AS JAY McCormick toasts her husband over a posh dinner she’s all too aware of the whispers and stares from fellow diners.
“He must be rich,” says one while another table openly laughs at the pair.
Jay McCormick found love with her husband Matthew, 29 years her senior[/caption]
The pair met on the dating website Plent of Fish and moved in as soon as they met[/caption]
But Jay pays them no mind. Matthew might be almost 30 years her senior but they both know that age is just a number.
She met her 49-year-old hubby on Plenty of Fish and moved across the country to move in with him the same day they met in the flesh.
They were engaged just two weeks later.
Jay says: “I didn’t set out for an older man, and Matthew didn’t set out for a younger person. It just happened.
“We want to encourage other age-gap couples to never be ashamed and not to let any criticism stop you from being happy.”
In August 2023, Jay was 19 years old when she was living in South Dakota and made a profile on the popular dating website.
She says: “Despite only being 19, I was in the middle of a divorce.
“Mum, and my family, were devout Christians, not allowed to cut their hair and only wearing long gowns to cover their bodies.
“I fell pregnant with my partner, and my family wouldn’t allow me to live in ‘sin.’ I was pressured into marriage.
“The situation ended up unhealthy and we split. But we were still living together until I found a new place.
“So when I made my dating profile that day I hoped I’d find the right person for me. I was still eager to find love again.
“At first I had disgusting sexual messages, and unsolicited penis pics. I ignored every creep.”
The next day, stranger, Matthew, messaged Jay through the website, calling her beautiful.
He lived 800 miles away, in a village in Oklahoma, and owned a farm.
Jay says: “Looking at his profile, I saw a much older man who looked decades older.
“For a moment, I worried he wanted to be my sugar daddy, or that he wasn’t real.
“But we got chatting and he was really kind and sincere. He told me he was 48 and I told him I was 19.
“I also said I was two months pregnant, and planning a divorce. He was incredibly caring.
When they are out in public, Jay says strangers opening stare and laugh[/caption]
She says Matthew has been accused of trafficking her[/caption]
“Every day, he set an alarm to remind me to take my pre-natal meds, and put on my stretch mark cream.
“We spoke for hours on end each night. I was smitten.”
The mysterious stranger across the country had stolen Jay’s heart and she fell in love.
The pair became a couple, despite their 30-year-age gap and having never met.
The next month, Jay moved out of her ex-boyfriend’s home and into a hotel.
Matthew then set off for a 2-day car drive across the U.S to meet Jay in South Dakota.
Jay says: “I got very nervous. I thought, what if he’s a catfish? Or if he was dangerous.
“I knew what a scary world the internet was. But as he pulled up outside in his truck I ran over to him and hugged him tight.
“My worries melted away and we kissed passionately. It felt like we’d known each-other a lifetime.
Taking a leap and risking everything for Matthew was scary. But it was the best decision of my life
Jay McCormick
“Right away, we went to my hotel room. We talked for hours, before deciding I’d return home with him.
“I packed two small suitcases and two bags. Then Matthew and I left my life behind and hit the road.
“I settled in at his home and loved it there. But later that week, I suffered a miscarriage. I was heartbroken but Matthew was incredible and took work off to care for me.
“Taking a leap and risking everything for Matthew was scary. But it was the best decision of my life.”
Sadly Jay was diagnosed with PCOS and Asherman syndrome, a condition where scar tissue formed inside her uterus.
She let her ex know they’d lost the baby, and two weeks after moving in, Matthew proposed to her at home.
Jay says: “It was the happiest moment of my life. Although my divorce wasn’t complete, I wanted Matthew to be mine forever.
“His family were amazing and welcomed me in with open arms. His mum even helped me plan the wedding.
“But Matthew’s two children, in their mid 20s, were estranged from him. He hadn’t seen or heard from them in years.
“Not long after, my mum blocked me on everything after she found out. Whilst the rest of my family, including my 13 siblings, blocked and disowned me as well.
