An 82-year-old woman who stunned the nation by discussing her love life with her Egyptian toyboy on TV is still happily married to her "priceless gem" three years on. Iris Jones married 36-year-old Mohamed Ahmed Ibriham in 2020 and hit the headlines in the same year following an entertaining interview on ITV's This Morning.
Despite the 45-year age gap, the couple fell for each other when they met in 2019 through a Facebook group for atheists and tried to get married within four days of first meeting one another in Cairo, but were denied by incorrect paperwork. When they eventually got married a year later, Mohamed moved in with her after being granted a three-year visa.
Iris left This Morning hosts Philip Schofield and Holly Willoughby squirming with the details of their first night of passion together - before they got married, she said: “Pretty rough. Nobody had been near me for 35 years. I thought I was a virgin again."
The couple have had to spend the last month apart as Mohamed was forced to make an emergency trip back to Cairo to visit his father, who had fallen unwell. And during this period of separation, the grandmother from Somerset reflected on how lucky she was to have him in her life.
The Manchester Evening News reports that She wrote on Facebook: "Love is knowing you look like **** after a days housework and gardening, without a scrap of make up on dressed in my scruff! After a month's absence, my wonderful husband will welcome me just the way I am, because that's what love is all about.
"Welcome home, Mohamed. Missing you this past month has made me realise what a priceless gem you are. This rough diamond of a wife will be more appreciative of you in the future."
The romance did affect the relationship between Iris and her two sons, who are both in their mid-50s, due to fears about the legitimacy of the couple's love. However, this seems to have been pacified over the years.
Iris told the Sunday Mirror in 2020: Darren is worried Mohamed is just after my money and we had a big row which resulted in me asking him to leave the house. We have made up since, but I’ve asked him not to talk about it – I don’t want to argue.
"If he’s marrying me for my fortune he’ll be sadly disappointed because I live on a pension. I don’t suffer fools gladly. I’m honest and I’m truthful and I told him straight away he couldn’t be a freeloader.
"In Egypt we were quite frivolous, going out to the best restaurants all the time and we split everything 50/50. It’s me he wants – not my house. I’ve spent years making other people happy, now I just want to marry the man I love before I die."
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