48-YEAR AGE GAP
Iris Hall and her partner Alex became the talk of the town when they started dating…
When Iris Hall steps out holding hands with her fresh-faced young man, passers-by often stare. They might look like a loving grandson and his grandmother, but the truth couldn’t be more different. Iris and Alex are madly in love.
The couple first connected online when Iris was 67 and Alex was just 19. They began speaking daily and, in time, couldn’t deny their feelings for one another. Now, they’re planning to marry and couldn’t be happier.
Iris says, “At this point in my life I didn’t expect to feel such excitement and happiness, but then I met Alex and everything changed. I feel so lucky.”
It was at the end of the first Covid lockdown in June 2020 when Iris’ life took an unexpected turn. She says, “One day I saw an upsetting post on Facebook about some animals in a zoo. Underneath the post, someone called Alex had written, ‘It’s cruel to keep animals in captivity’. I’m a huge animal lover, so I replied, ‘I agree, it’s terrible’, and we started chatting about animal rights.”
UNEXPECTED
Alex sounded so mature that when Iris clicked on his profile, she was shocked – his photo was of a young lad wearing a baseball cap. Iris, now 70, says, “I was 67 and I thought, ‘What am I doing?’ But he was on my wavelength, so I added him as a friend. Over the next few days, we chatted online. Alex was in Manchester, while I was almost 500 miles away in Shetland. I confessed my age and Alex told me he was just 20. I was taken aback that he was so much younger, but I felt there was no harm just chatting.”
Iris was retired and had been single since her decade-long marriage had ended years earlier. Her kids were in their late 30s and 40s and had long flown the nest. She explains, “Talking to Alex was exciting. Then he confessed that he was really 19. ‘I’m sorry I lied. I wanted to seem older. I really like your photos and I can’t believe you’re 67’, he said. I was stunned –he was flirting with me!
“I thought I should back off but then we started video calling each other. I felt so giddy! After three months, I confessed I was falling for him – and he said he felt the same. I couldn’t believe it! I’d never worried about what people thought of me, but I was concerned what others might think of Alex.”
NERVES
In October 2020, Iris and Alex arranged to meet up for a few days in Aberdeen, but Iris spoke to her eldest son first. She recalls, “His jaw hit the floor and he insisted he’d come with me to meet Alex. At the airport my stomach was in knots – I wondered if he’d still feel the same way after seeing me in real life.
“Then I saw him and my nerves vanished. ‘Hi, beau
