Steven White,Michael D. Carroll
2026-01-20 01:28:00
The couple have said they will stay together (Image: Getty Images)
A woman searching for her long-lost mother was left shell-shocked after discovering she had unknowingly wed her own brother.
Brazilian couple Adriana and Leandro, together for almost 19 years with a daughter, had each spent their lives hunting for their respective mothers, both called Maria, who abandoned them as infants.
They had no idea the women they were seeking might actually be one and the same person. Adriana, who worked selling cosmetics, hadn’t laid eyes on her estranged mother since she was aged one, with her father raising her alone.
Leandro, employed as a lorry driver and brought up by his stepmother, understood his mother had also abandoned him in his home city of Sao Paulo when he was eight years old.
Whilst Leandro remained in the city, Adriana departed their hometown to take up work as a housemaid, going on to marry for 15 years and have three children.
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The couple first crossed paths over two decades ago following the breakdown of Adriana’s marriage when she returned to Sao Paulo. They rapidly became smitten and moved in together.
Resolute in tracking down her mother, Adriana enlisted the help of a local radio station back in 2014.
Yet, during Radio Globo’s ‘The Time Is Now’ programme – which specialises in reuniting missing relatives – the mother disclosed she also had a son named Leandro who was unaware of her existence.
The couple are from Sao Paulo, Brazil (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Upon discovering her husband was also her sibling, a heartbroken Adriana said: “I don’t believe that you’re telling me this. Leandro is my husband.”
She continued: “Now I’m scared to go home and find out that Leandro doesn’t want me anymore. I love him so much.”
The couple had experienced Genetic Sexual Attraction (GSA), described by a GSA support forum as the phenomenon that occurs between “two adults who have been separated during the critical years of development and bonding and are reunited alter as adults.”
Adriana and Leandro, who reportedly never formally wed, told the radio station they intended to remain together despite the shocking revelation of their biological connection.
The couple didn’t know they were brother and sister (Image: Rádio Globo)
Adriana said: “Only death is going to separate us. All this happened because God wanted it to happen.
“Of course it would have been different if we had known all this before, but we didn’t and we fell in love. We thought it was funny that both our mothers had the same name, but it is a common name so we just thought it was a coincidence.
“At first we were really knocked by it all, but we had a family meeting and told everyone that we are going to stay husband and wife, whatever anyone might think. We have so many plans together. Nothing is going to break us up. Nothing.”
The pair disclosed they harboured no ill feelings towards their mother for leaving them and had been in contact with her on several occasions, with plans to organise a meeting in the coming months.
