This is 23 year old Caleb,
he fell in love with
56 year old Mark.
Caleb: I'd say Mark's best quality is definitely his eyes.
Their relationship has received criticism due to their age gap.
Caleb: When I get comments that are calling my boyfriend a flat out
like pedophile those are the only ones that trigger me
With friends and family also worried about the age difference.
Female Speaker: Like you are way younger than him.
With mounting pressures from haters
can their relationship survive any additional turmoil?
Caleb: Just start with the cheating.
Are you comfortable with me talking about this?
Mark: I'd rather not.
Mark: Can I make some pancakes and eggs?
Caleb: Pancakes and eggs?
Caleb: Doesn't smell that.
Mark: I know it doesn't really look like a pancake.
Caleb: Is it an egg omelet?
Mark: I think so,
Caleb: I do not want one of those.
Caleb: Do you want to go get breakfast?
Mark: Maybe that's what we should do.
Caleb: How me and Mark met. It's not the most conventional way.
I was 17. And he didn't necessarily know that.
Mark: Caleb and I met when I was 49, and he was 17.
of course, people are going to have an issue with it.
I didn't necessarily expect when I met Caleb that I was going to fall in love with him.
I took my friend's phone who I was living with and I downloaded the app.
I'm sure everyone knows of grinder and I just started messaging.
I got a message from this one guy.
He seemed really nice.
So he wanted me I thought why not?
So the next day I went and I met him and ever since I have been with him.
Mark: I started thinking that Caleb was the one
I'm going to say a few months into us seeing one another.
We had probably gone out
maybe eight or 10 times or something
over the course of the first few months.
I mean, it was
not something I expected because of
him being that much younger than me.
Caleb: I can't see your face
here we go ...
Whilst Mark was initially concerned about their age gap,
he's found mounting judgment about their relationship difficult to deal with.
Mark: As far as judgments,
if they see an older person walking alongside of the younger person
it's probably going to be "Oh, that's his son."
"That's his nephew. That's something" right?
online, it's very harsh.
Everything from I must be a pedophile to this is sick,
to, I don't need to repeat them all,
But there's just a lot of people with
very closed minds who've believed two men shouldn't be together.
When an older man's dating a younger woman,
That that seems to be like "Oh he's got his trophy bride"
or it's it's almost like
the high five thing.
But if an older man dating a younger man,
it's somehow its sick and twisted. I don't know.
Caleb has a popular YouTube channel,
which frequently features Mark.
and his relationship has been criticised harshly online.
Caleb: When I get comments that are calling my boyfriend a flat out like pedophile.
Those are the only ones that trigger me
It triggers me specifically because it's a real occurrence.
There are actual pedophiles.
My boyfriend is in a consensual relationship with a 23 year old male.
People shouldn't judge age gap
relationships in general, especially
if the two are of legal age and they're both in a consensual relationship.
Mark: So one of the judgments is that I must be buying his affection.
And you know, the YouTube channel probably encourages that,
because a lot of his titles
are sugar baby and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
They're sensationalized
and they intend to get people
Well what is this all about? Right?
So they have to go watch the video, but
he's not a sugar baby. He's very capable of taking care of himself
when he wants to,
But the couple have had to deal with more than just judgment online.
They've had their own relationship issues to contend with.
Caleb: Just start with the cheating.
well, I call it the cheating even though it was ...
You know,are you comfortable with me talking about this?
Mark: I'd rather not.
Caleb: So basically, my boyfriend has been cheating on me.
On my Instagram, I got a message
from this account called
"I'm so into Mark."
For the past few months,
he's been sneaking away to my apartment.
what do you have to say for yourself?
Who is this person?
Mark: Five minutes there it's really hard to resist.
Caleb: Stay away from my boyfriend.
He's my hunk. I know he's sexy and that's why I'm trying to keep him off my channel.
Mark: I'm sorry, I love you.
Caleb: How did I overcome him cheating?
Well, basically, that was a hard lesson that we learned not to share.
Mark is human. I'm human.
I wouldn't be lying if I didn't make mistakes myself in this relationship.
But I think what's important is
to grow from it like we're stronger today.
Even Caleb's closest friend,
is also concerned about their relationship.
Caleb: They smell amazing, It's amazing, are these for me?
Thank you.
Thank you for bringing those
Caleb: So I know we already talked about this before, but I want you
to be honest. What do you think about Mark?
Now that you've met him a couple more times.
Female Speaker: What do I think about Mark?
Caleb: Yeah.
Female Speaker: Obviously, as a friend, I think about long term things
I think about
his health,
like you're super adventurous person.
Is he going to be hiking mountains with you?
Caleb: Right.
That's what I keep telling him, that's actually what I'm telling him.
Female Speaker: Exactly. So I mean, obviously, I thought about that.
Other things I think about our like, concerns
as far as what his interests were,
like, you are way younger than him. So that crossed my mind a little bit. But
it's so weird, because when I met Mark, like,
instantly, I didn't have any of these doubts anymore.
Caleb: You're not the first friend to tell me that.
I think it takes meeting him in person to understand
Female Speaker: Absolutely.
Caleb: The dynamic like between us.
Because I'm sure you assumed like "Oh, maybe it's just for money or something."
Female Speaker: I think that
you guys really balance each other out.
Caleb: Oh thanks, I feel like that too honestly.
Mark: I'm sure a lot of people expected this to be some weird flash in the pan and you know,
he's doing this and then either he'll move on
to a new sugar daddy or whatever it was right?
We've been together for...
it's just shy of six years
we've outlived a lot of marriages and
We don't have any intention of
parting ways.
I mean we're very happy together.
We're about to buy our well, we're in the process of buying our dream home in Hawaii and moving
to the islands. You know?
Caleb: I think Mark's best quality is definitely his eyes. I just think he is
so handsome and
the outside matches the inside, truly.
Mark: Caleb's best quality is she's very compassionate.
He cares about his friends,
He cares about the world,
He cares about our little loved ones.
And he cares about me.
Despite the judgment and difficulties they face.
The couple's relationship still has hurdles to jump,
but they remain committed to their love for one another.
Mark: The most difficult thing is knowing that like I'm probably going to die when Caleb
sometime in his 40s like in the prime of his life
quite literally, I'm going to disappear.
And hopefully I don't go out.
Like a lot of people do which is this
slow, fade, horrible, lengthy death.
My goal in life is to die will look in surprise on my face like "really right now?"
Caleb: I look forward to spending the rest of my life with you.
I in the rest of your life I should say.
And even if you're going to be in a wheelchair or,
I'm going to take care of you, I'm going to take care of you baby. Same way you took care of me.
I mean that.
Mark: I love you,
Caleb: I love you too.