'People were sceptical about us at first'

Ellie, 21, is having a baby with her 44-year-old boyfriend, but tells new they truly don't see the age gap

- LUCY ROBINSON

When Ellie Liptrot and her partner Mark Hillary went for their 12-week scan, they were filled with the excitement all parents-to-be have. But as they pulled up to the hospital, they did have one concern - how the nurses would regard their relationship.

Since meeting three years ago, Ellie, 21, and Mark, 44, have been faced with cynics who've presumed they can't be a genuine couple. But despite the 23 years between them, the pair couldn't be happier.

They're delighted to be expecting their first child together - to them, age really is just a number.

"We experienced a lot of trolling at first," Mark admits. "It's dying down now, but people tell us how they were sceptical to begin with and thought it was strange.

Now they've seen us as a family they get it, though. We genuinely don't notice the age gap. People ask us about it all the time, but we don't see it. It's strange, we don't think about it at all." In December 2021, Ellie, then 18 and a dental nurse, met Mark, then 41, on a work night out. They bonded over their love of an early morning takeaway and a friendship blossomed for the pair, who now live in Cheshire. Soon, it turned into something more.

"We used to live in a small town in Wales, so all the kebab shops closed at 11pm," Ellie recalls. "I came home with my friend and we were ravenous. We raided the cupboards before she messaged this lad, who was Mark's friend, and asked him to take us to McDonald's. He gave us another number to ring and said this person would take us.