A Brazilian woman who set out to find the mother who abandoned her as a baby ended up learning her husband is actually her biological brother.
Adriana, who was 39 when she shared the story in 2014, spent much of her life trying to find her mom after she left when Adriana was just one year old.
The little girl was raised by her dad, knowing only that her mom’s name was Maria, and she went on to get a job as a housemaid and marry her first husband, with whom she welcomed three children.
When her first marriage broke down, Adriana moved back to her hometown and met her current partner Leandro. The pair fell in love and went on to welcome a daughter.
Leandro was eight years old when he found out that the woman he thought was his mom was actually his step-mom, and that his real mom had abandoned him after he was born.
Leandro’s biological mom was also called Maria, but that, coupled with the fact they had the same hometown, didn’t ring any alarm bells for the couple at first.
“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,” Adriana said later in an interview.
Determined to track down her mom, Adriana enlisted the help of Radio Globo’s ‘The Time Is Now’ programme, which specialized in finding lost relatives.
The show was able to reunite Adriana with her mom – but the daughter was left stunned when Maria revealed she also had a son who didn’t know her.
You guessed it – that son was Leandro.
“I don’t believe that you’re telling me this,” Adriana said after realization dawned on her. “Leandro is my husband.”
Adriana and Leandro never actually married legally, but clearly considered each other as husband and wife.
“Now I’m scared to go home and find out that Leandro doesn’t want me any more. I love him so much,” Adriana said.
In spite of Adriana’s fears, and the fact they are biologically related, the couple revealed their plans stay together.
“Only death is going to separate us,” Adriana said. “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.”
Adriana admitted that she and Leandro, who did not share their last names, were ‘really knocked’ at first when they learned the truth, but ultimately they decided they didn’t care what ‘anyone might think’.
“We have so many plans together, nothing’s going to break us up, nothing,” she said.
Neither Adriana or Leonardo blamed their mom for leaving, and they made plans to meet up with her again in the future.