Ben was just a week old when his mother Kim gave him up for adoption – but more than 30 years later, the pair reunited and began a sexual relationship
Edward Easton and Jane Lavender Associate Editor
04:00, 20 Feb 2026
Ben hadn’t seen his biological mum for three decades(Image: The New Day)
A married man who spent the first 30 years of his life oblivious to his biological roots shocked his family by leaving his wife to embark on a sexual relationship with the mother who had given him up at birth.
Kim West was just 19 and studying in California when she gave birth to her son Ben. Facing financial and emotional struggles, she found herself unable to raise him single-handedly, so after a week, she put him up for adoption and returned to her home in the UK.
For over three decades, they remained out of contact, until everything changed in 2013.
Ben, now married and residing in Colorado, decided to seek out his biological parents, eventually locating Kim and sending her a letter. What started as tentative emails and phone calls rapidly escalated and by 2014, they had arranged to meet in person.
Their reunion would take a turn that few could fathom, reports the Mirror.
Both claim the bond was immediate and powerful, and within days of their meeting, their relationship turned sexual.
Ben Ford cuddles mum Kim West(Image: The New Day)
The repercussions were swift.
Ben later confessed that after becoming involved with his mother, he told his wife Victoria something that left her stunned – he could no longer be intimate with her unless he imagined she was his mother.
Reflecting on the early days, Kim described the household atmosphere as tense. She said Victoria was courteous but aloof, and jealousy soon reared its head.
“(Victoria) was welcoming, yet I couldn’t warm to her,” Kim said. “I felt a growing sense of competition and when Ben touched her I felt jealous.”
The pair began a sexual relationship within weeks(Image: The New Day)
She alleged Victoria grew progressively uneasy with the amount of time Ben was dedicating to his biological mother.
“She would constantly call him when we were together,” Kim said. “Eventually, he admitted she was giving him grief about spending time with me. ‘She calls you mummy girlfriend,’ he said.”
Merely days following the start of the affair, Ben revealed everything to his wife. Shortly afterwards, he departed the marriage and relocated to live with Kim in Michigan.
When their relationship entered the public domain, it provoked widespread condemnation. Under Michigan law, consensual incest between adults constitutes a severe criminal offence carrying possible imprisonment and compulsory registration as sex offenders.
Despite the fierce criticism, the couple dismissed the characterisation of incest. They alternatively framed their connection as “Genetic Sexual Attraction”, citing a disputed theory not recognised by the majority of psychologists that suggests close relatives meeting for the first time as adults encounter powerful attraction due to absent early-life bonding.