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Negative comments don’t affect the couple (Picture: mediadrumimages/@sstinchcomb)
The path to true love rarely runs smooth, but most couples don’t have to deal with being mistaken for father and daughter while out and about.
That’s the case for brand manager Samantha Stinchcombe, 25, and chef Billy Hughes, 50, from Baltimore in the US, who’ve been together for the last three years.
With Billy being old enough to be Samantha’s dad, they’re often mistaken for father and daughter, but the pair say they’re unbothered by their age gap.
Sharing pictures and videos of their relationship online, they’ve received a number of positive comments alongside some criticising their difference in age.
Negative comments plague Sam’s page, with people commenting ‘that’s so weird’ and many requesting her to become their sugar baby.
Comments include ‘DM now, sugar baby needed to be spoilt immediately’ and ‘promise to treat you well’. The couple even received one comment from a female sugar baby asking for attention from Billy.
However, Sam and Billy remain positive and ignore the negativity.
They got together after Sam started working at Billy’s restaurant (Picture: mediadrumimages/@sstinchcomb)
‘We are two passionate, creative, adventurous souls who found each other in this life,’ said Sam.
‘We’ve both experienced a lot in our lives and love experiencing new things together. We love travel, spectacular food, and one-of-a-kind living.’
The couple got together when Sam moved home from Italy and got a job at Billy’s restaurant. They didn’t meet until a month into her job, but the 25-year-old says they ‘instantly clicked’ when they did.
They’ve now been together for three years (Picture: mediadrumimages/@sstinchcomb)
Sam said: ‘I never really felt bothered by the age gap. If anything, it’s pretty on brand for me as a person- I don’t live a typical life.
‘Billy just loves me so much and supports me in so many ways that the age barely even crosses my mind anymore.’
‘Mentally I’m younger,’ added Billy. ‘Just life experience I have to remember that I have a different opinion on how to address certain issues.’
Sam is inundated with requests to become a sugar baby online (Picture: mediadrumimages/@sstinchcomb)
He continued: ‘That’s okay as long as we have good communication and respect each other, there’s nothing we can’t work out.
‘As far as negativity from others, that’s their business. I try to mind my own business and not to worry what others have to say.’
Both Billy and Sam’s families have been supportive of the couple, who moved in together in 2020.
The pair love travelling together (Picture: mediadrumimages/@sstinchcomb)
‘In the beginning the age gap was definitely hard for others, not so much us. I mean we’re part of two different generations so communication can be difficult at times, but we always get to solid ground eventually,’ said Sam.
‘The age gap is sometimes a scapegoat for people that don’t actually know us at all to look down on our relationship.
‘They just notice the gap and write us off completely, without knowing the depth of our actual connection.
Both Sam and Billy’s families are supportive of their relationship (Picture: mediadrumimages/@sstinchcomb)
‘Our main problem has just been judgement from others but once we realised it’s their insecurities and that they know nothing about us, we realised their judgement just didn’t matter.
‘Sometimes a bartender will call him my father or something, but we just laugh that off.’
It’s not always easy for partners to work together as well as live together, so Sam and Billy have agreed to keep their relationship separate from the business.
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As well as both seeing separate therapists and going to couples’ counselling, they love nothing more than eating healthily, training at the gym together, and going for long walks around their neighbourhood.
Sam said: ‘This is the happiest, healthiest relationship I’ve ever been in. We are both coming to the table as whole individuals that know our worth and how we want to be loved.
‘I just want to share our story so people see that healthy, genuine age gap relationships do exist and they can be an amazing thing.’
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