A woman has told how her 25-year-old toy boy is often mistaken for her son by strangers.
Rachel Allen, 48, has been with her boyfriend, Alex Michael, 25, for more than a year and a half who she met online following the end of her 26-year marriage.
The teacher, from Houston, Texas, US, joined a dating app after her divorce and didn't realise she had to alter the age preferences.
While Alex had his set higher as he was curious about dating an older woman.
The pair, who now live together in Austin, started chatting and felt an instant soul mate-like connection after meeting for the first time.
Rachel said: "I joined a dating app after my divorce. I was looking to get back on the scene and have some fun, although I didn't realise that I would need to change the age markers.
"I started to feel discouraged by the app. It was trashy and I wasn't into it.
"But then I saw the message I had received from Alex, and he'd actually messaged me in a nice manner.
"I kept going back to his profile, but I couldn't see his age. Although he looked younger than me.
"But there was just something about him. We started talking every day and we hit it off immediately.
"Things progressed with us and we went on lots of trips, so I asked Alex, who is from New York, to come and live with me in Texas."
Rachel explained how she thought it was just going to be a fling and did not expect it to evolve into a relationship.
She told how the couple "just laugh it off" when people make assumptions based on their age gap.
"Alex and I are often told we look alike and we're regularly mistaken to be mother and son," she said.
"When we walked into a gym together for the first time, the man on the front desk shouted 'mother and son, I can definitely see it' to us.
"But I think he started to get the idea after we started walking in together holding hands.
"And on another occasion, a lady told me I had raised him right. We just laugh it off."
When Rachel responded to Alex's first message and found out that he was 23 at the time, while she was 46, she was shocked and thought that he was way too young.
But after two weeks of chatting and getting along so well, Rachel decided to take a trip to visit Alex in New York so they could meet each other for the first time.
"I had no expectations for the trip and just thought he could show me around," she said.
"He was also keen to meet up with me too and we discovered we had an even greater connection in person.
"We continued talking and meeting up. He flew out to Texas and we visited other places such as Miami.
"Eventually, I asked Alex if he wanted to move to Texas and live with me. He got a remote job and everything fell into place."
Rachel said neither her or Alex had experienced such an intense connection before but that they faced lots of push back from their families.
She continued: "Alex's family is especially not happy about our relationship.
"I have two sons. They're 22, and 19. My youngest has been the most open and embraced it more, and I have had more push back from my eldest, however he is always respectful."
After her divorce, Rachel said she was done with not being treated how she deserved and although judgment from family and friends has put a strain on the relationship, it's more than worth it.
She added: "We get stares and pointed at when we are out and about together and it's mainly from women.
"I have even had people yell 'cougar' at me. But our relationship is so special, neither of us would ever want to walk away.
"We have talked about our future, marriage and kids.
"Biologically, I wouldn't be able to have any more kids, so if we decided we wanted to start a family together in the future it would have to be through another route. Perhaps adoptions or surrogacy.
"But we are in a serious, committed relationship and just taking each day as it comes. We are both so happy."
Alex lived with Rachel for a year before finding a place of his own in Austin, where Rachel has recently moved in with him.
He says that she helped him get on his feet and that the pair are looking forward to starting a new life together in a new city.
Alex said: "Being in a relationship with an older woman has been great. I'd never been with anyone older than me before, but Rachel has helped me mature and improved my morals and values.
"I don't have a fetish for older women or anything like that.
"We know it's different, but Rachel looks amazing and she is young at heart. It just works between us."
