Kissing Cousins 15 Famous Couples Who Are Related

“Jaime and I are more than brother and sister, we shared a womb, came into this world together, we belong together.” Deep down in our hearts, most of us did crazy foxtrots when Cersei Lannister from Game of Thrones, rebuked Ned Stark for questioning her incestuous relationship with twin Jaime Lannister - not necessarily out of approval, but because of the sheer nerve touted by the woman to safeguard her love. Prejudices on the moral and legal precincts of marrying cousins differ throughout the world and has reformed much over time. While “keeping it in the family” sounds fine and peachy when it comes to money or covering up of raunchy secrets, it is a little odd and to some, even out-and-out sleazy, in case the debate shifts to matrimony.

But, as insane and bonkers as it may sound, many of the world's greatest icons are known to have been involved in amorous relationships with their closest of kin. From some of the world's founding fathers to rock stars, present-day politicians and even actors, the “kissing cousins” seem to have been around across ages - after all, what is life if not for a discreet bit of debauchery? Here are 15 such celebrated couples who are actually related.

15 Albert Einstein And Elsa Lowenthal

One of the greatest minds to have ever walked this earth, the Nobel winning physicist seems to have enjoyed a very eventful conjugal life. Albert Einstein went into a relationship with 36-year-old Elsa Lowenthal when he was still married to his first wife Mileva Maric. After his first marriage ended in 1919, he openly pursued the relationship with his mistress and cousin and married her that very year after a seven-year-long courtship. Elsa and Einstein were first cousins maternally and second cousins paternally, but that didn't affect their love in any way. Although they didn't have any children together, they were a close-knot family and Einstein raised Elsa's daughters from a previous marriage as his own. The couple emigrated to the United States in 1933, only three years after which Elsa passed away, suffering from serious heart problems.

14 Greta Scacchi And Carlo Mantegazza

The award-winning actress, known for her sizzling presence in films like Heat And Dust and White Mischief, had kept her amorous relationship with her cousin Carlo Mantegazza a complete secret. “We were friends… I had never seen him in that way… I was definitely scandalized by it,” Greta Scacchi told MailOnline. But, when she reached the first trimester of her pregnancy, there was no way out from telling her family about the baby and the father! “My dad Luca was deeply offended and quite devastated. He was very angry,” said the Milan-born Aussie actress. More than a decade has passed but people continue to react with negativity to the fact that she and Carlo - the father to her 17-year-old son Matteo, are first cousins. “Catholic newspapers were so disapproving… I was scared because I thought I might have to get rid of the baby I was having,” she said.

13 Morgan Freeman And E'Dena Hines

Six years before the murder of E'Dina Hines in 2015, there were buzzes about an alleged affair between Hines and her step grandfather Morgan Freeman. The Shawshank Redemption star was then going through a divorce with wife of 25 years, Myrna. An insider told RadarOnline that Hines was raised by the couple “since she was a little girl.” Though not a blood-relative of Freeman's, Hines was 45 years his junior and her illicit affair with the older actor, reportedly took off while she was still in her teens. The most unsettling part of this relationship however seems to be the fact that Freeman may have preyed on his step-grandchild when she was a minor. The insider claimed, “She and Morgan went to dinner at a friend's house… both had been drinking, and when they returned home, [he] attempted to [make love] to her.” Freeman has, of course, trashed such accusations.

12 Jerry Lee Lewis And Myra Gale Brown

The pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Jerry Lee Lewis triggered a lot of ink-spills, when he married his third cousin, 13-year-old Myra Gale Brown in 1957. He had already gone through two marriages by then and the fact that Myra was a close-blood link, who still believed in Santa Clause, didn't do much to help his cause. The response of the press was immediate and scathing. The British press labelled the “Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On” singer as a “cradle robber” and a “baby-snatcher”, criticizing his performances and calling for a boycott of his concerts. The American press were just as harsh and Lewis's fee for personal appearances dropped from $10,000 a night to $250 - a setback that he couldn't really spring back from. The couple divorced in 1970, with two of his six children: son Steve Allen Lewis who drowned at 13 and daughter Phoebe.

