Iris Jones was 80 years old when she met Mohamed Ahmed on Facebook, an Egyptian 46 years younger than her.
What began as online conversations ended up becoming a long-distance relationship that defied the doubts of family members, friends, and thousands of social media users.
In 2020, the British woman traveled to Cairo to meet him in person, and shortly afterward the two got married. Two years later, the couple celebrated their second anniversary, saying that their love was still stronger than ever. During that time, Iris not only publicly defended her marriage against criticism over the age difference, but also surprised people by speaking candidly about her intimate life, even stating that she did not expect to experience “the best sex of her life” at 83 and that Mohamed kept her young “especially under the sheets”.
The couple’s story went viral in different countries and sparked a debate about prejudice toward relationships with large age differences..