A man has been left devastated after finding out that his wife of six years is actually his cousin.

The unnamed man, believed to be from the US, took to discussion platform Quora to seek advice following the discovery.

In the post, which has recently resurfaced, he unraveled the unusual situation as he dished that he had unknowingly been married to a family member for the better part of a decade.

And dozens of stunned readers flooded to the comments to weigh in on the debate. 

A man has been left devastated after finding out that his wife of six years is actually his cousin (stock image) 

The unnamed man, believed to be from the US, took to discussion platform Quora to seek advice following the discovery 

The post read: 'What should I do? I just found out I am married to my cousin.

'We just found out we were related after being married for six years.'

He did not give further detail about how the truth came to light but readers were quick to offer their advice - with the vast majority being quite reassuring. 

'What degree of cousins are you? First cousins are a problem for children, but second or third is much less of an issue.

'My husband and I found out we are fourth cousins once removed on ancestry, but we both had already done the DNA tests and we didn't show up on each others matches, because the percentage of DNA shared is so low it's negligible. 

'It turns out his parents are fifth cousins too, and weren't aware. This is a hazard when families have resided in one area for many generations!' they continued, adding: 'If you are happy in your marriage then I wouldn't worry about it.'

A second chimed in: 'It's really not much of a problem. Nineteen states have no restrictions at all on marriage between first cousins and most of the others allow it under some circumstances.

'If you are intending on having children you could obtain genetic counseling to better understand the risks and what your options are. Historically first cousin marriages have been unrestricted and even encouraged across many cultures.

And dozens of stunned readers flooded to the comments to weigh in on the debate 

'The genetic risks increase significantly when, for example, your parents or your spouse's parents are also first cousins and this risk has been the impetus behind limiting first cousin marriages,' they wrote.

A third agreed that the man should do 'Nothing.'

He added that, 'People have been marrying their cousins for centuries. (Charles Darwin is just one example).'

This isn't the first married couple to discover they were first cousins years into their relationship. 

Last year, DailyMail.com reported the story of , who were married for three years before realizing they were cousins. 

Back in 2002,

reported on findings that revealed the children of first cousins have only a slighter chance of having genetic defects than children born to unrelated parents.

While the rate of issues in children in the general population is 3 to 4 percent, it was found that first cousins only have a 1.7 per cent to 2.8 per cent higher chance than that of having children born with genetic problems.