Even though we hear stories about them these days all the time, relationships between two people who have vastly different ages are always going to be viewed with some degree of suspicion because they are – for all intents and purposes -involved in something weird and abnormal.

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However, even though it is completely messed up to see a 19 year old going out with a 68 year old, I don’t think it’s that cool that people just shout ‘paedophile’ and child snatcher at him when they walk down the road together hand in hand. Say it behind their backs sure, but it’s a bit off to yell it at them when the pair are actually married and seemingly in a loving relationship, despite how freaky it might seem to the rest of us.

These thoughts are perfectly echoed by 19 year old Samantha Simpson, who is now residing in Witchita, Kansas with her 62 year old boyfriend JR. She met him when she was just 18 and after months of talking the pair moved in together, got married and are trying for a baby. The comments still hurt though:

When we are out in public, we have strangers mistaking us for grandad and granddaughter all of the time and it can really upset me.

But it’s even worse when people call JR a ‘child snatcher’ or a ‘paedophile’ when they see us hold hands or kiss in public.

There’s not a moment when we are out and about that someone doesn’t make a comment about our relationship, and it’s just exhausting.

We have had enough of a hard time with family and friends not accepting our relationship, that when strangers do it too it just becomes too much.

We just want people to realise that we are happily married and serious about our relationship – and other people shouldn’t be discriminating us in such a way.

When I saw JR I was automatically drawn to how well presented he was and the fact that he was such a gentleman.

He was very well spoken whenever we met, and also when we would talk over the phone and text, he was just something I had never found in a man before.

I have dated men who have been closer to my age before, but they’ve been very immature and haven’t known how to treat their partner.

Being with JR is completely different – he’s so mature and treats me like a Queen, there’s nothing that I would change about him or our relationship.

Although JR had a child from a previous relationship, we want to have children of our own and start a family.

We are currently trying to get pregnant as we feel the time is right – we’ve just got married and we have our own place, so why wouldn’t we want to?

Hopefully when we have a child the abuse will stop, as we don’t want to raise a child in an environment where they have to hear nasty slurs about their father.

We hope that by sharing the story of our relationship, people will realise that it isn’t a joke and we are very serious about one another despite our age gap and appearances.

Yeah I mean even though this is completely out of the realm of normal activity, it does seem like she’s really into him if they’re married and wanting to have a baby together. I suppose there’s always the implication of sexual coercion on JR’s part with someone so young and so old and we won’t really ever know the truth of the matter until it all burns down – if it even does – so maybe we should try and be a little bit more tolerant when they both seem so happy. Maybe.

For more of the same, check out the story about the 80 year old priest and his 25 year old Romanian toyboy. That one just gets dumber and dumber.