Alex, Shalaun and Shantell, known online as 'The Portah Family', are a throuple from Houston who says they are perfectly happy and content with their 'one man, two wives' dynamic. Before the polyamorous relationship started, Alex and Shalaun had been married for nearly 20 years with two children. But when Shalaun discovered Alex's affair with Shantell, it rocked their marriage. Shalaun eventually decided to meet Shantell and to everyone's surprise, the three of them hit it off straight away. After reassessing their relationship, they started exploring the idea of polygamy. The throuple's decision to stay together was initially met with resistance from the family. They also regularly get judgement online for their relationship. Four years later, the throuple is still happily in love and dedicated to building their family together - Alex and Shantell welcomed their first daughter last year, bringing them to a family of six. Shalaun told Truly: 'We started off in a rocky position but we grew to know each other and learn how to love each other in different ways and different fashions.'
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00:00I'm Alex. I'm Shalon. And I'm Shantel and we are in a polyamorous throuple. I've always known that
00:06okay I think girls are beautiful. I never had a threesome before. I've never been a one-a-woman
00:10before. I'm looking like okay well if we're doing this we're doing this. We do get a lot of judgment
00:15for our relationship. The ladies don't like each other on the low. I should no longer be allowed
00:20to procreate in life. So what happens if he cheats on the second wife? What I found the hardest to
00:27deal with was my dad having an affair. I was mad. It was hard for me to hold it together. I don't
00:31want to talk about yours. No I enjoy cooking though. I am not gonna lie. I enjoy cooking because
00:38making a good meal brings the family together. We are the Porter family. Shalon is my beautiful
00:43first wife. We have two children together. This is my second wife Shantel and last year we had a
00:50beautiful baby girl Soraya that also came in the picture expanding our family to a wonderful great
00:56number six. You consider us a polygamist which is a man with multiple wives. I am the wife
01:02to Alex and the sister wife to Shantel. Alex is my boyfriend. Each of them are individual
01:08relationships. Mine and Shantel's relationship is different from mine and Shalon. There's a special
01:12bond that me and Alex have just because we've grown up together and we've persevered over so much.
01:20And he stopped coming home after work. Every day after work he just come home shower I'm going to
01:26hang out with the boys. Come home shower I'm going to hang out with the boys. And eventually something
01:29just told me hey just look at his phone. And when I opened up his phone he had screenshots of him
01:36and her. And then I had texted him what I seen and he actually just told me. I'm seeing someone else.
01:43I don't want to talk about it no more. Can I boss for a tissue?
01:48Thanks. I've always been open-minded. I've always known that okay I think girls are beautiful. I liked
01:55her a lot. Shantel's energy never came off as aggressive or like I'm your replacement. I didn't
02:01have a reason to be mad at Shalon. And from that point I was like okay let's just continue to go
02:07about the night and see where it flows to. I never had a threesome before. I'd never been to want a
02:12woman before. I'm looking like okay well if we're doing this we're doing this. The backlash that we
02:18get from our social media yes we get a lot. The comments be like oh my god he's a manipulator he ain't
02:24nothing. They were trying to put me and Shalon against each other. They write you in your DMs and
02:29tell you the same thing in your DMs so they feel you're not responding to the comment.
02:33Wife. This is directed at me. Leave the situation. Let them have each other and find yourself.
02:41Somebody save me. No. I'm fine in my situation. I'm not held hostage. If I want to leave I can leave.
02:48We did start a whole campaign hashtag free Shalon. Free me. I should no longer be allowed to procreate in
02:54life. That's just an overall slug. It's like damn like that keyboard life is real. That thugging
03:02behind the keyboard. Y'all thumb shit hurt sometimes. I don't even see how y'all can be
03:06keyboard thugging but then you see me in public and it's like oh you're a really nice person. I like you.
