I’m 25 and my boyfriend is 46. People call him a creep and my dad was NOT happy at first, but our relationship is perfect – and this is our secret
A woman who started dating a man old enough to be her father as a teenager says she doesn’t worry about the comments people make about their relationship.
Natasha Maree, 25, and her partner Harley Johnstone, 46, have often been told by strangers that they shouldn’t be together due to their 21-year age difference.
She was 18 when she first met her partner six years ago as a young university student in Sydney.
The Adelaide fitness influencers started dating a year later and have been together ever since.
Mrs. Maree admitted that her family, including her father who is twelve years Mr Johnstone’s senior, did not initially accept their budding relationship.
Their views changed after a few months, when they accepted that she was in a serious and loving relationship and welcomed him into the family.
There is a 21 year age difference between Natasha Maree (right) and her partner Harley Johnstone (left)
She says the secret to their successful partnership is an appreciation for each other and shared interests.
‘We have a lot of common interests. Common interests are a must, regardless of your age difference,” she told the newspaper Adelaide Advertiser.
Ms Maree has become accustomed to comments from strangers reminding her that her partner is old enough to be her father.
“We get a lot of attention,” she said.
‘We’ve had hundreds of people, because we work online, tell us over the years ‘he’s too old’, ‘she’s too young’, ‘he’s a creep’, ‘she has no life experience’.
Ms Maree, who had been a long-time fan of Mr Johnstone, decided to meet the established fitness influencer at the age of 18
When they started dating a year later, Ms Maree moved to Adelaide to be closer to her partner and launch her own career as a fitness influencer.
Natasha Maree (right) admitted that her family was initially unhappy with her relationship with Harley (left) until four months later
The couple often appear together on their YouTube pages, where they boast a combined following of more than 380,000 followers.
Ms Maree also posts photos of the couple on her Instagram page, which is followed by 124,000 fans.
She uploaded a video to her YouTube page on Saturday to explain why she is dating an older man.
The couple is not the first and will not be the last with a significant age difference.
American actor Jeff Goldblum, 67, is 30 years older than his third wife Emilie Livingstone, whom he married in 2014.
Veteran actor Nicolas Cage, 60, is also more than three decades older than his fifth wife Riko Shibata, 29, while Michael Douglas is 25 years older than his wife Catherine Zeta Jones, 54.