A 21-year-old British influencer has defended her relationship with a 16-year-old boy after facing intense backlash over their five-year age difference.
Tasha Newcombe recently took to social media to reveal her new boyfriend, Marko Vituk, but after revealing her love life to her nearly 270,000 followers, many labeled the relationship “crazy” and noted that she is an adult and he is a “minor.”
After stressing that she is not fazed by the outrage she receives on TikTok, Tasha has since appeared on the Blue Tick Show alongside Marko, where the pair responded to claims that their relationship was “fake.”
“I’m in a relationship with someone who is five years younger than me, and I know a lot of people are going to have opinions about it, and that’s fine. You’re allowed to have your opinion, that’s your own free will,” she said on Mikey Melin’s popular YouTube podcast.
“Although my relationship is still very new, I just have to say that this boy is truly the most mature, kindest and most loving person I have ever had a relationship with.
“I will not tolerate hatred directed against me, my friends or my family.”
She also explained how the two met after initially speaking online, and stated that she had no intention of stalking the teenager.
“I told Marko I was going to have dinner with him, I didn’t see it as a date or anything,” Tasha explained.
“I wasn’t sure if I should meet him either because I’ve never dated anyone younger than me in my entire life.
“I didn’t know what challenges this would bring for me, but I’m with him now anyway.
“It’s my life, I’m going to live my life the way I want to live it. If I decide to have a relationship with him, I can do that because it’s legal. Whether you think it’s morally right or not, it’s legal.”
Many of the “haters” who reacted to the news of the new couple were outraged by the age difference, with some asking, “Is this legal?”
The legal age for consensual sex varies between 16 and 17 years in Australian states and territories. In the UK, the legal age of consent is 16.
It did little to quell the backlash, with many scathing critics of Tasha for her romantic relationship with a teenager,
“He just finished his school leaving exams,” commented one.
“Do you have to ask his mom if he can come out?” joked another.
Someone else argued that people wouldn’t be able to “ignore” it if it were the other way around, calling the situation “crazy.”
But Tasha said the derogatory comments don’t bother her or Marko. She said people should just unfollow her or click the block button if they don’t want to see it.
“Does it affect your life? No. My boyfriend and I have a very beautiful, loving, happy and healthy relationship and the fact that people are sitting there worrying and blaming me so badly is sick and twisted,” she said.
However, she also revealed that it wasn’t just strangers on the internet who condemned her romance, as her best friend, who she had been with for eleven years, was also not happy about her new boyfriend.
“I completely lost my best friend because she was with Marko,” she said in the podcast.
“She said, ‘I just can’t be associated with you,’ and I told her I didn’t care.
“But yeah, she cut me off completely. That’s kind of petty.”
However, the comments only led to further criticism of her relationship with Marko. One wrote: “How can she not see that it is wrong when even her friends cut off contact with her?”
