, the possibilities of cousins having a genetic dysfunction is 4 to 7%, in comparison with 3 to 4% for non-related {couples}.
The couple, who suffered a miscarriage earlier than falling pregnant once more, welcomed their son Eric in Might 2020. Nevertheless, in July 2021, Paeng revealed in a YouTube video that Lee handed away after having a seizure whereas at work.
Nia Tipton is a author residing in Brooklyn. She covers popular culture, social justice points, and trending subjects.
