Twenty-three-year-old May Rahim and her 49-year-old partner Richard O’Hare have been together for two years but they made their relationship public at the start of 2019.
Speaking of their unusual relationship, May told Barcroft TV: “I just want the world to know who I love and not judge me, but people are going to judge me regardless.”
Watch to learn more about their love story below.
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The couple from New York met accidentally for the first time when May was lost and Richard gave her a lift.
“I took a ride from a stranger – don’t do this at home kids!” May told jokingly about her first meeting with Richard.
When May realized she had taken an unsafe step by accepting Richard’s lift, she showed Richard that her bag was full of pepper spray.
She also noticed that Richard had no marriage ring in his finger, something which made her think further about him.
“I thought, he’s a lot older than me but he’s handsome – I’m going to hit him up,” May recalled.
They started talking on the phone, texting as teenagers do in their first love. Richard said: “May is one of a kind – her personality gives me a new outlook, a different outlook.”
Describing their relationship, May said: “We’re best friends, we can do anything and everything together.”
In the start, May did not want to disclose her relationship to the world due to the fear of judgment. They even walked separately in the supermarket aisles to make sure no one noticed them.
“I really just didn’t want to be stared at,” May said.
Eventually, May realized doing so had put Richard in a very difficult position. He had to do a lot of effort to keep their love off the radar.
“I could see that it hurt him, it’s a part of anxiety I have to kick because it’s hurting the man I love,” May explained.
Last summer, May finally mustered up her courage to share a photo of both of them on social media, captioning it with the story of their relationship.
Since May made their relationship public, they’ve been receiving a variety of mixed reactions from people.
While most of the people have been supportive, there’ve also been negative comments and judgmental remarks from friends, family, and strangers.
May said: “I had a lot of immature friends that would say stuff [about Rich] being my sugar daddy. First of all, he’s not my sugar daddy, I really love him, and Rich is not rich enough to be a sugar daddy.”
Unfortunately, every time May and Richard are out in the public, they keep getting weird stares and derogatory remarks.
One random man even said that Richard is May’s father. Richard said: “If that’s the worst they’re going to say then oh well.”
The comments people make in real life might be a bit easy to ignore but the real pain is due to the highly offensive comments they receive on social media.
May and Richard don’t only have an age difference, they are from different races too. The two factors combined make all the negative comments extremely sinister.
May said: “No one has said anything that terrible in person, but the internet is a different story.”
May was even called a ‘bed wench’ by someone online, which is a demeaning term referring to black slavery times.
“It’s hurtful,” she said, referring to the comment.
“But I was so happy with the love that I was getting that I thought, you’re really taking out time to write that whilst we’re living our best lives?”
May met Richard’s family just last year and, luckily, those folks have been the strongest support the couple could ever get.
Richard said: “It was probably pretty overwhelming for May because there were a lot of people there.”
In Richard’s family, May got a very warm welcome even though they were astonished on their age gap. Richard’s elder sister, Linda, was very particularly surprised at the age of her brother’s new love.
Linda told Barcroft TV: “I was a little concerned because [of the] age difference – that she would find somebody closer to her in age. That did worry me.
“But I see how they are together. I just hope they have enough respect and fortitude between them to keep it going.”
May and Richard are happy to share their love with the world.
They are considering to make a YouTube vlog channel about their relationship, aimed at showing the world they are stronger than the comments they get.
“I think overall, coming out on social media has been a really good experience for us,” May said.
Richard added: “We are just letting the world know who we are and that we’re not going to hide. I believe the future holds us being together for the rest of our lives, and weather any challenge we encounter.”
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