03:12The ladies don't like each other on the low. Oh they be like you see how she looks at her? She hates
03:17her. They put us against each other all the time and like if you don't me you know damn well I do not
03:23compete with nobody for nothing. They like each other. They dislike me. I can't believe people are
03:28normalizing cheating. Normalizing cheating you look up the definition of cheating. Everybody in
03:34this situation is in the know. So how can it be cheating from the beginning? That's what they
03:38mean. You already go back on our whole thing of how this situation came about. I know people don't
03:43like the cheating aspect portion of it that I did. You know it was horrible. I would admit it was
03:48horrible. It was selfish. But we both had a little situation of infidelity. So for everybody that was
03:54like oh she should have cheated back. She did. So what happens if he cheats on the second wife?
04:02I mean he would just cheat on the second wife. I wouldn't be able to just cheat on the second wife.
04:06I'd be cheating on both of them again. You know what the? I wonder how he feel if the shoe was on
04:12the other foot. Would you be open to accepting if his wife wanted another man? This question gets
04:17asked a lot. No the shoe doesn't have to be on the other foot. It's on my foot. It's on his foot. It's
04:22on her foot. He's always told me if I feel like going out and getting me another man or woman it's my
04:28choice. This is sick and disgusting especially when there are children involved. When they involve the
04:33children that should not even be a thought. I would leave the children completely out of it. How you feel
04:38they're being raised. Whatever they're being exposed to. You questioning my ability to raise
04:43my child. You're questioning how I'm what I'm exposing to the children. Nah. Mind your damn
04:50business. As long as you don't speak about any of our kids you can say whatever you want
04:54about all of us. You know of course you're gonna get ridiculed behind people behind online. It's
04:59what online does. It's what the internet does. Internet serves negativity. Appreciate y'all spreading
05:04the knowledge of what's possible for unions and relationships. Definitely understand that's a
05:08heavy cross to carry but y'all do it with extreme style and grace. Definitely appreciated
05:14that. It's so dope to always have like that type of support and those kind words you know
05:19to be given to you. These are clearly people who took a tough situation and grew learned and
05:25healed through it. Yes. I like that one. I remember reading that one because I was like that's exactly
05:30what happened. Nobody ever asked her that question before. People don't understand that there's
05:36different dynamics of a relationship. You can love people the way you want to love people and it
05:41doesn't matter how other people feel. What I found the hardest to deal with was my dad having an affair.
05:46I was mad if you want me to be honest. Before Chantel came around I have never heard the term
05:50poly. I kind of understood what was going on. My relationship with Chantel was awkward at first
05:55but over time I kind of just started to accept her more. I'm just happy Chantel's a part of my family
06:06now and I could actually look at her as another mom. She even gave me a little sister. I've been
06:10asking for a sister for the longest. I just took it for what it was and as long as they were happy,
06:15as long as they see my mom happy. Me and Chalon, we did used to be in a relationship romantically and
06:21now our new dynamic is we do date Alex separately. What is the challenges of sharing the bed together,
06:28all three of us? We each have a designated spot to sleep at. Me, it's the middle. They will put me
06:33in the middle. I've asked for the edge repeatedly. It is hot in the middle. It's funny. I know, I lost
06:38my napkin. So I leave the bed and I go sleep on the couch. The plan for the day is getting ready,
06:44going out and celebrating this beautiful young lady's 21st. It's my baby. It's my baby. My oldest baby.
07:03The first official 21 birthday drink with her parents. I know, I'm excited.
07:07No, you're excited. No, these are official. You all ain't green. I believe how far we came as a
07:14family is leaps and bounds. We started off in a rocky position, but we grew to know each other
07:21and learn how to love each other in different ways, in different fashions. And I think as the
07:26days go by, we continue to learn each other and build our love even stronger. I always look positive
07:32overshining the negative. Anything is possible as long as y'all are ready to do the work,
07:36commit to the situation and let love win overall. Life is an adventure. Yes. Yes. And that's all.
07:42That's what we're going to live by.