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CASSIE MASSEY IS 19 AND AT SCHOOL. HER FIANCÉ IS 40 AND A DIVORCED DAD – BUT SHE SAYS THEY’RE MEANT TO BE TOGETHER

By Christina Windsor

It was the morning of her 18th birthday when Cassie Massey was finally forced to come clean about her secret boyfriend.

“My family didn’t know anything about him,” she recalls.

“But Mum came into my bedroom singing Happy Birthday and found an old man in my bed!”

Darren Smith wasn’t quite the catch Cassie’s mum Glenda had envisaged for her pretty daughter.

He’s 21 years older than Cassie and has two children, aged 10 and seven, from a failed marriage.

But Glenda agreed to let Cassie work things out for herself.

Cassie says: “At first it was tense, but Darren is a charmer.

"Once my family chatted with him they liked him. Now they adore him.”

The reactions from other people haven’t been so kind, though.

“I’ve had strangers calling our relationship disgusting, and an ex of Darren’s said it was sick.

"I was really upset,” says Cassie.

But Cassie, from Southend, Essex, is adamant the relationship will work.

She’s planning to marry Darren next year – even though she also wants to move away to university – and is excited about becoming a stepmum.

“I don’t want kids myself, but we have Darren’s children every other weekend at our flat and we get on brilliantly,” explains Cassie.

“When I’m cooking the Sunday roast I feel like a proper stepmum, and when we go shopping it’s like I’m their sister!

“At first it was a bit awkward with Darren’s ex-wife, who’s 43, but we get along now.”

Cassie was just 17 when she started dating Darren, despite being warned off him by her older sister Sally.

“Sally knew him and told me he had a reputation asa ladies’ man so she was worried when I took a part-time job at the DIY store where Darren worked.

“But there was an immediate spark between us. He made me laugh and really understood me.”

Cassie, who’s studying for three A-levels, has dated boys her own age.

She says: “They just wanted to get drunk. Darren’s different, he’s a gentleman.

"He takes me out for meals, buys me gifts, and treats me properly.”

Darren admits he still worries about the age gap.

He says: “Cassie was once mistaken for my daughter, which was disturbing.”

But Cassie insists: “I love Darren – and in 10 years I’ll feel exactly the same.”

 

Have you ever been in a relationship where there was a significant age gap? Do you think age really matters when two people are in love? Would it influence your decision about having children? Do you think your friends and family would mind?

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Photography: Lancton; Hair and Make up: Oonagh Connor