Man, 23, who is dating a 50-YEAR-OLD widow he met on Tinder fires back at critics of the age-gap romance - despite admitting strangers regularly mistake his girlfriend for his MOM

A love struck couple with a staggering 27-year age gap has hit back at criticism of their unique relationship - despite admitting that people often mistake them for mother and son.

Mickey Swearingon, 23, and Cherie Salinas, 50, say that people often assume they are relatives rather than romantic partners - a mistake they concede is not helped by the fact that Cherie's son is the same age as her boyfriend.

The couple, from Katy, Texas, explained they don't care that they get judged for their relationship and find comments about them being mother and son hilarious.

Mickey shared: 'I honestly don't know how to reply when people say she's my mom. It's such a grey area and it's all about proving things to people about our relationship.

'We just want to be happy and if people have anything to say about it then let them.' 

Mickey Swearingon, 23, and Cherie Salinas, 50, has hit back at criticism of their 27-year age gap - after admitting people often mistake them for mother and son

The couple, from Katy, Texas , explained they don't care that they get judged for their relationship and find comments about them being mother and son hilarious 

The pair met on Tinder back in April last year after Cherie's husband sadly died and she decided to try dating younger men.

Mickey told how he has always been attracted to older women but he had never found someone he clicked with as much as Cherie.

He shared: 'When I first saw her, all I could think about was how beautiful she was. She was just so perfect.

'I've never had a serious relationship from Tinder but we had our first date and just haven't left each other's side since.'

Cherie also confessed: 'After my husband passed away, it took me some time to decide to date again, and I realized I was attracted to younger guys.

'[Mickey] was just so adorable when I spoke to him before the date. I couldn't wait to meet him. He was just what I needed at that point.'

As their first date came to a close, they decided to keep the date going saying that it was love at first sight. 

Soon after, they became inseparable and their relationship became serious, meaning it was time to be open with their families about it. 

The pair met on Tinder back in April last year after Cherie' s husband sadly died and she decided to try dating younger men

Mickey told how he has always been attracted to older women but he had never found someone he clicked with as much as Cherie 

Mickey's mom was hesitant to begin with and was worried for her son but she has since managed to come to terms with the age gap after spending time with Cherie. 

He revealed: 'When I first started getting into age gap relationships, my mom wasn't very supportive because she just thought an older woman would use me.

'But when she met Cherie, she could see how happy we were and she just warmed to her straight away.

'When you get into something like this, there's bound to be a rough patch, but we don't care what people say, and we're just glad we can have our families behind us.'

Cherie also told how her family was incredibly supportive including her son who is the same age as Mickey - they even started to become very good friends.

'My son actually has met him and they get along very well, which is always a good thing to have with something like this.

Cherie also told how her family was incredibly supportive including her son who is the same age as Mickey - they even started to become very good friends

Mickey concluded: 'People have such a misconception about age gap relationships, they think that there must be something weird going on but I just like the maturity level'

'A lot of my family haven't met Mickey, but they're supportive and just happy because I'm happy.'

Cherie explained: 'There's so much stigma around relationships like ours and it's mostly incorrect. We just love being together, no matter what people say.'

And Mickey concluded: 'People have such a misconception about age gap relationships, they think that there must be something weird going on but I just like the maturity level that comes with it.

'When we do get hate online we just brush it off, we're happy really and nothing is going to get in the way of that.'