Couple with age gap of 40 years reveal secrets of their strong love life: Future planning, arts and 'a bit of naked drawing'
It was "love at first sight" for 83-year-old Edna Martin and 44-year-old Simon Martin when they met at a concert at Odeon in Weston in 2005 and eventually got married. Edna, an old age pensioner, and her husband - 40 years her junior - are now making news after they recently came on television to reveal the secret of keeping the spark alive in their marriage after 14 years.
The Somerset couple said that they had shocked their small town when they got together, considering their age difference, but are happily married as they celebrated their 14th marriage anniversary.
While appearing on This Morning show, the couple said that they are more in love now than when they first started dating. The pair reportedly appeared on the show after filming for Channel 5 documentary 'Age Gap Love: Did It Last?'
Edna shocked presenters Holly Willoughby and Philip Schofield during the segment when she revealed that she was planning on painting her husband in the nude.
"You do keep the spark very much alive though. I mean, the plans you've got for the future, you like art and those sort of things, and you're planning to do a bit of naked drawing?" Willoughby asked.
To which the great grandmother replied with: "That's right, I'm going to take some photographs of Simon - because people twitch, they can't sit still - posed very carefully, and it's one of my favourite views," she said with a wink.
Willoughby, who was laughing at this point, said: "I love you. Good for you."
"Well tell it how it is, girl! Our Simon with no clothes on, and I'm going to do that in watercolour," Edna revealed.
The couple's inspiring love story had the viewers of 'This Morning' enthralled, and they took to social media to show their appreciation for the couple's love and vigor.
Twitter user @charljlewis wrote: "The 40 year age gap couple on This Morning are wonderful — true love and affection for each other. How anyone could say it's wrong... they must be jealous."
Their love story, however, is tinged with sadness, as the pair revealed that Simon's health is deteriorating, which means that his life expectancy has been significantly reduced. This means that there is a high probability that he is going to die before his 40 years older wife.
"Because I love Simon and I wouldn't want Simon to be in danger, or hurt, or distressed or alone, more than he had to be, I wanted to legally take as much care of him as I could so it was all in place," Edna explained.
"So he has two appointed friends - one's my son - who have power of attorney to look after him. But with Simon's health constraints, it is very likely that I will outlive him. Simon will confirm that."