‘My ex wasn’t happy, but it was the right choice’: Woman leaves husband for controversial age gap relationship

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A woman who left her young husband for a relationship with a fellow postal worker 24 years her senior has said people assume it’s a “sugar daddy situation”, but insists meeting her 51-year-old “love of (her) life” is the best thing that has ever happened to her.

Auttumn Marshall, 27, and her husband, Jason Rohlfs, 51 – a father of two daughters, aged 12 and 17, whose names he does not wish to disclose, are both delivery drivers from Denver, Colorado, and met at work, at their local post office, in 2018.

After realising they were both in “bad relationships”, the pair grew closer and “ended up getting feelings” for each other, so they both divorced their partners to be together in late 2019, which Auttumn said was “the best decision (she) ever made”.

Auttumn said her family and friends quickly realised the pair were “perfect” for each other, despite the difference in age, but Jason’s eldest child is still adjusting to their relationship and she hopes “one day she will come around”.

When the pair first became official, they both had “doubts”, as neither of them had ever been in an age-gap relationship, and often felt like “everyone (was) staring” at them, but as their relationship progressed, they both “stopped caring” about the stares because they were happy.

In May 2023, the pair got married in their local courthouse and had a small ceremony, which they felt was the “right decision” for them, and said it “proves age is just a number”.

“Especially nowadays, everyone just assumes it’s like a sugar daddy situation,” Auttumn said.

“And honestly, there are a lot more people in age gap relationships than people really think – there’s a lot of celebrities that are.

“We love each other, and being with him has really shown me that age does not matter when you’re so in love.”

In 2018, Auttumn started a new job, as a delivery driver at her local post office, and little did she know she would meet the “love of (her) life”, Jason.

Auttumn explained: “We were actually both married when we met, but both of our marriages were really bad, and we were in bad relationships.

“We were just friends for a really long time, and I think the more we got to know each other and realised, our situations are so similar and really bad, I think we ended up getting feelings for each other.

“Then, we ended up leaving our marriages for each other, and it was honestly the best thing that could have happened for either of us.

“It was the best decision I ever made.”

At the end of 2019, Auttumn and Jason divorced their partners and became an official couple.

Auttumn said: “I came home from work one day and told my ex-husband that I want a divorce, and he was pretty upset.

“I was able to get out of there really quickly and stay at my mom’s for a little bit until we figured out our whole situation.

“So, my ex wasn’t very happy at all, but I still think it was the right choice.”

Auttumn explained how her family reacted when she told them about her new, older partner: “My family was like ‘Oh, that’s interesting,’ and they had their concerns, obviously.

“But as soon as they met him, they loved him, and they were like, ‘I understand why you guys are together, you guys are perfect together’.”

When Auttumn and Jason first got together, they both had doubts.

Auttumn said: “For sure we had doubts – neither of us had ever been in an age gap relationship before.

“So it was almost like one of those things where you feel like everyone’s staring at you, you know?

“But, as time went on both of us stopped caring about that, because we were happy, so we didn’t really care what anyone else thought.”

In her new relationship, Auttumn had to adjust to being with someone with older views on the world, she said: “With it being such a huge age gap, we grew up in different times.

“But honestly, we still kind of have a lot of similar interests.

“Both of us are really into crystals – I’m into the spiritual side of things, and he finds the physical rocks themselves interesting so now it’s like a joint interest.

“I think both of us like to learn about the other stuff that the other one went through during their time because it’s totally different.”

Jason also has two daughters, aged 12 and 17,  and Auttumn is still working on building a relationship with them.

She said: “The younger one loves me, I talk to her a lot, and she’s great.

“The older one hasn’t quite come around to me.

“I just kind of give her her space, and, hopefully, one day she’ll come around.”

After Auttumn and Jason moved in together in January 2020, they decided to take the next step and get married.

On May 12 2023, the pair tied the knot, Auttumn said: “We kind of just decided to do it, it was kind of random.

“We had been talking about it for a while, and then one day we thought, let’s just do it.

“I’ve never been one that wanted a huge wedding or anything, so we just went to the courthouse, had a quick little ceremony and that was it.

“It felt like the right decision for us, and we’re just really good together.

“I wouldn’t change anything about our relationship, and age isn’t important to us – it proves age is just a number.”