A woman from the Philippines who’s dating a man 38 years older than her has spoken of their age-gap relationship, and how people assume they’re together for nefarious reasons
A couple with a massive age gap have been targeted by internet trolls who dubbed their relationship “sick” – but the pair insist they are totally in love – despite a 38-year-age-gap. When Gary, 61, opened up a dating application and saw a winky-faced emoji had dropped in his inbox – he couldn’t believe his luck. The Brit had been wed previously, more than once, and has jokingly admitted that both times they had been “green card marriages”.
However, when Leah, then 18, approached him, the pair says they quickly fell in love, despite the massive age gap between them. But Leah had not been entirely honest with her new boyfriend, pretending from the outset that she was actually a little bit older, and claiming to be 21 years old. When Gary – who was 56 at the time – found out the truth, their romance was already going strong.
Leah, who posts regularly about her life as a stay-at-home wife and mum on YouTube, insists that despite what people might assume, theirs is a love story through and through. However, the pair still find themselves “judged because people assume I am with him for his money,” Leah explained.
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Speaking on the Love Don’t Judge YouTube channel, the couple delved into their love story and admitted that they sometimes are on the receiving end of some seriously judgmental comments, with one social media user dubbing their relationship “legalised paedophilia”.
The couple met whilst Gary was living in Leah’s home country, the Philippines. He holds dual citizenship for both the UK and the US, leading some to speculate whether or not accessing visas was a motivation for the relationship for Leah, though the couple insist that isn’t the case.
On their first date, Leah brought a “chaperone” with her, “I was scared,” she explained, “I had never dated a foreigner, and I’m very shy also and he was so big,” she added, referring to their huge height difference: Leah stands at 4 ft 11, and Gary at 6 ft 3.
“My mum was concerned,” Leah admitted, but she said that Gary’s relaxed attitude to her bringing someone along on their first meet up made her more comfortable, calling it a “good sign”.
Gary admitted he was “attracted to [Leah’s] innocence. You hadn’t been corrupted by the city, you hadn’t been with other foreigners”. He added that she was “just the kind of person” he was searching for whilst looking for love, “because I wanted a traditional Philippina woman that I could have a real loving relationship with.”
However, Gary insisted that her young age wasn’t a factor in her appeal, and that he wouldn’t have minded if she were 20 years older. Leah’s dishonesty about her age when they first met did prove to be a bit of a stumbling block though.
She explained that she didn’t believe her now-husband would want to meet her if he knew she was only 18, but when Gary discovered the truth he started to worry he wouldn’t be able to “trust” her because she had lied. He also explained that living in Asia for 12 years before meeting Leah, he was used to being around couples that had big age gaps in their relationships, and that people opposed to their love story generally don’t appreciate, in his opinion, the “cultural differences” because they are looking at it from a “Western mindset”.
The couple explained that despite what people might think, Leah was not a golddigger, because Gary was actually bankrupt when they met.
