A couple has been married for 18 years and are still in love despite their 31-year age gap.
Watch the couple with 31-year age gap who has been married for 18 years
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Video Credit: Rumble
Jay Barham got married when he was 17 to a 51-year-old divorced, mother-of-two Linda in 2001.
The family and friends of the couple were left shocked when they came to know about the couple and said it wouldn’t last.
Jay is now 36 and Linda is 69 and the couple has completed 18 years of marriage.
Jay, who was a trainee youth worker, met council youth worker Linda when he was just 16.
The couple instantly fell in love with each other.
Linda gave Jay driving lessons for eight weeks. Jay said: “For eight weeks she was helping me learn how to drive. And then one time a track just started playing and we just kissed.”
Three days later, Jay asked Linda out on a date.
However, initially, Linda hesitated to date a boy the same age as her son.
She said: “I just thought: ‘this is wrong’, I felt awful. But I was divorced for five years, my children were all grown up and knew that it just felt right”
Linda’s children supported her when they came to know about their mother’s boyfriend as they wanted to see their mother happy but their relationship totally shocked Jay’s parents who were over a decade younger than Linda.
Jay said: “They were okay about it, they just thought: ‘Oh well it will last if it lasts.’ We were more worried about how my nan would react, but she was fantastic about it.”
Jay and Linda got married in July 2001 at the Colchester Registry office.
After getting married, Linda bonded really well with Jay’s parents. After Jay’s mother Valerie passed away in 2014, onlookers often mistook Jay’s dad Stephen and Linda as his parents.
Jay said Linda has been called a child snatcher and he has been called a granny basher. They both have been called names by strangers but they never cared.
Jay said: “Our marriage has lasted a lot longer than many others and we are still very much in love. We just got on with it, even now people frown on it.”
“I always reply to people like that asking how many divorces they’ve had. Most marriages have all split up, regardless of their age.”
Jay and Linda are now planning to open a cafe together near their home in Hardcourt, Essex.
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