
The Chase star Mark ‘The Beast’ Labbett has reunited with his wife, who also happens to be his cousin.
The couple split in May this year after Katie had an ongoing affair.
Following news of the affair, Mark spoke publicly about discovering he had married his cousin after their 2014 wedding.
It’s understood their fathers are first cousins, making the pair second cousins. The couple, 53-year-old Mark and 26-year-old Katie, also have a son, whose name and identity has not been publicly disclosed.
Appearing on UK morning show Loose Women at the time, Mark told the panel that after he married Katie, he discovered they were cousins.
“It wasn’t something we were aware of at the time — it was one of those things that happened,” he said.
He then spoke about how difficult it was to adjust to married life, adding, “I’d been a single man for a long while so I was getting used to the idea of being on my own.
“A bachelor can be pretty selfish, you get used to doing what you wanna do all the time.”
The Mirror, however, tells a slightly different story.
According to the publication, Katie posted to Facebook prior to their wedding with the status: “So… I’m getting married… TOMORROW!!! Feeling in love.”
In earlier posts, she is reported to have said about Mark, “He’s my cousin and the chaser on ‘the chase’.”
In April, reports emerged that Katie had been cheating on Mark for more than a year.
The Sun claimed Katie had been seeing her new boyfriend 28-year-old Scott Bate since 2017, and since deleted Facebook photos suggest the pair had taken numerous trips together and spent time with friends as a couple.
Top Comments
I was going to say ‘how could that happen’, but I know my parents both have cousins I haven’t met, it’s entirely possible I could meet people I’m related to and not realise it. In the end, second cousins isn’t that close of a relationship, so it might be a bit weird, but it’s not really the end of the world.
It's actually not illegal (or that unusual) to marry your first cousin. Second cousin is even less consequential. I'm not really sure why this is even a story...
Exactly, royal families all over the world have been doing it for centuries. It was a whole plot line in Pride and Prejudice, Mr Collins coming to marry one of his cousins to keep property in the family.
Maybe google the Spanish Hapsburgs to see why it's not a great idea to keep doing it generation after generation ;)
Oh yeah, that’s the big problem, hey!
How could you possibly get married to someone whose father is your father's 1st cousin without discovering beforehand?
Possible, but really, really unlikely, the odds of your fathers being estranged and then becoming involved are infinitesimal.