Twin sisters Briana and Brittany Deane married twin brothers Josh and Jeremy Salyers, resulting in two respective offspring that doctors describe as quaternary twins.
These identical twin sisters married identical twin brothers, but that’s not the only surprising detail about this Virginia family: Their sons are cousins, but are also genetic brothers, too.
Briana and Brittany Deane, 35-year-old twins, married Josh and Jeremy Salyers, both 37, in 2018 and are now the proud parents of “quaternary twins,” named Jax and Jet.
The 1-year-olds were born nearly three months apart and are cousins, but because they share the same DNA, they are also brothers in a phenomenon dubbed “quaternary twins.”
WebMD explains that quaternary twins are incredibly rare and occur when one set of identical twins has a child with another set of identical twins. While still cousins, the children genetically appear closer to siblings born to the same parents.
The Salyers’ rare family dynamic recently made people do a double take at the Twins Days Festival in Twinsburg, Ohio, which bills itself as “the largest annual gathering of twins and multiples in the world,” in August — and had a precious family first.
“They were looking around and laughing, and then Jett for the first time said the word ‘twins,’” Briana revealed to People.
“You’ve heard the term Irish twins and you’ve heard identical twins and fraternal twins, but we have quaternary twins,” Briana Salyers told Today Parents in February, right after Jett’s first birthday in January. (Jax turned one in April.)
Now, the couple, who previously starred in TLC show “Extreme Sisters,” documents their lives daily on Instagram to their 219,000 followers, including one shocking moment recently when their children realized their parents are twins.
“They were born to identical twin parents less than nine months apart,” Brittany explained. “Twins married to twins who both have babies at the same time.”
“We were hoping that we would have overlapping pregnancies so that this would happen. We thought it would be really cool,” Briana said. “There’s only 300 quaternary marriages known in the history of the world.”
Several of their followers have expressed their confusion about “quaternary twins,” while others were delighted by the unique family tree — including guests at the Twins Day Festival.
“We had twins pulling us aside all the time, saying that we got the dream and they have the same goal and that it would be amazing if they also married twins,” Brittany told People. “We just love hearing twin romance stories. It’s just so much fun. And we hope it happens for everyone who wants it.”
The foursome, who share a house together in Virginia, admitted that privacy is starting to become an issue — but inside their home, not online.
“We just moved into this great big home,” Deane told Entertainment Tonight. “It’s incredibly spacious, but all the space in the world hasn’t taken away from the fact that we have to deal with these privacy issues.”
“Right now, the issue is really the bedrooms and closets that have been a huge issue in this house,” she added.
However, all four of them chose to live under one roof to promote living as a singular “family unit.”
