After Mr Tumble star Justin Fletcher’s, 55, relationship with his co-star Samantha Dorrance, 34, went public, steady support has trickled in for the couple.
The CBeebies star, who has previously spoken about his lengthy period being single to concentrate on his multi-million-pound children’s presenter role, seems to have found love behind the camera.
Last week, he made his romance official with partner Samantha, who is best known for playing Mr Tumble’s best friend on the show, Tootise, a role she first played in 2015.
According to reports, the pair, who now live together in Oxfordshire in a £2.5million farmhouse, reconnected during a live tour, and love blossomed from there.
When I first heard the news, I’ll admit I raised my eyebrows, instinctively wary of large age gap relationships until I know more details about the situation.
But once I saw it was a couple well into adulthood who had found happiness with one another, I was pleased for them.
What surprised me even more – especially given how toxic and fraught online chatter over age gap relationships can become – is how everyone else seems to have also taken it in their stride.
Seriously, the sheer lack of angry discourse is a sight rarer than the Loch Ness Monster these days.
Not only that, but it even seemed to err on the side of active celebration – also a once-in-a-blue-moon occurrence (who among us doesn’t love Sarah Paulson, 51, and Holland Taylor, 83).
‘They’re both full-grown adults. Good for them,’ nomnomsquirrel wrote on Reddit.
‘She’s not a young adult or a child, she’s a woman. This is simply an age gap relationship,’ cold_tap_hot_brew agreed.
‘Good for him!’ jimpex86 declared.
As I’ve drilled home, it’s a departure from the usual panic surrounding age gap relationships – sometimes justified, sometimes not.
In this specific case of a 30-something and a 50-something getting together and quietly living their lives together, it’s nice to see two people who have found each other at the right time.
(Obviously, this is not always the case, depending on the circumstances.)
Over the years, age gap relationships between celebrities have been subject to much scrutiny. Leonardo DiCaprio’s, 51, dating life has become the butt of the joke for his habit of exclusively dating women in their 20s.
On the flip side, there’s been plenty of eye-rolling around the praise for Keanu Reeves dating a woman only nine years younger than him.
Meanwhile, fans have been heavily critical of 35-year-old Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s marriage to his wife, Sam, 58.
Although a similar age gap to Justin and Samantha, the alarm bells here rang as Aaron met Sam on the movie set for Nowhere Boy when he was 18 and she was 42.
All in all, however, from the outside looking in, it’s refreshing to see a proportionate reaction to two consenting adults pursuing a happy relationship (shock, horror!)
Certainly, that looks to be the case.
Samantha’s father, Stuart, 64, revealed that the couple couldn’t be happier together, telling the Daily Mail: ‘They’re very happy. We’re happy. And that’s all that matters really.’
It echoed a source who told The Sun: ‘Justin and Samantha are madly in love and couldn’t be happier. They are both dedicated performers and bonded over their love of musical theatre. Although there is an age gap, it isn’t an issue between them.’
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