'I risked prison to marry cousin, we fell in love when we looked the same as kids'

It was a love story that would divide a family, and brought with it the risk of severe legal consequences, but nothing could get in the way of the connection the two cousins, who have compared themselves to Romeo and Juliet.

Michael Lee and Angela Peang, 44, knew there was something between them that went beyond their family bond, even when they were little kids - and when their family noticed, they started trying to keep the first cousins apart.

As children, at one stage Angie cut her hair very short and admitted the pair looked so similar that it was practically as though she was looking in a mirror, but it was only many years later, as adults, that romance blossomed.

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Angela said she loved Michael from a very young age, and that at one stage, when she was seven, they snuck away to a cupboard and shared a kiss, only to be caught by Michael's little brother.

"We just always played a lot," she has said. "We went into a closet and we were kissing and dancing together. It just felt really natural."

Michael's little brother's reaction to spotting the kiss made the pair wonder in their childish innocence if they had done something they shouldn't, but that didn't stop Michael from telling Angie's mum later that day that he intended to marry her one day when he was grown up.

Her mum advised that marriage would not be possible, but said they could always be close pals.

But the pair - who were born 10 months apart - were drawn to each other. When they got to the age of 10, the adults in the family started to separate them to stop them sneaking away to hold hands.

Artist Angie - who was the eldest of 12 children from a large Mormon family based in Utah - was warned by her mum to rein in her behaviour around Michael, who was one of five siblings.

"We got in trouble," Angie told CBS News. "After that we were kind of kept apart."

Her father's job took them overseas regularly, so for much of her childhood, she saw little of the cousin she felt so connected to. However, she told The Sun that she remembers an occasion when she and Michael made rings out of pipe cleaners and swapped them, "which now seems quite symbolic."

It wasn't until she was 17 that they found themselves both staying at their grandmother's house, and the sparks flew again. Angela was poised to leave for her studies at university when she and Michael stayed up late, talking well into the night, though nothing physical happened.

A couple of years later, Angie married someone else and had three kids, and Michael, in turn, also got married. While they were in other relationships, the cousins maintained a respectful distance from one another, never getting too close to let the sparks fly again.

Angie split from her husband after nine years and began working as a stripper. Then, after 10 years of life as a single parent, her long-lost cousin Michael appeared on her Facebook feed in 2018, and the pair renewed their connection.

At first, their conversation was purely online, and they discovered that they were both divorced and living in Utah.

After some time, Angie admitted to Michael, a car salesman, that she had been having regular dreams about him, and he revealed he had experienced the same thing - and that sometimes his dreams got pretty steamy.

The pair reunited in person at a family get-together, and then in January 2019, things finally became romantic between them.

"Michael was shaking with nerves and I was sweating," she has said. "We ended up kissing passionately for three hours. A few weeks later, we made love for the first time. It was sensational – both physically and spiritually."

After crossing the line, the pair quickly decided to make things official and tie the knot, but they soon learned that marrying your first cousin is a crime in Utah, and that they would be risking five years in prison if they wed. So Michael and Angie popped over to neighbouring Colorado, which has no legal penalty for cousin marriage, to do the deed.

Just before tying the knot, Michael got nervous, Angie has since admitted, but the pair went ahead anyway, and in a celebration post on social media the groom wrote, "I am officially a married man with a bright future. I am completely ecstatic about finally being married to my Angie."

When it came to breaking the news to their family that they were in a relationship, Angie said her parents were shocked, and her three children were utterly horrified that she was in love with her cousin.

Despite upsetting her kids, Angie was determined to stay with Michael, and when it came to telling the rest of their shared family, they dived in head first, posting a photo of themselves kissing on the family Facebook group. It didn't go down well with everyone: Michael and Angie were swiftly booted out of the group altogether.

The couple have sincelaunched a petition to make cousin marriage legalin Utah so their marriage would be recognised there. They welcomed their son Eric in 2020, after undergoing genetic testing first, but they still risked a hefty fine or even jail time for having a child - because cousins having sex is illegal in Utah, not just marrying.

Their happiness wasn't to last long, however, with tragedy striking the following year.Michael, who had battled a drug addiction for years, died in 2021, just 14 months after they had welcomed their son.

"There are other normal people out there who, like we did, just happen to find themselves in love with their cousin at a time and place where it's not popular or accepted," Angie said not long after losing her soul mate.

"It helps me cope with Michael's death by sharing our love story. I don't feel like I'm just one isolated, perverted weirdo. We get to be a part of this thing that's so big and out of the ordinary and so special and so rare."