A woman 26 years younger than her partner has revealed the cruel comments they get about their relationship and how some mistake her husband for her father.
Allison, now 45, and Ben Hornsby, now 71, met in 1998 when the then-USPS employee delivered mail to the pawn shop where she worked.
The couple, from Florida, now have five children, including triplets and twins.
Despite the family and the love they share, they continue to receive judgment from outsiders.
The 26-year age difference of a Florida married couple has received a lot of backlash. Allison, now 45, and Ben Hornsby, now 71, met in 1998 when he made a USPS delivery to her
The couple have five children together, including triplets and twins
Their families supported them, but their friends did not
Allison gave birth to triplets Benjamin, Noah and Ethan in 2003 at the age of 26, and Ben became a father at the age of 52.
Three years later, she gave birth to twins Mia and Jude who are now 16 years old.
“Ben retired in 2010, which left him present and available to help raise our family,” said Allison.
“When he worked as a postman, he would have lunch at our house and change diapers, or help me with the kids.”
Ben added: ‘Our biggest challenge is raising our five children.
“Having triplets and twins is a lot of work.
“Raising five kids together was a bit overwhelming, but we do it together.”
Allison said the kids’ teachers assumed Ben was their grandfather.
Ben said, “Our biggest challenge is raising our five children. Raising five children together was a bit overwhelming, but we do it together’
“People in public have mistakenly assumed I’m Ben’s daughter,” Allison, a content creator, told NeedToKnow.co.uk.
While many people have objected to their relationship, the couple says their respective families are very accepting and supportive and approve of their love from the start.
“Ben’s family was very accepting of me — they were happy to see him happy,” Allison said.
“My sister was only 13 when she met Ben, but she always approved of our relationship and supported us.”
Despite the support of family, some friends and colleagues claim not to share this happy opinion.
“Some of our friends reacted differently, they were surprised by the age difference,” Allison said.
“We knew that other people might not be accepting of our relationship, but we felt such a natural bond — we didn’t want to be apart.”
Some reportedly laughed at Ben for bagging a younger woman and telling him the relationship wouldn’t last.
“If you really love each other, don’t let the outside noise stop you from exploring your relationship,” Allison countered.
“We received some offensive comments on our Instagram post[s].’
Allison regularly receives messages from men offering to be her ‘sugar daddy’ or ‘side piece’ – which of course she declines
Allison regularly receives messages from men offering to be her “sugar daddy” or “side piece” – which, of course, she turns down.
“We get inappropriate messages, mostly from men, with older men offering to be my sugar daddy,” she said.
‘Younger men offer me a part-time job.
“Of course this is offensive—we have a very healthy marriage.” Allison said, adding, “We were both consenting adults, so we didn’t see a problem with our age difference.
We share small parts of our lives on our Instagram account to show the beauty of a strong marriage.
“I feel like people assume age-gap relationships are superficial and we can’t really be happy.”
While a 26 year age difference may seem like a huge reach, there is also a couple who share a relationship with a 53 year age difference and proudly display it on TikTok.