Married couple starts a polyamorous relationship with a younger woman
Finding out your wife is in love with someone else would be cause for divorce for most couples. But when one man found out his wife had fallen for a younger woman, he gave his blessing to their relationship—setting in motion a chain of events that led to the three of them living together in a polyamorous 'triad'.
Joey Triplett, 37, and his wife Crystal Triplett, 35, from Cecil, Arkansas, met in 2001 and married in 2004, with their son Jamison arriving five years later. But 12 years into their marriage, Crystal befriended Jamie, now 23, at a car club meet and an intense attraction blossomed between them.
'Jamie came into my life and and we instantly became best friends,' Crystal, the co-founder of a burlesque entertainment troupe, said. 'She was over here at our house with us every weekend, and as we got to know each other more, we just developed a romantic liking for each other.'
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Unique set-up: Joey Triplett and his wife Crystal (right) married in 2004, and had their son Jamison (center) in 2009, before meeting Jamie (left) in 2008
Bond: Bisexual Crystal (right) fell for Jamie (left) after first getting to know her as a best friend; not long after his wife admitted her feelings, Joey said he was also attracted to Jamie
Bridging the gap: At 23, Jamie is more than ten years younger than Joey, 37, and Crystal, 35
Joey, a part-time police officer, said that by the time Crystal told him she had feelings for Jamie, he 'kind of already knew'.
'A lot of people think that Crystal and I had a rocky relationship and that's why we brought someone else into the relationship but that's not the case at all,' he added.
'We didn't even know there was a word for this, polyamory wasn't a thing that we had ever heard about or talked of.
'I knew she was bisexual when we got together, and I gave them my blessing completely when it came to forming the relationship.
'At that point in time, Jamie and I had developed a really good friendship, I never felt threatened by her or that she would pry us apart or tear Crystal away from me.'
In turn, Jamie, a hair and make-up artist and burlesque dancer, reassured Joey and Crystal that she didn't want to break the young family up. Within months, Jamie had moved into the family's home in Cecil, Arkansas, as Crystal's girlfriend.
But it wasn't long before feelings started to develop between Joey and Jamie.
'We spent so much time together, two attractive people hanging out, it was kind of inevitable,' Joey said. 'I pulled Crystal aside and was like, "I'm not trying to rain on y'alls parade, but I am developing feelings for Jamie as well."
'Crystal took it pretty hard. She was pretty upset by the situation.'
Back then: Crystal (pictured with Joey early on in their relationship) was 'pretty upset' when she learned that her husband had also fallen for Jamie
Moving on: 'I was the jealous person,' Crystal (pictured with Joey) confessed, revealing that she was confused about how to 'process' her emotions
Crystal admitted to finding it difficult to accept her two partners' newfound attraction to each other.
'I was the jealous person. I had a very hard time with it,' she said. 'I didn't know how to process it. There is no set of rules for a polyamorous relationship—you just have to figure it out as you go.'
Eventually, Joey recounted, Crystal approached him and Jamie and said: 'I get it, just like I love two people, so do both of you'.
'I believe the words used were, "Joey, if you were going to fall in love with someone else, I couldn't imagine it being anyone else but Jamie,"' he added.
Four years on, the car-obsessed trio live and love together in what they call a 'polyamorous and polyfidelis closed triad', meaning they are all faithful to one another, and they say they have no plans to add anyone else to their relationship.
'We are 100 per cent just the three of us,' Joey said.
'We don't want or seek other people. That was the thing from the get go. We all realized that we were super lucky to have two people we are in love with, honestly who wants more than that?'
The threesome raise eight-year-old Jamison as a family unit, and stress that all three parents have an equal say in the parenting process, with Jamie insisting she would 'do anything in the world' for him.
'When Jamie came, I was like, "Who's this?"' Jamison recounted. 'She just started living in the house and then I was told she was going to be my mom and I was like, "Okay." I think it's pretty fun to have two moms.'
Special bond: Jamie (pictured with Joey) quickly became a mother figure to the couple's son, Jamison, and says that she would 'do anything in the world' for him
Attraction: Joey says that Jamie (pictured) quickly adapted to life as a mother, and says that the two would like to have their own child in the near future
Jamie took to motherhood 'like a fish to water', Joey said, adding: 'She was around so much, [Jamison] chose on his own to start calling her mom.'
While Jamie has no legal rights towards Jamison, the threesome are also making plans for Joey and Jamie to have a baby together.
'Joey and I do plan on having a baby very soon hopefully,' Jamie said. 'I'm not pregnant, and am not trying to get pregnant, but very soon I will be. I just know it.'
'Bigamy is illegal,' Joey added, so legally the only thing we could do would be for us adopt Jamie, but that's even weirder!
'We do want to have a child together, and that is something that you don't need paperwork for, that's a binding contract in life. We all know how babies are made, so we're just going to get some practice in!'
Asked about how the three-way dynamic works in the bedroom, Joey said: 'It works out very well.
'We try to be together as much as possible, the three of us, but sometimes that's not possible, we're all very adult, we understand that we all love each other and have desires and needs.'
On the transportation front, Joey had to buy a truck with a bench in the front so no one had to ride in the back—and that isn't the only complication from having three people in the relationship.
Sharing: Crystal (left) and Jamie (right) cannot legally get married, nor can Jamie and Joey, however they plan to have more children who they will raise as a unit
Special upbringing: The polyamorous trio are raising Crystal and Joey's eight-year-old son Jamison together, and say that he quickly bonded with Jamie and began calling her 'mom'
Faithful: The trio describe themselves as a 'polyamorous and polyfidelis closed triad', which means they do not have relations with anyone outside of their trio
'We never planned it': Joey says that he and Crystal were 'as normal as could possibly be' before meeting Jamie
Balance: Joey admits that the situation can be difficult sometimes, noting that 'most people don't have the maturity to handle the jealousy'
'You have to keep two people happy at all times. It's a chore,' Jamie said.
'Also sometimes, whenever you fight, you do get ganged up on because two people are going to agree most of the time.'
While Joey recognizes that not everyone is cut out for polyamory, he says it has become normal to the family and those in their area.
'Most people don't have the maturity to handle the jealousy, the human brain is so possessive and wants to own people,' Joey added.
'But me and Crystal were as normal as could possibly be. We never looked for it or planned it. We didn't see other people.
'My parents have been married 40 years, Crystal's parents had been through a bad divorce, so we believed in the sanctity of marriage, then Jamie came along and it was a whole new world.
'In the town Jamison goes to school, I'm sure they talked about us at first—it's small town, little main street and the court house—but it's the last place in the world I expected to be so accepting.
'I get a lot of high-fives from it. A lot of my friends are definitely jealous of the situation. Both of the girls come up and kiss me at a ball game, I have my arms around them. We're just normal.'