A MARRIED couple with a 40-year age gap, who consider themselves 'soulmates', receive judgement for their large age difference. Vince, 74, has children in their 40s and 50s and is a grandad, whereas Lesley, 34, won Mrs Pasadena beauty pageant queen in 2016. With Vince being a wealthy man, the most common misconception they face is that Lesley is a "gold digger". Lesley told Truly: "I've gotten 'oh you must be with him for his money' or the gold digger references - that can be annoying." Even their respective families were concerned about their 40-year age gap at first - with Vince's children still not completely comfortable about their father's relationship.
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00:00This is 34-year-old Leslie. She fell in love with 74-year-old Vince.
00:07I consider him my soulmate, 100%.
00:09The first night we went out and we had dinner, I asked Leslie, do you know how old I am?
00:14Age is totally just a number.
00:16Despite Leslie and Vince being comfortable with their 40-year age gap, that hasn't been the case with everyone else.
00:23We mostly get the grandpa statements, you know, regarding him, like, oh, why are you with that old guy or old man?
00:29Every once in a while, I've gotten, oh, you must be with him for his money or the kind of gold digger references.
00:35So, that can be annoying.
00:37And Leslie's mum also had a thing or two to say about her daughter's choice of partner.
00:42Initially, I didn't know how old he was and when I found out he was 40 years older, I told her we needed to have a talk.
00:49Ah, nice day. Good. Good morning, love.
00:58Morning, sweetie.
00:59My name's Leslie. I'm 34 years old.
01:02And my name is Vince and I'm 74.
01:05There are exactly 40 and a half years between us.
01:09Did you sleep good, sweetie?
01:11Yeah.
01:12You not feeling good or are you safe?
01:14I'm just a little tired. I don't know that I slept real well. It'll be fine.
01:19We met in Chicago at a place called Gibson's while I was singing and the beautiful lady was playing piano.
01:28Did you give me a kiss this morning?
01:30Aw, come here, sweetie. Aw.
01:33Vince said, I would love to take you out on a date. Would you like to go out with me?
01:39The first night we went out and we had dinner, I asked Leslie, do you know how old I am?
01:43Because it felt a little awkward. But she was comfortable and I got comfortable.
01:48Hey, how you doing?
01:50I guess you could say the rest was history.
01:53The rest is history, as they say.
01:54I asked Leslie to marry me about a year after we met.
01:58We've been together for almost eight years and married for five years.
02:02All right there, cutie.
02:04When we're out and about, a lot of raised eyebrows are just like, you're a different couple.
02:09We mostly get the grandpa statements, you know, regarding him.
02:13Like, oh, why are you with that old guy or old man?
02:15Every once in a while I've gotten, oh, you must be with him for his money or the kind of gold digger references.
02:21So that can be annoying.
02:23Honestly, I have to say that in the very beginning when I was dating him, I was a little embarrassed.
02:28I was more sensitive to the grandpa statements.
02:30Within a year of us dating, I was just like, screw them.
02:34I didn't really care anymore.
02:36It's like, you know, water off a duck's back, you know.
02:38It's like, yeah, I've heard it already.
02:39Most of my friends are jealous.
02:43A lot of people don't know this, but I actually married a pageant queen.
02:48Why don't we see if we can find her crown?
02:52So this is the sash for Mrs. Pasadena, the title that I held and accomplished in 2019 at the United States pageants.
03:02The year previous, in 2018, I placed as first runner up for Mrs. California, United States.
03:10When she won Mrs. Pasadena, it was a really special time for us.
03:15I know that it meant a lot to her.
03:18And in the audience were my daughter, my son-in-law and my two granddaughters.
03:22So, like, it was a family thing.
03:24While Vince and Leslie's romance grew quickly, his family's reaction to the relationship wasn't immediately supportive.
03:30My family had reservations.
03:32When they first met Leslie, they thought she was very nice, but like, what the hell are you guys doing together?
03:37I have three children, two in their 50s, one in their 40s.
03:42Initially, there was tension and I didn't like the tension.
03:45But I do understand if my father was with someone 40 years younger, I would probably be concerned initially.
03:53So I completely understood what they were thinking.
03:57As far as my kids go, I think they've gotten a little bit more comfortable.
04:01Not totally comfortable, but definitely got more comfortable.
04:03And it wasn't just Vince who had to deal with judgment about their relationship.
04:07Leslie's family also had their own opinions about the match.
04:11At first, my family, especially my parents, had a lot of reserve.
04:17Naturally, they were concerned that Vince, being an older man, was just dating me to have a pretty young thing on his arm.
04:25So they expressed their concerns very vocally.
04:28Initially, I didn't know how old he was.
04:31And when I found out he was 40 years older, I told him we needed to have a talk.
04:36Oh, hi, Mom.
04:37Hi, Leslie. Vince, how are you?
04:40Good.
04:41Hey, Vince, how are you?
04:43Good, good, good.
04:44I had concerns.
04:46I posed the appropriate objections and questions about where this was going and why was it going there.
04:55You know, to make sure you had asked yourself all the questions that needed to be asked.
05:00But we got over that hurdle.
05:02I remember, though. It was tough. I mean, we had it from different sides.
05:06I was concerned because of age, because there's such a large difference in age.
05:11I wondered if Leslie knew what that age difference could mean in a progression as time goes on.
05:18What are the factors that are in play health-wise?
05:22But I began to warm up to him.
05:24Let me show it to Vince.
05:25I wanted to be sure he understood that she had her life to live and that she had her goals to accomplish.
05:32Well, it's been great, Vince. It's really been great.
05:35Leslie, thanks for having me. You guys always do a great hosting.
05:39And everything has just really worked out better than I could have ever hoped.
05:44So I accept them fully now because they are each happy with each other.
05:50The topic of children has come up. We've talked about it.
05:53There are some pluses and minuses we've got to deal with, including my age, obviously.
05:57But it is not off the table.
06:00I'm figuring out what's best for me, but it is wonderful that my husband is even open at this age to even being a father again.
06:10What I love most about Vince, first of all, he has a beautiful smile.
06:14But mostly, it just feels like home being with him.
06:17She makes me feel complete.
06:21I wasn't necessarily expecting to find love again, and I have found it, and it's been wonderful.
06:26Age is totally just a number.
06:29I consider him my soulmate 100%. So as long as you're happy, it doesn't matter.
06:59What is she doing with that little old wrinkly, ugly dude?
07:03She must be cheating on him.
07:05There's a lot of people that will bash us at any chance that they possibly can.
07:09It's so unbelievable that she's together with me that there's no way that she's a real woman.
07:13There's no way this could be real, so she must be in danger.
07:16You're too short, and he's too big.
07:18People just don't get it.
07:20He's crazy. He lost his mind. What's wrong with him?
07:23It never deterred me one bit.
07:30Interabled relationships are beautiful.
07:34You can date somebody who's transgender and not be thought of as a weird person.
07:37I know that it looks weird from the outside, but it just makes my little puppy heart happy.
07:42Humans today, we are all judgmental.
07:45All I know is I love her, and she loves me.
07:48We're just going to continue loving each other.
07:50No matter what, nothing's going to change us.
07:53The thing I love most about Mason is how cute he is and nothing else.
08:01It doesn't matter your gender, your height, your disability.
08:05Love is love, and love will conquer.
08:10F*** the haters.
08:23F*** the haters.