Zimbabwe woman living with husband and boyfriend in the same house

A 33 year old woman originally from Zimbabwe is making international headlines after deciding to stay in the same house with her husband and lover.

“People might think it’s weird but I love both men and couldn’t choose between them,” the mum of two told the UK Daily Mirror.

Maria with her husband, boyfriend and children

Maria Vogel Butzki, 33, originally from Bulawayo, now shares the family home in Barking, London, with her children Laura, 16, and Amy, 12 and the two men in her life Paul Butzki and Peter Gruman.

Maria, who grew up in Saurcetown and did part of her secondary education at Northlea, was 15 when she met Paul in school and she fell pregnant with Laura two years later.

The couple got married before they had their second daughter, Amy, but the relationship hit a rocky patch in 2006.

Maria said “Paul was out of work for six months and it put a strain on our ­relationship. The stress led to less sex and we grew apart. Although we carried on with life – cooking, cleaning, looking after the child­ren – we’d lost our intimacy. The relationship was more brother and sister than a couple.”

When Maria left her husband Paul for another man, she didn’t realise how much she’d miss him. At the same time, she couldn’t imagine living without her new lover Peter Gruman. So when the two men struck up an extraordinary friendship, she came up with the perfect solution… and moved Peter into the family home in Barking, East London.

“When I left Paul there was a huge hole in my life. But the thought of never seeing Peter again was heart-breaking. So living with both men is the only way.”

“Peter is a great guy. When Maria first had the affair with him I was just heartbroken. But as I got to know him, I realised we have so much in common. We both adore fishing, and he’s like a surrogate dad to the kids.”

Peter, a construction site manager, adds: “We all get on so well. It doesn’t feel as if I’m ­sharing Maria. There’s no ­jealousy …it feels as if we are a team.”

It was last year that they all moved in ­together after three years of ­Maria to-ing and fro-ing between her husband and lover.

Daily Mirror