Age really is just a number.
When it comes to love, does an age difference really matter? Clearly not for this couple who have a 34-year age gap — and if the duo has any regrets, it’s that they wish they met sooner.
The universe brought Christine Haycox, 74, and Hamza Dridi, 40, together seven years ago when the two met during an online English language course Haycox was teaching at the time.
In 2018, Dridi responded to a Facebook ad that Haycox, a UK native, posted offering to teach the English language to foreigners.
From there, you could say the rest is history — because the couple described their initial virtual meeting as love at first sight. “There was an instant spark between us,” Haycox told The Mirror.
After only knowing each other for a short period of time, Haycox booked a one-way ticket to Hammamet, Tunisia, a country in North Africa — where her beau lived and never looked back.
Two years later, in 2020, the two said “I do” and celebrated with a low-key ceremony at Dridi’s family home.
“We took so long to marry because it took two years to get all of the paperwork from England,” Haycox explained in the article.
Eventually a year later, Haycox converted to Islam for her husband. “Christine is a lovely wife. She is my queen. I love her personality and her intelligence,” Dridi said about his bride.
Haycox was previously married for over 30 years before her and her ex-spouse got divorced in 2003. She has a son and daughter — and is a grandmother to two grandchildren.
How does Haycox’s friends and family feel about this whirlwind romance? “They can see how happy I am. My friends have been amazing. Hamza speaks to my friends all the time, so they can see how good we are together,” she said.
The 74-year-old said her and her hubby now have their own home together, where Dridi takes on most of the chores around the house.
And when it comes to intimacy — there’s no stopping these newlyweds: “He’s a hot-blooded Tunisian — we have sex more than most.”
Despite living in their own happy bubble of bliss — the couple has faced backlash for their astonishing age difference.
“We’ve had some horrible emails and Facebook messages,” Haycox revealed.
“People say ‘he wants your money’ but I don’t have lots of money because I am just an ordinary teacher and that ‘he wants a visa’ – but he is so family-orientated, he would never have moved away from them,” she explained.
Despite Dridi not wanting to move away from his family, the couple’s goal is to get him a visa so the couple could eventually relocate to the UK for Haycox’s medical needs.
