An Irishman happily married to a man 37 years his senior has slammed trolls who say their romance only exists for money.
Aaron, 28, and his American husband Mike, 66, who feature in the Channel 4 show Love Against the Odds, began their unlikely romance after meeting in New York.
When the pandemic hit, they were led to re-evaluate their lives and moved in together in Dublin.
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Now happily married, Mike and Aaron run YouTube and TikTok channels where they give an insight into their life.
But despite their obvious love and devotion to one another, they said their public profile has left them open to trolling.
“When we go out I don’t really care if people are looking at us, I’ll just take it as a compliment in some sort of way,” Aaron said.
“We get quite a laugh out of it if someone goes, ‘is this your son’ or ‘is this your nephew’, we’re like, ‘no, we’re married’.
“It’s bizarre because I swear I’m the more mature one and he’s the more immature one, but you don’t see that until you actually meet us.”
Mike, who is seven years older than Aaron’s mum, agreed, adding that the pair will often be mistaken for dad and son while working out together.
Neither of them take offence at this common assumption over their relationship, but they both admitted that they’re tired of hearing references to money.
Mike remarked: “People said to me, ‘watch your money’, or ‘make sure you’ve got everything taken care of’, and that he’s a money grabber.”
Aaron added: “If [the age gap] is 15 or 20 years then he’s a sugar daddy, or he’s got daddy issues.
“Someone could comment on social media and be like, ‘get that money when he’s dead’. It’s just a horrible thing to say regardless of anything.
“I’ve always been into older [men], I’ve never been like, ‘what’s your bank balance?’ I could work my balls off and be really successful, and people will still message me online saying, ‘he’s your sugar daddy’.”
Mike didn’t come out as gay until he was 40 because of a fear of judgement, and Aaron stressed that the pair continued to broadcast their romance to prove that a love like theirs is possible.
“If I was growing up, I’d want to see real gay life stories because it would have made me feel a whole lot more comfortable growing up that these things can happen,” he noted.
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