Kansas teen married to a 62-year-old says they face offensive reactions when people see their PDA

Samantha Simpson married a man 43 years her senior and is bothered by people’s reactions every time she and her much older husband display their affection in public.

The 19-year-old student from Kansas tied the knot with 62-year-old JR on January 8, 2018, as reported by Mirror.

“There's not a moment when we are out and about that someone doesn't make a comment about our relationship, and it's just exhausting."

“When we are out in public, we have strangers mistaking us for granddad and granddaughter all of the time and it can really upset me,” she said. “But it's even worse when people call JR a 'child snatcher' or a 'pedophile' when they see us hold hands or kiss in public.”

The couple met through mutual friends when Samantha was just 18. After months of talking, they fell for each other, and eventually married after dating for one year.

"GENTLEMAN AND MATURE"

The teenager said she fell in love with JR because of his being a gentleman and mature. She said he is so much better that the men she dated before who were closer to her age.

Samantha’s parents were against their relationship, forcing her to move out of their house. She first moved into her apartment in Berryville, Arkansas. JR later moved in with her. Now, they are living in a home in Wichita, Kansas.

The couple are now trying to start their own family. But they are frustrated by people’s fixation on their age gap.

HAPPILY MARRIED

“There's not a moment when we are out and about that someone doesn't make a comment about our relationship, and it's just exhausting,” Samantha said.

“We have had enough of a hard time with family and friends not accepting our relationship, that when strangers do it too it just becomes too much. We just want people to realize that we are happily married and serious about our relationship - and other people shouldn't be discriminating us in such a way.”

Couples with a huge age gap are nothing new. There are celebrities whose spouses are much younger or older than them, firm in their belief that love doesn’t consider age.