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Alex, Shalaun and Shantell, known online as 'The Portah Family', are a throuple from Houston who says they are perfectly happy and content with their 'one man, two wives' dynamic. Before the polyamorous relationship started, Alex and Shalaun had been married for nearly 20 years with two children. But when Shalaun discovered Alex's affair with Shantell, it rocked their marriage. Shalaun eventually decided to meet Shantell and to everyone's surprise, the three of them hit it off straight away. After reassessing their relationship, they started exploring the idea of polygamy. The throuple's decision to stay together was initially met with resistance from the family. They also regularly get judgement online for their relationship. Four years later, the throuple is still happily in love and dedicated to building their family together - Alex and Shantell welcomed their first daughter last year, bringing them to a family of six. Shalaun told Truly: 'We started off in a rocky position but we grew to know each other and learn how to love each other in different ways and different fashions.'
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0:00
I'm Alex
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I'm Shalon. And I'm Shantel, and we are in a polyamorous struggle
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I've always known that, okay, I think girls are beautiful. I never had a threesome before
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I've never been a woman before. I'm looking like, okay, well, if we're doing this, we're doing this
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We do get a lot of judgment for our relationship. The ladies don't like each other on the low
0:19
I should no longer be allowed to procreate in life. So what happens if he cheats on the second wife
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What I found the hardest to deal with was my dad having an affair. I was mad
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It was hard for me to hold it together. I don't want to talk about it. No, I enjoy cooking, though
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I am not going to lie. I enjoy cooking because making a good meal brings the family together
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We are the Porter family. Shalon is my beautiful first wife. We have two children together
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This is my second wife, Chantel. And last year, we had a beautiful baby girl, Saraya, that also came in the picture
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spanning our family to a wonderful, great number six. You consider us polygamists, which is a man with multiple wives
1:01
I am the wife to Alex and the sister wife to Chantel
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Alex is my boyfriend. Each of them are individual relationships. Mine and Chantel's relationship is different from mine and Shalon
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There's a special bond that me and Alex have just because we've grown up together and we've persevered over so much
1:21
He stopped coming home after work. Every day after work, he just come home, shower, I'm going to hang out with the boys
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come home, shower, and go and hang out with the boys. And eventually something just told me, hey, just look at his phone
1:31
And when I opened up his phone, he had screenshots of him and her
1:37
And then I had texted him what I'd seen, and he actually just told me
1:41
I'm seeing someone else. I don't want to talk about it anymore. Can I boss for a tissue
1:48
Thanks. I've always been open-minded. I've always known that, okay, I think girls are beautiful
1:54
I liked her a lot Chantel energy never came off as aggressive or like I your replacement I didn have a reason to be mad at Chalonne And from that point I was like okay
2:05
let's just continue to go about the night and see where it flows to. I never had a threesome before. I'd never been with a woman before. I'm looking like, okay, well
2:14
if we're doing this, we're doing this. The backlash that we get from our social media
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yes, we get a lot. The comments be like, oh my God, he's a manipulator. He ain't nothing
2:24
They were trying to put me and Shalane against each other. They write you in your DMs and tell you the same thing in your DMs
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They feel you're not responding to the comment. Wife. This is directed at me
2:37
Leave the situation. Let them have each other and find yourself. Somebody save me
2:42
No. I'm fine in my situation. I'm not held hostage. If I want to leave, I can leave
2:48
We did start a whole campaign. Hashtag free Shalane. Free me. I should no longer be allowed to procreate in life
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That's just an overall slug. It's like, damn, like that keyboard life is real
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That thugging behind the keyboard. Y'all thumb shit hurts sometimes. I don't even see how y'all can be keyboard thugging
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But then you see me in public and it's like, oh, you're a really nice person. I like you
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The ladies don't like each other on the low. Oh, they be like, you see how she looks at her
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She hates her. They put us against each other all the time
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And like, if you don't me, you know damn well I do not compete with nobody for nothing
3:24
They like each other. They dislike me. I can't believe people are normalizing cheating
3:30
Normalizing cheating, you look up the definition of cheating. Everybody in this situation is in the know
3:36
So how can it be cheating from the beginning? That's what they mean. You already go back on our whole thing of how this situation came about
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I know people don't like the cheating aspect portion of it that I did. You know, it was horrible
3:47
I would admit it was horrible. It was selfish. But we both had a little situation of infidelity
3:53
So for everybody that was like, oh she should have cheated back she did She did So what happens if he cheats on the second wife I mean he would just cheat on the second wife I wouldn be able to just cheat on the second wife
4:06
I'd be cheating on both of them again. You know what the..
4:09
I wonder how he'd feel if the shoe was on the other foot. Would you be open to accepting if his wife wanted another man
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This question gets asked a lot. No, the shoe doesn't have to be on the other foot. It's on my foot
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It's on his foot. It's on her foot. He's always told me if I feel like going out and getting me another man or woman, it's my choice
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This is sick and disgusting, especially when there are children involved. When they involve the children, that should not even be a thought
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I would leave the children completely out of it. How you feel they're being raised, whatever they're being exposed to
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You're questioning my ability to raise my child. You're questioning what I'm exposing to the children
4:49
Nah, mind your damn business. As long as you don't speak about any of our kids, you can say whatever you want about all of us
4:55
You know, of course you're going to get ridiculed behind people behind online. That's what online does. That's what the internet does
5:00
The internet serves negativity. Appreciate y'all spreading the knowledge of what's possible for unions and relationships
5:07
Definitely understand that's a heavy cross to carry, but y'all do it with extreme style and grace
5:12
Definitely appreciated that. It's so dope to always have that type of support and those kind words to be given to you
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These are clearly people who took a tough situation and grew, learned and healed through it
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Yes. I like that one. I remember reading that one because I was like, that's exactly what happened
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Nobody ever asked her that question before. People don't understand that there's different dynamics of a relationship
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You can love people the way you want to love people and it doesn't matter how other people feel
5:42
What I found the hardest to deal with was my dad having an affair. I was mad, if you want me to be honest
5:47
Before Chantel came around, I have never heard the term poly. I kind of understood what was going on
5:52
My relationship with Chantel was awkward at first but over time I kind of just started to accept her more Thank thank you No she wants yours She wants mine I just happy Chantel a part of my family now
6:06
and I could actually look at her as another mom. She even gave me a little sister
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I've been asking for a little sister for the longest. I just took it for what it was
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and as long as they were happy, as long as they see my mom happy. Me and Chalon, we did used to be in a relationship romantically
6:20
and now our new dynamic is we do date Alex separately. What is the challenges of sharing the bed together
6:27
All three of us. We each have a designated spot to sleep at. Me, it's the middle
6:32
Like, they will put me in the middle. I've asked for the edge repeatedly. It is hot in the middle
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It's funny. I know. I lost my napkin. So I leave the bed and I go sleep on the couch
6:41
The plan for the day is getting ready, going out, and celebrating this beautiful young lady's 21st
6:48
It's my baby. It's my baby. My oldest baby. the first official 21 birthday drink with her parents i know i'm excited
7:07
no you're excited no these are official new orlean green i believe how far we came as a family
7:14
is leaps and bounds we started off in a rocky position but we grew to know each other and learn
7:21
how to love each other in different ways and different fashions. And I think as the days go by
7:27
we continue to learn each other and build our love even stronger. I always let the positive over shine the negative
7:33
Anything is possible as long as y'all are really ready to do the work, commit to the situation
7:38
and let love win overall. Life is an adventure. Yes, yes. And that's what we're going to live by
7:51
Thank you