Woman buys husband DNA test for birthday

A woman has been left devastated after she and her husband got the results of DNA tests, showing they are related.

This distressed wife shared her story with Slate.com podcast 'Dear Prudence' and it was discussed by host Daniel Mallory Ortberg and guest and literary agent Connor Goldsmith.

The letter explained that the woman and her husband had grown up in a small town together and now had a two-year-old son.

They purchased the DNA gift and the results showed they are first cousins.

The letter reads: "The results came back saying we are actually first cousins on the paternal side," confessed the woman.

"This news unsettles me and has left my husband's world in tatters."

The woman is upset at the effect the news will have on her marriage and her family as it seems to show infidelity by one or both of their parents.

"His parents have been married for 30 years and my husband has always held his mother close to sainthood," she writes. "He will not talk about this to me, we are sleeping in separate rooms and it is starting to affect our son.

"This secret is poisoning my marriage and I am terrified it will blow up the rest of our family."

She is also concerned about the effect the news will have on her father-in-law.

"My-father-in-law likes to rhapsodise how he married the first girl he ever kissed, this is going to kill him," she says.

This isn't the first time a DNA test has led to marital and family issues.

Earlier this year Nicki Field, 50, discovered her dad wasn't her biological father following a DNA test. She was instead the product of a secret affair and her biological father wanted nothing to do with her.

Share your story by sending an email to 9Honey@nine.com.au.