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 fiancĂ©, makeup artist and actor, John AvilĂ©s (51) on a television set where she was an extra and John was doing the castâs makeup in April, last year.
Metalhead John was wearing a long black leather coat that instantly caught Lexsyâs 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.
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.
âI met him on my first set which I was wasnât 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,â said Lexsy.
âHe wears this really cool black leather long coat and so my first words to him were; âHey, I like your coat,â and he, to my surprise said thank you really sweetly.
âHe has this metalhead look to him and I was expecting him to be an asshole, but he was the sweetest nerdiest guy Iâd 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.
âHe was an older guy so that was great for me since Iâve always liked dating older than me, but I had just got out of a three-year relationship and I told myself I wonât date for like five years.
âI fought myself for a month to not fall in love again. Obviously, that didnât work out and I’m really happy I fell in love with him.
âOur age gap is twenty-nine-years. For me, it wasnât a problem. I had dated an older man previously and Iâd always been infatuated with older men when I was younger.
âKids were crushing on Justin Bieber and Jesse McCartney and I loved Johnny Depp, Jeff Goldblum and Slash, so for me it was natural.â
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.
âWell 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,â he said.
âThe 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.
âBoth 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.
âI 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.â
John and Lexsy are excitedly getting ready for their wedding at the end of the month and are looking to move to LA.
Although, marrying John means that Lexsy will technically be his childrenâs step mum, this isnât 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 elseâs.
âWe are going to move to LA to hit the ground running on our careers in acting and makeup,â said Lexsy.
âWe have talked about kids and I would like to have just one kid.
âSince Iâm marrying him I’m technically his childrenâs 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.
âOur relationship is a big norm in the film industry and has been for decades. Itâs not out of the ordinary if you really think about it.
âOur relationship is just like everyone elseâs. The only time our relationship is different is on outward appearance. We donât see each otherâs ages.
âWe 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.
âRarely people ask if Iâm his daughter but most of the time weâve been lucky with people calling me his girlfriend or sometimes his wife.â
For more information see www.instagram.com/lexsylove