A Brazilian couple who spent their lives looking for the mothers who abandoned them found out this week that they were searching for the same person.

Leandro and Adriana, who have been in a common-law marriage for seven years and have a six-year-old daughter together, found out on a live radio show that they share the same mother, The Mirror reports. They have chosen to keep their surnames hidden.

Adriana, 39, hadn't seen her mother, Maria, since she was one year old. Leandro, 37, was abandoned by Maria in Sao Paulo when he was eight years old.

While Leandro remained in his hometown, Adriana left Sao Paulo, was married for 15 years, and had three children. When her marriage ended ten years ago she returned to Sao Paulo, where she met Leandro.

The search for Maria continued, however, and Adriana contacted Radio Globo's "The Time Is Now" show, which specialises in finding long-lost relatives.

The show found Maria, and reunited her with her daughter on-the-air. When Maria revealed that she also had a son named Leandro, Adriana was stunned.

"I don't believe that you're telling me this," she said. "Leandro is my husband."

Adriana was also afraid of Leandro's reaction to the news.

"Now I'm scared to go home and find out that Leandro doesn't want me anymore," she admitted. "I love him so much."

Leandro, however, remains committed to the relationship.

"At first we were really knocked by it all, but we had a family meeting and told everyone that we are going to stay husband and wife, whatever anyone might think," she told Radio Globo.

"We thought it was funny that both our mothers had the same name, but it is a common name so we just thought it was a coincidence.

"Of course it would have been different if we had known all this before, but we didn't and we fell in love.

"We have so many plans together. Nothing is going to break us up. Nothing.

"Only death is going to separate us. All this happened because God wanted it to happen."

The couple reported that they harbour no ill feelings towards their mother, and remain in contact with her.