A woman in her 20s is determined to enjoy her 25-year age gap relationship despite people regularly mistaking her older partner for her dad.
Brand manager Samantha Stinchcombe, 25, also faces being regularly propositioned by online creeps asking for her to be their sugarbaby with one other woman even trying to join in.
Sam and her partner Billy Hughes, 50, from Baltimore in the US, have been together for nearly three years and can laugh off any awkwardness stemming from people's confusion about the relationship.
Despite the age gap they both insist they are two young-hearted souls.
In March 2020, Sam planned to move to Australia, but due to Covid-19 was unable to travel.
Disrupting her previous plans, Samantha and Billy took their relationship to the next level by moving in together.
Their families were never against the relationship, welcoming and supporting the happy pair.
Although they receive inappropriate comments on social media, Sam and Billy say they receive a lot of positive comments and feedback as people appreciate their authenticity in sharing the relationship.
Videos Sam has shared of her and Billy’s relationship have been shared widely due to the atypical nature of their relationship.
Despite the overwhelming positivity, negative comments still plague her page, with people commenting “that’s so weird” and constant requests for Sam to become a sugar baby.
Sam’s comments become inundated with requests from creeps asking to, “DM now, sugar baby needed to be spoilt immediately” and “promise to treat you well”.
They even received one comment from a female sugar baby asking for attention from Billy. However, Sam and Billy remain positive and ignore the negativity.
“We are two passionate, creative, adventurous souls who found each other in this life,” said Sam.
“We’ve both experienced a lot in our lives and love experiencing new things together. We love travel, spectacular food, and one-of-a-kind living.
“My friend got me a job at Billy’s restaurant when I moved home from Italy. Billy was away for the first month I worked there, but when he came back and we met we instantly clicked.
“I never really felt bothered by the age gap. If anything, it’s pretty on brand for me as a person– I don’t live a typical life.
“Billy just loves me so much and supports me in so many ways that the age barely even crosses my mind anymore.”
“Mentally I’m younger. Just life experience I have to remember that I have a different opinion on how to address certain issues,” said Billy.
“That’s okay as long as we have good communication and respect each other, there’s nothing we can’t work out.
“As far as negativity from others, that’s their business. I try to mind my own business and not to worry what others have to say.”
“In the beginning the age gap was definitely hard for others, not so much us. I mean we’re part of two different generations so communication can be difficult at times, but we always get to solid ground eventually,” said Sam.
“The age gap is sometimes a scapegoat for people that don’t actually know us at all to look down on our relationship.
“They just notice the gap and write us off completely, without knowing the depth of our actual connection.
“Our main problem has just been judgement from others but once we realised it’s their insecurities and that they know nothing about us, we realised their judgement just didn’t matter.
“Sometimes a bartender will call him my father or something, but we just laugh that off.
“The most difficult, but rewarding, obstacle for us is that we work together so that can be a treacherous situation.
“It’s sometimes hard to separate the relationship from the business, but it’s something we have to do.
“I’m most proud of the work we’ve put into ourselves as individuals and as a couple. We’re both in therapy on our own and see a couples counsellor as well.
"We eat healthy, train at the gym together, and go for long walks around the neighbourhood often.
“This is the happiest, healthiest relationship I’ve ever been in. We are both coming to the table as whole individuals that know our worth and how we want to be loved.
“I just want to share our story so people see that healthy, genuine age gap relationships do exist and they can be an amazing thing.”
