Ted Cruz Is Married to His Cousin-Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
Reports have broke that Ted Cruz and his wife, Heidi, are third cousins.
The Truth:
A fake news website is behind reports that Ted Cruz is married to his cousin.
The website, World News Daily Report, started the rumor with a story appearing under the headline, “’Anti-Gay Marriage’ US Presidential Runner is Married to Own Cousin.” The story reports that Cruz defended his marriage by rationalizing that his wife was his third, not first, cousin:
“I just want to be clear on one thing: my wife is not my first cousin, she is my third cousin by alliance, which is completely different and legal in most states” he told reporters, visibly flustered by the latest accusations.
“I used those specific words as an example that gay marriage is a state decision, not a Federal one” he admitted.
The story was quickly shared nearly 10,000 on social media, and many readers believed it was true. Some even defended the idea of marrying a third cousin. One commenter pointed out:
Third cousin by alliance means that she is a niece of an aunt or uncle that is married to a family member of his and removed one more step from that. They are no more blood relatives than step-children in a blended family.
Of course, no argument is needed because Ted Cruz is not married to his cousin. World News Daily Report is known for publishing fake and satirical news, according to its disclaimer:
WNDR assumes however all responsibility for the satirical nature of its articles and for the fictional nature of their content. All characters appearing in the articles in this website – even those based on real people – are entirely fictional and any resemblance between them and any persons, living, dead, or undead is purely a miracle.
So, given that the only source for this story is a fake news website, we’re calling it “fiction.”