Woman discovered she has unknowingly married her own brother.

A woman went in search of her long-lost mother - and discovered she has unknowingly married her own brother.

Adriana, 39, and her husband Leandro, 37, have been together for seven years and have a six-year-old daughter.

The Brazilian couple spent their lives trying to find their respective mothers, who were both called Maria, and had both abandoned their children when they were still babies.

Adriana, a cosmetics saleswoman, hadn't seen her mother since she was just one, when she left home leaving her to be raised by the girl's father.

Meanwhile, truck driver Leandro found out aged eight that his own mother had also abandoned him, and that the woman he knew as his mum was actually his step-mother.

The pair met for the first time ten years ago fell in love and moved in together.

Still unable to forget the give up the search for her mother, Adriana decided to contact a a radio station in their town to ask for help - and this week the two were reunited live on air.

But at the end of the interview the mother revealed she also had a son who didn't know her, Leandro.

GENETIC SEXUAL ATTRACTION: HOW ESTRANGED RELATIVES CAN MISTAKE KINSHIP FOR ROMANCE

A phenomenon called genetic sexual attraction can occur when estranged relatives meet for the first time as adults.

Feelings of intense intimacy can be confused as the brain struggles to associate each other as family.

When families grow up together, an inherent taboo is created which desensitises them to sexual attraction.

It is known as the Westermarck effect but is missing from relatives who do not know each other.

As it becomes clear that it is the same Leandro that she was married to, Adriana is heard weeping uncontrollably: 'I don't believe that you're telling me this. Leandro is my husband,' she sobs.

At the end of the interview she says: 'Now I'm scared to go home and find out that Leandro doesn't want me any more. I love him so much.'

Adriana said: 'Only death is going to separate us. All this happened because God wanted it to happen.

'Of course it would have been different if we had known all this before, but we didn't and we fell in love.

'We thought it was funny that both our mothers had the same name, but it is a common name so we just thought it was a coincidence.

'At first we were really knocked by it all. But we had a family meeting and told everyone that we are going to stay husband and wife, whatever anyone might think.

'We have so many plans together, nothing's going to break us up, nothing.'

The couple said they don't blame their mother for leaving them, have spoken with her a number of times since and plan to meet up soon.