By Rebecca Drew
THIS MARRIED couple opened up their marriage after she came out as bisexual and they both fell in love with another woman they met on TINDER, moving her in after just TWO MONTHS – and now they are both engaged to her despite their families not accepting their polyamorous relationship and going to therapy.
Waitress, student and support worker, Rosie Haley (24) and her husband, Australian defence force member, Ty (23) from Brisbane, Australia, always knew they wanted to be together since they met when they were 17 after finishing high school. They were married at 18 in September 2014.
A few years later when she was 22, Rosie came out a bisexual to Ty and instead of calling quits on their happy and successful relationship, they decided to open their marriage to find another woman they could both fall in love with and would reciprocate their feelings. The couple joined Tinder and matched with student, Keneshia Petty (23) in May 2018.
After a few weeks of talking, Rosie and Ty both went on separate dates with Keneshia and they hit it off immediately. They decided to form a throuple and have been inseparable ever since, with Keneshia moving in with Rosie and Ty after two months.
The three are in a polyamorous relationship where they experience more love, understanding, growth, respect and encouragement than a monogamous relationship had ever given them. In November last year, Rosie proposed to Keneshia whilst Ty was deployed in the Middle East and joined the romantic moment on Skype. When he returned in February, he also proposed to Keneshia.
Although not every member of their respective families has been accepting of their relationship, Ty and Rosie are planning to marry Keneshia in 2020 and hope to have children together one day.
In the time that they have been together, the three are not ashamed to admit that they have been to therapy individually and as a throuple in order to be able to balance their individual needs and wants within their relationship and say in doing so, their family unit is stronger than ever.
“Polyamory means ethical, authentic love that is encouraged and supported by each of us. It means love. It means respect, consideration and patience. Being in a throuple, as we like to call it, means more love, more understanding, more growth and more encouragement. We have our needs met by one another in ways that monogamy never offered,” said Keneshia.
“These feelings we had for one another, they were strong from the beginning and we knew that choosing this love would mean a lot of challenges and hard work, but it felt right.
“Ty and I are engaged, and Rosie and I are engaged whilst Ty and Rosie are married. We form a triangle, each of us dating the other and forming a relationship as a whole involving three people. Basically, there are four elements of our throuple; each individual one on one relationship and the final three-person relationship.
“Living together was neither difficult nor was it easy. There was a lot of adjusting, compromise and figuring out where to put my belongings in a wardrobe that was made for two! I’m slightly introverted which meant I needed a space that was my own where I could recharge and have alone time.
“We also found ourselves easing into divided up parts of the household needs. We each have strong points that allow us to make the house into a home that is perfect for us.
“I was completely and utterly taken by surprise when Rosie asked me to be her wife. I’d been talking about marriage for a little while but the both of them, Rosie and Ty, had convinced me that it was something that was a future event and not a possibility anytime soon.
“The tears came hard and fast when Rosie asked me, and I remember nodding while she slid the ring on my finger; Ty was watching us on Skype since he was deployed at that time. Having him there made it even more beautiful.
“Ty proposed to me after he returned from deployment. It was far from a surprise as we’d been ring shopping that day and basically decided that it was time, but despite that, when he got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife, my heart stuttered and I told him I would marry him every day if he asked.”
Rosie added: “I really like having more company in the house. I liked being able to have someone that I could live alongside – and I was in awe watching her take over the kitchen.
“I was so incredibly nervous before asking her to marry me. I had it planned for months and decided to wait until her birthday. It was first thing in the morning as we sat on the bed with a cup of coffee and we had Ty on skype. After pouring my heart out to her, she said she would be my wife, and I cried and held her. I couldn’t have been happier and more full of love.”
Keneshia, Rosie and Ty are planning to get married at the end of 2020, but their families have had mixed reactions to their relationship.
“My parents don’t necessarily understand, but they have been willing to meet Keneshia and when they did, they were happy to see how happy she has made me,” said Ty.
Rosie added: “My parents were pretty okay about it when I told them, as they saw how happy choosing this life made me, however, my grandparents and a few other family members were completely disapproving and would not even acknowledge Keneshia when I took her to meet them.
“I was surprised though by how many people reached out to me to tell me how happy seeing me live my truest life, made them. It allowed me to welcome better friends into my life, and for that, I am grateful.”
Through having her dream relationship with Rosie and Ty, Keneshia has been through the distress of being disowned by some family members but this makes her appreciate her romantic relationship with them and friendships more.
She spoke about how going to therapy has strengthened them as a throuple.
“My little sister disowned me, and our relationship turned sour when I made an official statement to her about my relationship. It was heart-breaking. My oldest sister also didn’t handle the news very well and it has been a strained relationship since,” said Keneshia.
“My mother has been very supportive. All my friends though? They didn’t stop loving me and they have all without fail made my life with Rosie and Ty absolutely beautiful knowing I do have support and love.
“Therapy isn’t scary and it isn’t something to be ashamed of. There’s also nothing wrong with us, but we like to better ourselves, strengthen our relationship and find guidance when we can’t ourselves. We pride ourselves on always searching for ways to improve, whether that be as individuals or as a throuple.
“Our psychologist is a fourth party who offers unbiased opinions that allow us to see an outside perspective on issues that challenge us. We aren’t perfect, we fight, and we have disagreements and struggle sometimes, so having someone who isn’t emotionally involved offer an opinion really helps us identify new pathways of improvement.
“We communicate our feelings and sit down as a group until we get to the root cause and we never, ever make someone feel bad for having emotions. I am a psychology major and often have great insight on how to communicate effectively when emotions are getting the better of us.
“Rosie is passionate and tries to placate everyone, helping to smooth tensions and Ty is an excellent other perspective, often delivering other ways of thinking we hadn’t considered before.
“Polyamory is a valid form of relationship and there’s nothing wrong or immoral about it. We all love each other very, very much. It’s not a sex cult, religious cult or cult in general. We have free will, self-identity and our love, which is just as beautiful as the love between two partners.”