11 Whitney Thore And Nathan

My Big Fat Fabulous Life star Whitney Thore was in for a rude shock when she found out that the guy she was dating was a distant cousin. Nathan, her suitor, who she had met online told her during the filming of the unscripted TLC series: “I think we are distant relatives… We are like second cousins or something… ” Thore was so taken aback by this piece of information that she accused Nathan of fabricating the story in order to get out of dating her, but he assured her that it was not the case. She said: “I feel like I entered into something that I would not have entered into had I had all the information - and I feel gross.”

10 Christopher Robin Milne And Lesley

As a child, Christopher Robin Milne was the inspiration behind the character of Cristopher Robin in his father, AA Milne's stories and poetry on Winnie The Pooh. Christopher spent much of his childhood resenting his father for exploiting him to sell books - because being the centre of these stories also subjected him to ridicule among his peers. He even refused to accept any of the royalties from book sales and made his own mark in the literary world by opening a very successful bookstore. Later, when he went on to marry his first cousin, Lesley de Sélincourt in 1948, his distance with his parents widened. His mother, who wanted him to marry his childhood friend, Anne Darlington was greatly disappointed. In fact, she was so outraged by his audacity that she spent the next 15 years of her life without seeing or speaking to him.

9 Rudy Giuliani And Regina Peruggi

Married a total of three times, former New York City mayor, Rudolph “Rudy” Giuliani's first union was with his childhood sweetheart and the daughter of his father's first cousin, Regina Peruggi, after he graduated from law school in 1968. However, by the 70s, their marriage had hit rough waters and couple agreed to go their separate ways with the intent of divorce. While filing for the divorce, Giuliani claimed that his discovery of the fact that Peruggi was his second cousin was leading him to go ahead with the annulment papers with the Catholic Church since the marriage was never validated by the church itself. The annulment was granted and their marriage ended after 14 years with no children from the coalition. Giuliani then went on to marry his then girlfriend, television personality Donna Hanover.

8 David Lean And Isabel Jean

He rose from a tea-boy to a director par excellence with 31 awards to his credits, including the Academies, Golden Globes and BAFTA. But as his old producer Anthony Havelock-Allan had put it, “David [Lean] always had to have a girl on any film he worked on.” Famous for epic films like The Bridge On The River Kwai and Lawrence Of Arabia, Lean started off on his relentless womanizing ways by marrying his first cousin Isabel Jean, in 1930. She gave him his only son Peter. Soon after, he realized that domesticity was not for him and the couple separated six years later, only so Lean could marry again, another five times. His former cinematographer and producer Ronald Neame told Kevin Brownlow, the author of the Lean biography: “[He] had many mistresses. His approach to marriage was certainly erratic.” Well, evidently!

7 Madeleine Milhaud And Darius Milhaud

French actress and librettist Madeleine Milhaud married music composer Darius Milhaud in 1925 and had one son together - as conventional as this may seem, there was a minor twist in their tale - Darius and Madeleine were cousins of the same name, born 10 years apart. They tied the knot when Madeleine was 23 and Darius was at the peak of his career. Both their families came from Aix-en-Provence and were non-orthodox Jews of Russian origin. The couple played a pivotal part in the growth of fashionable modernism. While Darius introduced jazz and South American rhythms into an eclectic musical style, Madeleine actively participated in setting up his concert works and became part of a circle of musicians, poets, cineasts and painters before she established herself as an actress, producer and stage designer in her own right.

6 Edgar Allan Poe And Virginia Clemm

The pioneer of detective fiction, Edgar Allan Poe was one of the first American writers to earn his living as a writer, notwithstanding the financial struggles. Much like Jerry Lee Lewis, the author of The Raven fell in love with a much younger woman, who also happened to be his first cousin. At 27, Poe married Virginia Eliza Clemm, who was just 13 at the time. While much about their relationship is shrouded in mystery, the two are said to have first met when Clemm was just seven years old. When the two decided to tie the knot, Clemm's mother strongly disagreed, given their age difference and Poe's financial position. Regardless, the couple eloped to Baltimore and made their marriage public a year later with a ceremony in Richmond, Virginia. A Presbyterian minister officiated the union and the duo honeymooned briefly in Petersburg, on the Appomattox River.

