Priscilla can pinpoint the moment her throuple began to unravel. Her fiancée, Kiara, was kissing their shared girlfriend, Olivia, in a way that lingered too long.
One night, after a romantic dinner in Savannah, Georgia, the two started kissing in the front seats of the family car and seemed unable to stop.
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Priscilla, stuck in the back with baby seats and toys, felt a flicker of jealousy.
“I worried, am I desired less than her?” Priscilla said.
“Will I be replaced?”
In the early days, Priscilla felt giddy with excitement.
She and Kiara had been together for eight years, and adding a third person felt like a safe way to explore non-monogamy.
Olivia was an old friend, so the children were comfortable with her.
They would walk to the beach holding hands as a three and curl up to sleep in a cuddle chain.
But problems began when both Priscilla and Kiara fell deeply in love with Olivia.
“The thing about throuples is that when real emotions get involved, things get more complicated,” Priscilla said.
The Rise of Throuples
In a throuple, three people commit to a romantic unit together. Unlike other forms of non-monogamy, throuples date, have sex, and sometimes raise children as a trio.
In Britain, 9% of adults are open to polyamory, and throuples appear to be on the rise.
In 2017, three men in Colombia formed the first legal throuple union. Activists in several US cities are now fighting for legal recognition for multi-partnered households.
