I'm 56 and he's 33.. but as the months went by our love for each other just grew

Moviegoers watching Anne Hathaway flick The Idea of You might think the age-gap love story is just another farfetched Hollywood romcom.

- KATE GRAHAM

Anne plays single mum Solene, 40, who falls for 24-year-old pop star Hayes, played by handsome young hunk Nicholas Galitzine.

It sounds too good to be true but such relationships do exist outside the silver screen as 56-year-old lawyer Dawn Baxter knows very well.

Dawn has been in a relationship with Anthony Smith, 33, for three years and says she has never been happier.

She says: "No one bats an eyelid when there's an older guy and his young girlfriend.

"But when it's switched the message comes out loud and clear this will never work. We're proving them wrong"

Like Anne's character, Dawn was a divorcee when she met her lover-to-be.

She says: "In January 2021 my life was in tatters. After being unhappily married for 30 years, my confidence was on the floor. I was having to start my life all over again."

Her sister offered her the unoccupied room in a house she was renting out.

Anthony, a commercial electrician and part-time model, was already living in the other room. Dawn says: "I was a literal wreck. It was all I could do to drag myself to work and back.

"There were no airs and graces. We both said and did what we wanted. I was just totally myself, and so was he."

She was not looking for romance but Dawn says: "As I got to know Anthony, who was very handsome, I realised what a lovely, kind man he was.

"Suddenly there was an electricity between us. I felt it when our hands accidentally touched. I was shocked at how strong the attraction was."