The Deane girls and the Salyers boys have built a unique life together. The sets of identical twins met at the annual Twins Day Festival in Twinsburg, Ohio, setting off a dual romance for the ages—complete with young sons who are both cousins and siblings.
Briana and Jeremy and Brittany and Josh have 3-year-old sons, Jax and Jett, respectively, who are uniquely tied genetically. The boys are cousins since their parents are siblings, but they’re also siblings themselves. Since each of their parents shares identical DNA, Jax and Jett both have DNA close enough for them to be considered “genetic siblings.”
“They are technically known as quaternary twins,” Briana told ABC News. “So they, because they are genetic brothers and they were born less than 9 or 10 months [of] each other. They’re genetic brothers [and] the same age.”
The tots aren’t identical, though. In a March Instagram post from their joint account—which boasts more than 300,000 followers—the proud parents noted that the boys “have gone through stages where they have looked so much alike, they looked like identical twins…. and then other stages where they look very different.”
Technicalities aside, the toddlers consider themselves brothers, and tell those curious that they have two moms and two dads. Indeed the family of six lives together at Smith Mountain Manor, the wedding venue they run in Huddleston, Virginia. As the couples live under one roof, they are raising their sons as siblings, not cousins.
Inside the Salyers’ Life Together
“I think there are people who wonder if it’s a polygamist situation, and that’s very not the case,” Briana told the outlet. “So it’s true… traditional monogamous marriages. But we just raise the kids… under the same roof. We share finances and all of that, but we’re not sharing spouses.”
In a 2022 interview with People, Briana explained why her family’s current setup—which is known as a quaternary marriage, the term for when two identical sets of twins marry each other—is one she always dreamed of having.
“Identical twins, in particular, come into this world never knowing what it was like to be alone,” she said. “Our more natural state is the togetherness, and that helps us.”
The next year, the family sat down for a follow-up interview with the same outlet. During that chat, Briana shared how she deals with the unique situation’s challenges.
“Sometimes I think you get used to living the dream, and it’s nice to take some time to remind yourself of how badly you wanted it when you were younger, and how impossible it seemed at times growing up and when we were dating,” she said. “And now we have it. So that keeps us strong.”
The post Identical Twins Married Identical Twins. Now Their Kids Are Both Cousins and Siblings. appeared first on VICE.
The post Identical Twins Married Identical Twins. Now Their Kids Are Both Cousins and Siblings. appeared first on VICE.
