MY TOY ΒΟΥ KEEPS ME YOUNG

For Trish Hughes, 44, the thrills of being married to a man 20 years younger is worth all the judgement

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Forcing a smile, I stifled a yawn as my date on the bar stool opposite droned on about his job. 'Keeping you up?' he frowned, spotting my disinterest. 'It's getting late, I'd better head home,' I said, grabbing my bag and saying my goodbyes. It was summer 2008 and, as a recently divorced working mum with three boys, then six, four and two, I should have been making the most of my rare night out. But the truth was, I just hadn't fancied my date. 'He was too old,' I told my friend. 'Didn't you say he was 30? That's only a year older than you,' she replied. 'He seemed ancient,' I insisted.

Ever since I'd started dating again, I'd realised that while my single friends were happy with men their own age, or older, I wasn't. 'Besides,' I explained, 'I've always liked a man with a nice head of hair, and men our age and older seem to be losing theirs.' I felt a bit guilty, but as my friend laughed I knew it was good to be honest. After that, I only swiped right on Tinder for men I really fancied, and they were almost always a few years younger.

The following year, a friend of a friend, then 24, liked one of my photos on Facebook and we started chatting. Before long, we'd met up and started a relationship. While he was six years younger, he matched my energy perfectly. We went on to have two boys before getting married in February 2013 and having a daughter in July 2014. When our marriage sadly ended in 2020, the things that drove us apart had nothing to do with the age difference so when I finally felt ready to dip my toe back into the dating pool, in January 2021, I still picked only younger men.