In all likelihood, you've known a couple with a large age gap. It might even be a part of your dating history. It's often hard to draw the line exactly where the age difference starts to become a little weird (other than the obvious points), as you can find many people more mature than those older than them. However, as weird as you may have seen it, I'm betting your 25-year-old friend never got married to a 79-year-old.
Retired vicar Philip Clements, 79, first made headlines towards the end of last year, after he married Florin Marin, 25. At the time, things didn't go so well. Philip met the Romanian model on a dating site, and eventually sold his home so that he could buy a £88,800 apartment in Bucharest for him and his new husband to live in. However, only a few days later they broke up, leaving the vicar with little money and no place to live.
Now, it appears that the couple have rekindled their romance, surprising all of us. Appearing on The Jeremy Kyle Show recently, Clements explained that "being made a fool of can be very nice, especially when it's a handsome young man making a fool of you". However, he insists that he was not a fool in this situation, emphasising that it wasn't all about money:
"Our relationship has been tested when I haven't had money. Until I sold the house, I could buy him very little when he started."
"We have an arrangement which I think at my age is sensible. I've said if he has any other relationships, one night stands or whatever, he should tell me but I'm not going to be angry about it."
Philip then described how his open relationship is doing well, and he's happy now that he has his "toyboy" back. However, he hasn't received the warmest comments from the public:
"I've had one or two young men. I had a short relationship with another young Romanian but that didn't work out.
"I like a toyboy, I do, which may seem unusual for a priest, but priests are human.
"These comments we've had a lot, of me being a dirty old man, horrible, but these people who write this don't know us as people."
Florin also appeared on the show to talk about how he feels about his partner. When asked why exactly he married Philip, his answer was simple. "Because I love him," he said, adding that any claims that he's a gold digger are ridiculous, though he does love it as a "nickname".
As far as the public reaction to their relationship goes, Florin urged people to "mind their own business", adding: "They don't know me, they don't know us."
If everything they say about their relationship is true, it looks like they'll have a successful marriage - we'll have to see if it lasts a little longer this time around...
