A 74-year-old grandmother has critics to celebrate her fourth wedding anniversary with her much younger Tunisian husband after critics said he was 'just in it for the money'.
Christine Haycox, originally from Leeds, met Now-Husband, Hamza Dridi, 40, online in 2018 while taught him English as a second language. He was then 34 and they have been together for seven years.
Christine saw a whirlwind -Romanticism to Hammamet, Tunisia, flying to visit him only six weeks later and she never left.
They made the decision in December 2020, in their Tunisian house, and lived in Tunisia for seven years – in which Christine turned to Islam in 2021.
And although her children have always accepted him, she says that friends were initially skeptical that he only did it for a visa.
Christine and Hamza have now celebrated their fourth wedding anniversary – and says that friends now support the marriage.
The author said: 'I don't regret any of me.
'We are both only sorry that we have not met each other before, so that we could have our own children.
Christine Haycox (depicted, left) came together with her Toyboy – friend Hamza Dridi (photo, right) – and now husband – seven years ago
'But we share a dog together instead! It was absolutely love at first sight. '
Hamza said: “Christine is a sweet woman. She is my queen. I love her personality and her intelligence. '
Christine was married for more than 30 years before he separated in April 2003.
She has a 44-year-old son and 39-year-old daughter and two grandchildren-18 and 18 months.
Christine met Hamza after placing an advertisement on Facebook offering to teach English as a foreign language.
Hamza contacted Christine – who is also fluent French fluently – and has registered for her online lessons.
She said, “There was immediately a spark between us.”
Three months later, Christine booked a two -week holiday to Tunisia to meet Hamza personally.
Christine said: 'We went for a walk along the beach and he took me for beautiful dinners. He even took me to a discotheque and we started dancing. '
Her son – who is four years older than her husband – even traveled to Tunisia in 2020 to spend four days with the happy couple a year after their wedding – a small ceremony on December 31, 2020, in Hamza's family house in Manouba, Tunisia.
Christine wore a traditional Tunisian dress and Hamza's second cousin, Miriam, 17, did her hair, manicure and pedicure for her big day.
They have never taken the trouble to be engaged ', they just decided to get married.
Christine said, “We took so long to get married because it took two years to get all the paperwork from England.”
Apart from two short trips to England, Christine has lived in Tunisia for the past seven years.
She said despite the large age gap – as well as from different parts of the world – her family has been supportive.
Christine said: 'They can see how happy I am. My friends have been great. Hamza speaks with my friends all the time so that they can see how good we are together.
“Hamza and I have our own house together and I have never been happier.”
Christine said they have an active sex life and Hamza takes care of her – the majority of cooking and cleaning.
She said: 'He is a warm -blooded Tunisian – we have more sex than most. I need a replacement hip, but apart from that my age does not stop me in the bedroom. '
But their relationship has confronted online with an important return of strangers online after they shared it on Facebook.
Christine said: 'We have had some terrible e -mails and Facebook messages. People say “He wants you money”, but I don't have a lot of money because I am just a normal teacher.
“Or” he wants a visa ” – but he is so family -oriented, he would never have left them.”
A lady even traced the contact details of Christine's son to tell him that the marriage would not last.
She said it is mainly people in the UK who objected to the relationship.
Despite the fact that they have confronted a return of some people because of the age difference in their relationship, the couple are happy together
She said: 'People in Tunisia are so great for me. I love family culture, the helpfulness and friendliness of the people. '
But in Tunisia once Hamza asked, once, said, “How do you have sex with that old woman?”
Christine said the incident Hamza had 'reinforcing', but the next day the Lord apologized and took the couple out of dinner and drinking.
The couple hopes to obtain a visa for Hamza to visit the UK and meet the rest of the Christine family.
Their long -term plan is to go back to the UK because Christine needs medical treatments that she cannot easily get in Tunisia.