5 H.G. Wells And Isobel Mary

One of the founding fathers of science fiction, with some of his notable classics including The Island of Doctor Moreau, The Invisible Man and The Time Machine, HG Wells, married his first cousin, Isobel Mary Wells in 1891. Soon after, rumours of the trained biologist cheating on his wife with a student started spreading like wildfire and the two called it quits and separated four years later in 1894. The gossips proved true as Wells ran off with his student Amy Catherine Robbins (later known as Jane) and started a family. But old habits die hard, and Wells continued to have extra-marital affairs but reportedly with his wife's consent this time. He was linked to many prolific women during this period like American birth-control activist Margaret Sanger, adventurer and writer Odette Keun, Soviet spy Moura Budberg and novelist Elizabeth von Arnim.

4 Saddam Hussein And Sajida Talfa

The fifth president and dictator of Iraq, Saddam Hussain was married to his first cousin Sajida Talfah in 1963. An out-and-out arranged marriage, Talfa's father happened to be Hussain's maternal uncle. They had five children together, Uday, Qusay, Raghad, Rana and Hala. Because polygamy is legal in Iraq, Hussain went on marry his second wife, Samira al Shahbandar in 1986, while he was still married to Talfa. Reportedly, Talfa was so enraged by this act that she had her eldest son beat the man, who arranged their first meeting, to death. Four years after his second marriage, in 1990, Hussain married again - this time it was to Nidal al-Hamdani. Hussain was married to all his three wives till his death in 2006. This man sure took his vows very seriously!

3 Charles Darwin And Emma Wedgwood

Evolution would have no meaning without Charles Darwin. One of the most influential icons in human history, Darwin believed in the survival of the fittest - which probably is the only explanation behind his marriage to his first cousin, Emma Wedgwood in 1839. The marriage, officiated by their cousin, the Reverend John Allen Wedgwood, saw the couple bearing not one or two, but 10 children together. But, the union may not have come as a surprise for their family because Darwin's and Wedgwood's grandparents were also related as third cousins. The On The Origin Of Species writer was perhaps well-aware of the irony in the fact that he was inbreeding and believed it to be the very reason behind the sufferance of his children - given two of his children died in infancy and one died at the age of 10.

2 Jesse James

A notorious outlaw, gangster, robber and murderer, Missouri native Jesse James married his first cousin Zerelda “Zee” Mimms in 1874. The legendary figure and an incredibly polarized icon, whose actions caused him to oscillate between a southern loyalist and a killer, James was recovering from a chest wound caused by the nature of his “work”, when he fell in love with Zerelda, who was at that time taking care of him. After courting for nine-long years, James and Mimms finally tied the knot and went on to have four children - son, Jesse Edward and daughter, Mary Susan, and a set of twins that passed away in infancy. According to legend, Mimms and her children were in the house when Jesse was fatally shot by fellow outlaw, Bob Ford, in 1882.

1 Kevin Bacon And Kyra Sedgwick

The couple is due to celebrate 29 years of marriage this September and the fact that they are distant cousins doesn't bother Kevin Bacon and his wife Kyra Sedgwick. The Hollywood couple, who have two children - son, Travis and daughter Sosie - were confronted with this reality during the filming of Finding Your Roots, a series in which famous Americans are given an insight into their family backgrounds. Not only was it revealed that their families were intimately linked to key moments in American history, but the DNA analysis of the stars also exposed their obvious association with each other. Sedgwick, the star of Singles and The Closer, had expressed her fear at the outset that the investigation might show that they were related and when it finally did, she had exclaimed: “See. I knew it! I knew it.”