A-list age gap relationships that have stood the test of time
- Kris Jenner & Corey Gamble – 25 years
The Kardashian matriarch, 69, met her younger man, 44, at a mutual friend’s 40th birthday party in Ibiza. They’ve been together since August 2014. - Sam & Aaron Taylor-Johnson – 23 years
The director, 57, and actor, 34, reportedly met at a film audition in 2009, and were married by 2012. The pair share two daughters and Sam has two children from a previous marriage. - Rosie-Huntington-Whiteley & Jason Statham – 20 years
The model, 37, started dating actor Jason, 57, in 2010. They were wed in 2016 and have since welcomed a son and a daughter together. - Catherine Zeta-Jones & Michael Douglas – 25 years
Catherine, 55, was introduced to Michael, 80, a film festival in 1996 and engaged three years later. Shortly after their engagement, the couple welcomed a son and married in 2000.
“They agreed that I’d gone against the church. I was cut off. It hurt deeply, but deep down I knew I deserved better.
“After two months together, Matthew and I fell pregnant with twins. We were so shocked as Matthew’s vasectomy he’d had 10 years before had naturally reversed.
“I then received a letter through the post from my mum too. She wrote that I’d put shame on her and the church.
“She said I was making the biggest mistake of my life marrying Matthew and that she’d never approve.
“I realised then that she and my family only cared about their reputation, not my happiness. I scrunched up the piece of paper and threw it in the bin.”
Sadly the disapproval of Jay and Matthew’s relationship didn’t stop there. They began receiving cruel taunts from strangers and locals.
She says: “One night we were at dinner and the wait staff were speaking in Spanish talking about us.
“Little did they know, I spoke Spanish. I heard them laugh ‘He must have a lot of money.’
Everywhere we went, locals continued to point at us. We became the city’s gossip
Jay McCormick
“Then right after we paid our bill, I thanked them for the meal in Spanish. They all turned pale in embarrassment.
“Every food shop we went to, people not only laughed at us, but they pointed.”
Jay claims a stranger in their town even took a photo of her and Matthew holding hands whilst shopping before uploading the photo to a local Facebook group called ‘Trashy people in our county.’
The group, which had hundreds of thousands of locals in it, saw the photo labelled ‘Gross grooming relationship.’
Jay says: “Underneath, there were over 300 comments ridiculing us. Some said ‘They’re sick in the head.’
“Others wrote ‘Must be in a cult.’ And ‘Shes come from the other side of the country, she has been trafficked by this man.’
“It was horrific. I was a grown adult who’d consented. Matthew was confused and angry too.
“Everywhere we went, locals continued to point at us. We became the city’s gossip.
“Even on our business Instagram and TikTok, I made reels about the chickens and we were trolled on there.
“Locals wrote ‘15 with a 50-year-old man,’ ‘His life insurance must be good’, ‘His must pay for everything’ and that I was ‘Doing the long game waiting for him to die.’
“It was relentless. At first, I refused to let them get the better of me, ignoring it all.
“But the trolls then said our unborn children were a product of grooming.
“I could handle them abusing us. But no-one would speak ill against our children.
“I began replying, defending ourselves constantly. Then sadly on Valentine’s day in 2024, we lost the twins.
“As Matthew and I grieved, whilst dealing with so much hate in the local area, it was too much to bear.”
In the end, the couple didn’t allow anyone to tear them apart, and claim it instead made them stronger.
Despite the world against them, Matthew and Jay married in August 2024, in a private courthouse ceremony after Jay’s divorce was finalised with her ex.
Jay says: “Now, Matthew and I haven’t given up our dream to be parents. And the abuse online is still ongoing too.
“Only the other week someone called me a ‘grandpa fucker’ and another wrote Matthew ‘better dye his hair because it looks like he raped me.’
“I’ve learned to laugh it off now. In fact, it’s becoming boring, and people need to get new material.
“To anyone that judges a couple like us, it reflects more poorly on you that it does us. Matthew’s the love of my life.”
The pair refuse to let the haters get them down and say age is just a number[/caption]
Despite the world against them, Matthew and Jay married in August 2024[/caption]
