An influencer announces her relationship with 20-year-old stepson she had raised since he was just 7 years old. But though she had excitedly made the revelation on her social media pages, even sharing a throwback photo with the young man, her followers were not impressed.
Complicated Relationship
Marina Balmasheva, 35, met her current boyfriend, Vladimir Shavyrin, 13 years ago. That was back when he was still 7 years and she, then 22 years old, was married to his father, Alexey Shavyrin. Uhm. It’s complicated?
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Back when Marina was married to Alexey, she raised Vladimir and all of Alexey’s children as her own. During the marriage, she even adopted all of Alexey’s 5 children! The family lived together for over 10 years at their cozy home in Russia, but things turned sour for Marina and Alexey.
Alexey claims that even during the time they were still living together, Marina was already having a relationship with his son, Vladimir. He said that there were times when he heard the two at Vladimir’s room, but Marina would return to their room and sleep with him afterwards. It was a weird arrangement that later led Alexey to divorce Marina.
Influencer in Love with Stepson
Marina gained a huge following of over 400k netizens as she documented her journey to weight loss. Many of her followers were happy to see that Marina did not just lose weight but also looked much younger and more beautiful than she had ever been.
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But now that she’s feeling young and beautiful, Marina fell in love with her stepson. Her followers weren’t as happy with the news as she had been. She hoped to gain support from her social media followers but was blasted, instead.
“You never know how life will turn out and when you will meet a person who makes you smile. I know that some will judge us, others will support us, but we are happy and wish you to be as well,” Marina wrote in Russian, sharing photos taken 13 years apart.
She defended the relationship and shared plans to get married with her stepson as well as start a family with him. But she also said that she will continue to raise the rest of her stepchildren as her own kids, despite marrying Vladimir. Weird?
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Is It Legal to Marry Your Stepchild?
While stepfamilies are related by marriage, they are not related by blood. In many places, it is legal to marry your stepchild but this is frowned upon by society, particularly if one of the partners had actually raised the other from childhood. Many think that though they are not related by blood, the relationship should have been platonic.