A young woman who fell in love with a man double her age has told how she has had to correct people who assume he is her dad.
Danielle Lichtman, 26, from New York, US, first met her now-fiancé, Frank, 52, at the restaurant she worked at, she was 19-years-old and he was 44.
The couple has recently welcomed their son, who is now 21 months. Danielle had always wanted to be a mum despite the fact that Frank, who has a 23-year-old daughter, never expected to have any more children.
Danielle and Frank regularly have to correct people who assume that he is her dad due to the large age gap between them.
The a stay-at-home mum said: "I met Frank when I was 19. He used to come into the restaurant that I worked at and we became friends.
"I always thought he was very handsome and funny.
"I never pictured myself to be in a relationship with an older man, but after we started hanging out as friends, we realised we had such great chemistry.
"We always had so much fun, so we decided to give it a shot and have a relationship, although Frank was a lot more nervous about it than I was because I was so young at the time.
"Because of the age difference between us, people have mistaken him for my dad and have referred to me as his daughter.
"But we just politely correct them and it happens less now that I am older
"It doesn't bother us.
"One of the biggest challenges we've had to overcome due to being in an age gap relationship was decided whether to grow our family.
"I'm young and I knew I wanted to have a baby, but Frank already had a grown-up daughter and wasn't planning on having any more children.
"He knew how important it was to me and done a lot of work on himself to compromise. Now that we have our son, Frank says it's the best thing he's done and would never look back."
Danielle was thrilled and excited when she discovered that she was pregnant, but says she was also nervous to become a first-time mum and hope that Frank would be in their son's life for a long time.
She added: "I made the first move with Frank when we were hanging out as friends.
"I think that initially, I was more into him as he wasn't sure because he thought I was too young.
"I was drawn to his positivity, good energy and his outlook on life.
"He is a big believer in the fact that we have one life to live and we have to make ourselves happy.
"We were nervous to tell our families about our relationship because we didn't know how they would react.
"They weren't fully accepting at first, especially my four brothers, but now our families are so accepting of it and my parents love Frank."
As well as assuming Frank is Danielle's dad, she has also received comments saying that she is only with Frank for his money.
However, Danielle has a long list of reasons why she is in love with her fiancé.
She said: "Frank treats me amazingly.
"Being with an older man means he is so polite and respectful. He has given me everything.
"We work through our issues and come out so much stronger. If I was to be with someone closer to my age, they might not be ready for a fully committed relationship and want to start a family.
"I can't wait to marry the love of my life in three weeks."
