By Rebecca Drew
THIS 22-YEAR-OLD woman who is infatuated with older men is going to become stepmother to three adult children after she marries her partner who is TWENTY-NINE-YEARS her senior.
Actress, Lexsy McKowen (22) met her fiancĆ©, makeup artist and actor, John AvilĆ©s (51) on a television set where she was an extra and John was doing the castās makeup in April, last year.

Lexsy McKowen / MDWfeatures
Metalhead John was wearing a long black leather coat that instantly caught Lexsyās eye and sparked a conversation between them and they discovered a mutual love for comic books, horror and music.
After filming, the pair would stay in the carpark talking until the early hours. The pair who live together in San Diego, California, USA, have a 29-year-age-gap but this was never an issue for Lexsy as she has always been attracted to older men like Jeff Goldblum and Slash when her friends were into Justin Bieber.

Lexsy McKowen / MDWfeatures
However, John found the age difference difficult at first as he had never dated anyone so young and his three children from a previous relationship are all a similar age to Lexsy at 20, 21 and 25. Both families were dubious of the relationship at first but have since grown to accept it.
āI met him on my first set which I was wasnāt going to go to because it was in a sketchy part of the city but I went anyway. He was the makeup artist that night and I was just a featured extra,ā said Lexsy.

Lexsy McKowen / MDWfeatures
āHe wears this really cool black leather long coat and so my first words to him were; āHey, I like your coat,ā and he, to my surprise said thank you really sweetly.
āHe has this metalhead look to him and I was expecting him to be an asshole, but he was the sweetest nerdiest guy Iād ever met. We talked comic books and metal during set and then after we had wrapped we stayed in the parking lot until four am just talking about everything.

Lexsy McKowen / MDWfeatures
āHe was an older guy so that was great for me since Iāve always liked dating older than me, but I had just got out of a three-year relationship and I told myself I wonāt date for like five years.
āI fought myself for a month to not fall in love again. Obviously, that didnāt work out and I’m really happy I fell in love with him.

Lexsy McKowen / MDWfeatures
āOur age gap is twenty-nine-years. For me, it wasnāt a problem. I had dated an older man previously and Iād always been infatuated with older men when I was younger.
āKids were crushing on Justin Bieber and Jesse McCartney and I loved Johnny Depp, Jeff Goldblum and Slash, so for me it was natural.ā

John spoke about how he fell in love with Lexsy, he also discussed how working in the arts has sometimes put a financial strain on their relationship due to unstructured work patterns.
āWell we’re both haunt actors and love comic books, as well as heavy metal, so those were big factors for us. Plus, in our first encounter, we talked for something like three hours, and after that I couldn’t stop thinking about her,ā he said.

Lexsy McKowen / MDWfeatures
āThe age gap was a little tough for me, only because I never dated someone with this much of an age split, but I wouldn’t change this for anything.
āBoth of our families were hesitant. I think more on my side than hers, however my mum came around to it when she saw how we interact with each other, and that she wasn’t a frivolous, flighty, type of a person.

Lexsy McKowen / MDWfeatures
āI think the most difficult thing in our relationship is that we’re both in the arts and that makes things really tight financially for us. I know I’ve had to come a long way due to some very hard times, but we kind of work together through these things.ā
John and Lexsy are excitedly getting ready for their wedding at the end of the month and are looking to move to LA.

Lexsy McKowen / MDWfeatures
Although, marrying John means that Lexsy will technically be his childrenās step mum, this isnāt a label she wants to be known by.
Lexsy hit back at people who might not agree with their age gap and said their relationship is the same as everyone elseās.
āWe are going to move to LA to hit the ground running on our careers in acting and makeup,ā said Lexsy.
āWe have talked about kids and I would like to have just one kid.
āSince Iām marrying him I’m technically his childrenās step mum, but I just want to be called by my name and they already have a mum. I feel uncomfortable calling myself their step mum since they are grown adults.

Lexsy McKowen / MDWfeatures
āOur relationship is a big norm in the film industry and has been for decades. Itās not out of the ordinary if you really think about it.
āOur relationship is just like everyone elseās. The only time our relationship is different is on outward appearance. We donāt see each otherās ages.
āWe have fights, we struggle with money, we go on fun dates or stay in and watch Law and Order in our pyjamas. We are just as normal as anyone else.
āRarely people ask if Iām his daughter but most of the time weāve been lucky with people calling me his girlfriend or sometimes his wife.ā

Lexsy McKowen / MDWfeatures
For more information see www.instagram.com/lexsylove