We’ve all heard that age is just a number, but that doesn’t seem to be the case when it comes to a significant age gap in a relationship, as one such couple found out. After being slammed for their 42-year age difference, the pair responded to their critics. Do they have a point, or are their naysayers right? You decide.
Keisha Louise, an 18-year-old social media fitness influencer from Irvine, Scotland, made headlines when she hit back at critics who didn’t approve of the teen being romantically involved with a 60-year-old man. Keisha decided to defend her relationship after she began feeling the heat on TikTok, where she gave her followers insight into her life with Dimitrios Fotis, her boyfriend, who is 42 years her senior.
After posting videos that featured the couple training at the gym together, cuddling on the sofa, posing in different outfits, and enjoying vacations with one another, the pair began to face intense scrutiny from TikTok users who criticized the pair’s age gap and questioned the woman’s intentions where her much older beau was concerned, according to Unilad. The comments were brutal.
“Good luck changing his nappy when you’re 30,” one TikToker user remarked, while others suggested Keisha was a “gold digger,” saying this is how “money can buy happiness.” Other comments called Dimitrios “old,” and some even referred to him as Keisha’s grandpa, allegedly not realizing the pair, who bonded over a love of fitness and nutrition, were even a couple.
Although critics made it clear that they thought the relationship was wrong after seeing snippets of their life together, Keisha said she’s never felt more secure than with her 60-year-old partner. While she could have ignored the cruel comments, Keisha decided to share extra details about her relationship instead, uploading videos of their day-to-day lives, the Daily Mail reported.
While this opened the pair up for more scrutiny, it also allowed the opportunity for those who were accepting of the unusual relationship to speak up. “Older men are more mature and old school and know how to respect a woman. Good on you girl for knowing your worth, I wish you both nothing but the best,” a supportive commenter wrote, while others suggested that being happy was all that mattered.
“This is the cutest, this is true love,” one such person wrote, adding that “age is just a number” and saying that “people need to stop being so quick to judge.” They concluded by suggesting that if you are happy, you are happy, and others shared similar sentiments, saying, “As long as you’re both happy ignore what anyone else has to say that’s negative, this is adorable, you both look so happy.”
And, according to Keisha Louise, she is indeed happy. “This man has showed me love like no [other] and treated me like I should be treated. Two years and I’ve never felt so secure,” the 18-year-old wrote, referring to her then 2-year relationship with Dimitrios Fotis. In another comment, the teen echoed similar sentiments, writing, “I’ve never felt love or appreciation as much as I have with this man. Two years and still love him like the day I met him.”
Did you catch that? For those doing the math, this would mean that at the tender age of just 16, the teen met and began dating a man who was 58 years old. If that made you cringe, it’s worth noting that, while many Americans view a consenting adult as someone over the age of 18, the age of consent is 16 in many US states and other countries, meaning that the pair’s romantic involvement may not have been unlawful. With that said, what do you think about this age gap that drew divided responses? Is age irrelevant in a relationship?
Perhaps the best lesson to be learned from Keisha Louise and Dimitrios Fotis has nothing to do with age at all. Maybe the real lesson here is that the less outsiders and strangers know about your private romantic life, the better. When you open the door to let people in, you also inadvertently welcome their opinions and criticism whether you like it or not. This is especially true when you know that your relationship or lifestyle is unconventional. Simply put, if you can’t handle the heat, it’s best not to dish on the internet.
As for this woman’s decision to date someone with whom she has an enormous age gap, the bottom line is that Keisha Louise gets to decide what’s right for her, and a heated debate on social media likely won’t change her mind or her feelings for her beau. If she wants to accept the consequences of dating someone nearly half a century older, then that’s on her. However, if she insists on sharing the private parts of her life with the public, she has to accept that the public will share their thoughts about it too.
