A woman wants to prove that age shouldn’t be a barrier to true love after proposing to her boyfriend who is 45 years her senior.
Rachael Chenault, 27, and her fiancé John Penzera, 72, have been engaged since May 2018 after she proposed to her former boss on a night out at a strip club.
Now the couple, from Pennsylvania, who first met three years ago, say they can’t wait to get married, claiming they are soulmates.
Chenault says she was instantly attracted to Penzera, despite him being 26 years older than her 46-year-old mother and almost 20 years older than her 55-year-old dad.
The couple first met when when Penzera interviewed Chenault for a job in December 2017, and both say the attraction between them was immediate.
“It was his mannerisms, the way he carried himself,” Chenault says. “It was an instant attraction for the both of us,” she recalls.
“I think we both knew how we felt straight away, but he was going through a divorce at the time, so I didn’t want to rush things, or be the one to make the first move,” she said.
Chenault believes age shouldn’t come into it when it comes to relationships.
“My son’s father is 58 years old, so age gaps have never been a problem for me, but I definitely had no clue that John was as old as he is.
“I thought he was in his late forties or early fifties, because he does not look or act his age.”
Despite being concerned it may affect her job, Chenault says she was thrilled when Penzera kissed her a month after she’d been hired as a guard at the security firm he runs.
“It was like my dreams had come true,” she says. “It was like that movie moment when the guy grabs the girl and leans her over for a kiss.
“But I did then freak out because I was worried about getting fired.”
