By Amy Walters

 

 

MEET THE woman who wanted to explore her bisexual side with her husband’s BEST FRIEND – and they’ve now formed a throuple.

Marketing executive Claire Thornhill (36) and actor Justin Rupple (38) from Seattle, USA, met whilst they were in college and immediately became best friends. Shortly after, Justin met real estate associate Katy Rupple (39) in 2006 at one of his comedy shows and found they had an instant spark, so they started dating immediately.

In 2013, Katy and Justin tied the knot, and they had an open discussion about what they wanted from their relationship, which is where Katy brought up her sexuality. Katy opened up about how she wanted to explore her bisexual side and commented that she wanted to do this with Justin’s friend, Claire – something Justin supported if it made Katy happy.

Claire (left) only joined the relationship in 2020 after Justin and Katy had shared 7 years of marriage. mediadrumworld.com/@thrupples

After seven years of discussing the topic, they finally reached out to Claire. Katy and Justin were apprehensive at first, as they wanted to make sure that this wouldn’t ruin their friendship – but to their surprise, Claire was on board.

For the trio, being in a polyamorous relationship is about teamwork. They share love, goals, and personality traits and they are never alone unless they want to be. Communication is of upmost importance for the throuple as they’re able to discuss decisions as a unit and back each other up on personal endeavours and they feel lucky to have a relationship where they love each other equally.

Luckily for the triad, their family and friends have been very supportive of their relationship as they love seeing them happy together. As well as this, they have a large fanbase online and mostly receive positive comments about their relationship.

The throuple feel that they connect so well due to their similar personalities. mediadrumworld.com/@thrupples

However, there have been a odd few hateful comments such as homophobic slurs and ‘you’re ruining the sanctity of marriage,’ but the throuple choose to ignore these people as they accept that they can’t control how other people view their relationship.

Although they sometimes have feelings of jealousy, they trust each other completely and share these feelings immediately, where they talk about it as a group. For the future, they hope to continue pursuing their dreams together and are excited for the many years to come.

“We all grew up in Washington and lived within twenty miles of each other, but never met until we went to college,” Claire said.

The trio photographed on holiday together. mediadrumworld.com/@thrupples

“Katy and Justin worked near each other during their teens, but didn’t meet until 2006 at one of Justin’s comedy shows and myself and Justin met during college.

“I had been best friends with Justin since 2004 and was ecstatic when he and Katy tied the knot in 2013.

“Shortly after they wed, they had an open discussion about what they wanted in their partnership and the topic of Katy’s sexuality led them to talk about me – the friend she was attracted to on Justin’s social media posts.

Justin, Katy, and Claire enjoy a quick embrace. mediadrumworld.com/@thrupples

“After years of discussions, they finally decided to reach out to me. Katy and Justin wanted to make sure their feelings didn’t ruin the friendship they had with me, especially if the attraction wasn’t mutual.

“At first, it was a surprise as I had never been approached like this before. Despite this, the surprise was welcomed as I had always had feelings for both men and women.

“I never knew it was a possibility, but the friendship Justin and I had and my attraction to them both, made it exciting  – we were instantly in love.

Justin and Katy photographed at dinner. mediadrumworld.com/@thrupples

“I still lived in Seattle whilst they were over in LA, so our relationship was long distance at first. However, after two years, we couldn’t take the distance so we decided to all get a place together in LA.”

For the triad, sharing love, goals, and personality traits where it feels like anything is possible, is the most important part about being in a polyamorous relationship.

“We are never alone unless we want to be and we discuss decisions as a unit,” said Claire.

Justin enjoys two kisses at once from Claire and Katy. mediadrumworld.com/@thrupples

“Sometimes, two of us share a hobby and one of us doesn’t – but this allows everyone to enjoy their own activities with someone who loves it like they do.

“If someone is experiencing hardship, there’s always a support team and we want people to see that our relationship works for who we are and we’re not pushing for others to be like us, but rather see that we aren’t different.

“As humans, we’re capable of loving multiple people completely without diminishing the love we have for any one individual and we’re extremely lucky to have found each other.

The trio enjoy a day out at the beach together. mediadrumworld.com/@thrupples

“We are proud of our partnership and want others to know that you don’t have to feel shame for simply loving people.”

Currently, the trio are working from home together and keep track of their schedules on a calendar, where they talk to each other constantly about their feelings, desires and the direction in which they are headed.

“Sometimes, it feels a little like we are at summer camp with our best friends, except we are now adults with money,” Claire said.

The throuple are excellent at communicating which prevents issues from arising within the triad. mediadrumworld.com/@thrupples

“We are very blessed to have a supportive family unit as when they see us together, they say it just makes sense.

“Many people who know me online say, ‘Oh yeah, this makes sense for you,’ but the majority of comments are positive and supportive.

“Usually, the ones who aren’t so nice are from anonymous pages, meaning they just want to spew anger which is to be expected with anything on the web.

Katy and Claire feel liberated since finally exploring their bisexual feelings. mediadrumworld.com/@thrupples

“It’s easy to let negativity roll off our backs because we are in love and this creates quite the protective barrier from strangers online.

“There are the occasional head turns and cat call comments from men, but you can’t control other people or how they feel and we enjoy each other’s company so much that we won’t let it bother us.

“Jealousy is a human emotion and we’d be lying if we said that doesn’t come up. As and when it does, we share it immediately and talk about it as a group, where we never deny any emotion.

The throuple do get the odd stare or remark when they’re out in public together. mediadrumworld.com/@thrupples

“We trust each other and that’s the only way to make any relationship work – when you feel truly accepted by your partner(s), simple feelings like attraction and fear of abandonment aren’t that scary.

“If you feel shame about who you are or who you love, just know that there are people out there just like you and you’re not alone.

“Love is the act of putting someone’s well-being ahead of yours, so never let someone else’s self doubt and fear dictate who you want to be – follow your heart and be honest with yourself.”