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My partner's 21 and my daughter's 16
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I'm five years older than my stepdaughter. When I first met Elliot, it was a little bit awkward
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Yeah, it was a bit awkward. I didn't know if it was my dad's friend or girlfriend and I wasn't really sure
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The thing about being online that I hate the most, I think, is honestly just the judgment
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Oh, Mark's your sugar daddy. You're literally just with Mark for the money. You're bummy, you don't work
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We're both thick-skinned, aren't we? If we were, we wouldn't be. We could be in a relationship, wouldn't we, really
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Was the age gap ever an issue? Are you happy? Yes. On the weekends we definitely like to get out of the house and go for a walk
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I mean the kids don't love it the best but get some fresh air. My name's Ellie and I'm a 21 year old step mum and this is my boyfriend Mark
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So we first met back in 2021 after a night out. Cut a long story short, a friend gave us his number to take us out for some food
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I ended up ringing Mark and I've never met him, I didn't actually know him and he ended up picking us up
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and we ended up getting together in March 2022. who the age gap between me and Mark is 23 years
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Well done, you know what I'm saying, 24. I've got two children, Marcus and Isabel
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So Isabel is 16 and Marcus is 12. So Marcus, what is Ellie like as a step-mom
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So Ellie as a step-mom is actually quite good because since she's young and not in her 30s or 40s
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she's quite energetic and can relate to me more because she's just young
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She's not an old lady. Yeah, she's just more into baking and fun activities
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Ellie is a step-mom. Well, she's like my best friend, like with little gossips
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does my makeup, does my hair, she's like building best friends. Yeah, Mark's just fun, he likes to have a laugh, she's dead cheeky, and Izzy is..
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Izzy is a diva. She is. She's just your typical girl, but they're great kids
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Me and Mark were together for a good few months before I did meet the children
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I was so nervous. It felt like meeting your partner's parents for the first time
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When I first met Ellie, it was a little bit awkward because we were at the back of the car
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and we were on our way to Alton Towers and it was just a little bit weird and I kind of thought it was I didn know if it was my dad friend or girlfriend and I wasn really sure When I first met Ellie I don know yeah it was a bit awkward I was like ooh don know never met him before I think we didn speak for the whole card didn it
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It was quite awkward. It was a very long tune, I don't know. Yeah, literally. As soon as we got there, we ended up having such a good time and it broke the ice amazingly
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So me and Izzy spend a lot of time chatting, have a nice little gossip
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It's great because it's like having a friend in the house all the time. How would you describe your relationship
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Our relationship is, I know Izzy's deepest, darkest secret, so if you've ever annoyed Izzy, I know
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I know about it, do you know what I mean? Yeah. Luckily, we do have a really close relationship
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as much as we have a friend relationship, like I am there for her. I'd describe Ellie as chaotic, very cool, got a good dress scent
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stylish, pretty, icon. I didn't pay her to say that. Ellie's younger than all my friends' mums
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for anything she's probably younger than their sisters. But like, is that not just like cool mum vibes
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That is cool mum vibes. Yeah, I'm known as the coolest step-man around here
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You literally are, everyone loves your TikTok. I think we've not filmed a TikTok together for a while now, have we
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But I think the classic, get ready with me, is what we like to film
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We always do well when we film them together. What do you enjoy about being a step-mom to a teenager
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It is honestly so fun. I know a lot of people like to say, like, I'm wasting away my young years
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But I see it as I've got my head down, I've got a great life ahead of me
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and I'm having a great time. I think I did a great job. You did
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Right, we love a good 0.5, right? I know. I know. Sleep
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Right, you ready to make some brownies? Yeah. I need you to get me the eggs and the brownie mix out the cupboard
3:46
Since I've become a step-mum, I have changed quite a bit as a person. I think I've always been mature for my age, but I think I've matured even more
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Pop them in the cases. has to be honest i feel like it fell in its place so naturally i think we all right now that i got stepchildren i said to mark i couldn have no stepchildren I love a loud house What do you think makes a good parent What makes a good parent is just like
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just looking after like your kids in general. Patience is key. There's definitely times where you're like
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this is a lot, but honestly, it is all worth it. I just think you've got to be there for your kids
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Mm. Uncooked. Should we put them in the oven so we can actually eat proper brownies
4:28
Yeah. So when we all moved in together, I was a bit apprehensive at first. We've lived together since about March 2022, is it Al
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Yeah, I think. Moved yourself in. When me and Mark and the kids all first lived together
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we were actually living in an apartment, so it was... Very squash
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It was very squash. The kids were sharing a bedroom. We've literally only just moved into this house now
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Obviously, it was a bit of a culture change for the kids and everyone living together, but yeah, we all got on really well, didn't we Al
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So what did your family and friends think when you told you were moving in together? So when we moved in together, we never actually officially..
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There was no official date. Yeah, there was no official date. So I think our friends and family kind of just watched it happen with us
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Like, I'd slowly just bring more clothes around. And then it ended up being my whole entire wardrobe
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and my whole entire bedroom was just in your apartment. With my family, when me and Mark first got together
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at the start, I think they were quite shocked with his age. I think a lot of people looking in would be
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But as soon as time passed, I think they saw that I'm happy. We're in a happy, healthy relationship
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and I'm living my great life. So honestly, all they care about is that. And from your side, Mark
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So we met through friends and obviously they didn't really mind. They obviously knew Ellie beforehand
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and obviously the lads, you know, what they're like, they give you a bit of a tease and obviously she's younger and stuff
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but everyone accepted it perfectly fine, you know. The age gap, I don't think, you can't even really notice it, can you
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And people always ask it all the time and I always think that if the age gap wasn't even there, we wouldn't even know
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that there was an age gap, would you really? I don't think the age gap's an issue because we were friends first
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So I think that I got to know Mark as a person before I end up getting with him
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So we started posting about our family online about December 2023. We have had a lot of mixed responses regarding our content I think especially now it mostly supporting At the beginning people were sceptical weren they Obviously they watched our family grow and us you know seeing our day life people sort of got more invested in it haven they really They like
6:17
along for the journey aren't they? We have a laugh at the comments don't we? I don't really care we're
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both thick-skinned aren't we? If we weren't we could be in the relationship could we really
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You done? Yeah. Right. Shall we have a look at the comments to see what's new? Yeah go on
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We do like to do this because we like to have a look and see what everyone's..
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No, end the same way, but also to see what anyone's thinking, answering questions. We do like to be active on our social medias
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Obviously, with posting online, of course, you get judgment. 90% of the hate is to do with our age gap
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Your typical comments saying like, old man or, oh, Mark's a sugar daddy
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You're literally just with Mark for the money. You're bummy, you don't work. You didn't pay for everything you wouldn't be there
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I get TikTok, I'll just sit there and go through them and I'll just go for the profiles, find someone and then go onto their profile
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and then see something where they're sort of contradicting themselves. The thing about being online that I hate the most
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I think, is honestly just the judgement. I just think it's sad that they think it's OK to do that
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You know, just think, who would sit there and think of something nasty and take the effort to write it and send it
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And obviously there's something missing from your life, isn't there, because I couldn't bother doing that, could you? At the end of the day, long as we're happy, that's all that matters
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Yeah, yeah. I definitely do want kids myself. Like, I'm only 21, I definitely do want kids
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and I think if anything having two step children has made me want kids even more
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What do you hope that the future holds for you both as a couple? So I think for our future..
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Well I hope we stay together. I hope! I think our future, to be honest, we're very unpredictable people
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but our future will definitely be together. Obviously as long as we're all happy, the kids, I want them to grow up and have a great life
