A woman whose husband is 26 years her senior says their children’s teachers have often confused him for their grandfather.
Retired postman Ben Hornsby, 71, met former pawn shop saleswoman Allison Hornsby, 45, in 1998 when he delivered letters to her place of work.
Together they have five children - 19-year-old triplets Benjamin, Noah and Ethan and twins Mia and Jude, 15.
Although they have a strong marriage they say some people have confused Ben for their granddad.
Allison said: “My friends have always been supportive fans of our love. Ben's family has always been very loving and accepting of me and our relationship.
“A few times our children's friends at school asked if Ben was their grandfather and a couple of teachers wrongly assumed he was their grandfather.
“I notice on occasion women are judgemental or sometimes rude towards me. We have received rude, abusive messages a few times from men on Instagram and also one rude comment on one of our reels on Instagram.
“This has been the only rude comment on a video of us kissing saying ‘that's just nasty’.
“We just ignored it. We have blocked a few men who sent us private messages asking about our sex life.
“As far as other women I have felt judged by women older than me.
“In contrast, we have been told by friends and people that just met us that we are a power couple.
“We have received very positive compliments on our marriage from friends and people who spend time with us.”
Despite the occasional bout of negativity from strangers, the couple from Florida say they are very much in love and want to be an “example” of a strong marriage to others.
Giving advice to others in an age gap relationship, they urged others to ignore other people’s opinions.
Allison added: “We love the way we feel when we're together. Ben is truly the man of my dreams. I love the way he treats me like a Queen.
“He is loyal and supportive, he makes me feel safe, loved and brings out the best version of me.
“Ben loves the level of trust we share. My loyalty to him is unlike any relationship he has experienced.
“He knows my love for him is pure, his happiness, health and well-being are my priority.
“We both know this is the best relationship either of us have ever had. We fell in love very quickly.
“I knew right away Ben was the man I wanted to spend my life with and he felt the same about me. Our attraction to each other is magnetic.”
