Five people reveal what being married to a mail-order bride is really like.

People, buckle in. We are talking mail-order brides, and we’re doing it with the people who know them best: their families.

Prepare for some cringe-inducing, eye-opening revelations from the Redditors whose fathers, cousins and friends said ‘I do’ to a stranger they met on the internet.

1. ‘It’s too weird to think about.’

One commenter, Kehwa, says the fact her father is married to a mail-order bride makes her feel incredibly uncomfortable.

“My dad has a mail-order bride,” she wrote. “It feels so f–king weird typing that out, only a handful of people know about it.

“He met her on a website, flew over to visit, was married by the time he got back, and now I have a half sister.”

While the pair have been together for some time now, Kehwa explains her unease with her dad’s relationship is ongoing.

“It’s such an odd thing to wrap your head around. It’s like you sort of ‘forget’ until someone else brings it up, for me at least.”

2. 'My parents are too ashamed to admit it, but...'

"Although my parents were always too ashamed to admit this to anyone but myself and my sister, my mom was a mail-order bride about 23-24 years ago," Dragonflie shared.

Because this was a time before the internet, the Redditor explains her father found her mum in a magazine catalogue of Filipino women.

"He sent her letters, and she replied, over the course of a year. They finally met and my mom moved to my dad's tiny hometown, got married, and they had two daughters together (one being myself).

"They were both looking for a better life and someone who would treat them better than past partners had. And they both got that, plus it turns out they both have the travel bug. So now they're retired, living a nomadic life traveling the globe, and they got more than they ever hoped for."

3. 'She was in her twenties... he was about to turn 70.'

Sugarbombs explained her friend from university married a much older wealthy man shortly after moving to the UK from Thailand.

"She told us they met online on one of those 'meet Thai ladies who are just dying to be your girlfriend' kind of sites," she commented, continuing: "After talking for all of two weeks they agreed to marry.

"They were engaged after a few weeks and married within a few months."

But it quickly became apparent to Sugarbombs that her friend's marriage wasn't only unorthodox, it was emotionally abusive.

"[The husband] wanted one of those stereotypical [conservative] marriages where the wife was subservient and existed to please their husband," she wrote.

"She would tell us he would make her wait until he was done to eat and he would only let her eat 'ladylike' foods like salad, he paid her a monthly 'salary' which was pretty abysmal and she had to use that for clothing and other essentials.

"He also wouldn't let her go anywhere by herself and would drop her off and turn up an hour before classes ended in case we got let out early to drive her home. I had given her my phone number and he forced her to delete it."

Alarm bells rang when the woman came to Sugarbombs for help.

"I think the saddest part was when she asked a bunch of us if we could get birth control pills for her because her husband kept destroying her scripts. She was absolutely terrified of getting pregnant."

4. 'She was a prostitute, and she's my favourite family member.'

For FuzzyGunNuts, his cousin's wife is wonderful person to have in the family.

"My father's cousin brought back a Vietnamese wife from the war. She was a prostitute," he explained.

"At the rare gathering on that side of the family that woman is a fucking riot. She hugs everyone and loudly proclaims how good it is to see us and is super enthusiastic about everything."

While her history might be slightly sketchy, this Redditor says he can't imagine his family without his cousin's partner.

"She shares no blood with any of us and she is the happiest person to see every single family member."

 5. Grandma's secret.

"My great-grandmother was a mail-order bride," says WinStark.

"A man in Central Louisiana had been widowed and wanted someone to raise his kids and help out on the farm in 1935. My great-grandmother saw the ad (in Kentucky) and said she'd do it."

WinStark's grandmother was concealing a huge (and I mean huge) secret from her soon-to-be husband, though.

"She neglected to tell him she'd be bringing four kids with her. I guess when she got here, the guy was "oh well, that's cool" and allowed her and the kids to stay."

... Woah.

Do you have a mail-order bride story? Let us know in the comments...