Facebook/Michaela Matson Matson and Maldera pictured together on her Facebook page.
A Nebraska teenager has defied her parents and moved to Canada so that she can be with her 53-year-old fiance. Multiple media sources have reported that Michaela Matson, 19, is engaged to 53-year-old Canadian truck driver, William Maldera. The pair met online at an undisclosed time. Matson says that her parents are against the relationship and took her passport away from her when she announced plans to go to Canada to be with her elderly lover. Though, Matson was undeterred and got her passport renewed independently before traveling to Alberta to be with Maldera. For the record, there is 33 year age gap between the two lovers.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. The Couple Met on an ‘Emotion Venting’ App
Facebook/William Maldera
According to the Daily Mail’s interview with Matson and Maldera, the couple met on an “emotion venting” app. The most popular app of this kind if simply known as Vent. Matson told the Mail that after she told her parents about Maldera they sent her to a psychologist.
Since her escape to the town of Acme, Alberta, where she lives with Maldera, Matson says relations with her parents have not been good. Though the couple are engaged, Matson says they don’t plan to marry until her parents are okay with the relationship. Matson explained that when she saw Madera at the airport she, “dropped her luggage and ran, I was so excited and overwhelmed to finally meet face to face.”
Matson told the Mail:
The first time I saw William’s photo, I was thinking, “Wow, he’s handsome” and was attracted to him straight away. I liked his nose, it’s cute and crooked – because his mom broke it as a child – then he has the most gorgeous light brown eyes that are completely break-taking.
I didn’t know how he was at first, but he caught my eye and after we started talking more and more, gradually I realized I was falling for this man.
We were video calling on Facebook almost daily, if not three to four times a week, dependent on his work and my school schedule.
He made the first big move by saying ‘I love you’ and I said it back a month later, he hit all the right areas with me apart from me living in American and him in Canada.
My plan was to go and visit him without telling my mom other than leaving a note, but my man wanted me to tell before I left.
Then both my mom and William wanted me to tell my dad, I had a bad feeling about telling him and I have never seen him so upset in my life.
He threatened to disown me if I decided to keep dating Williams… Whenever I was texting him, my dad asked if I was talking to the “piece of s***.”
2. Maldera Writes on Facebook, ‘I’m No One. The Earth Turned Before My Arrival & Will Continue to Do So After My Departure
Facebook/William Maldera
Maldera writes on the intro to his Facebook page,x “I’m no one. The earth turned before my arrival and will continue to do so after my departure.” Posts on that page indicate that Maldera has a son from a previous relationship and that he doesn’t believe in global warming. In November 2011, Maldera wrote on Twitter, “won the appeal against children services on all grounds.” A year earlier, Maldera launched a petition asking for a “Public inquiry into Child and Family Services Authority.”
3. Matson Says They’re Used to People Thinking They’re Father & Daughter
Facebook/William Maldera
Matson told the Daily Mail that they couple “laugh it off” when people confuse them for father and daughter. The couple got engaged in September 2017.
Facebook/William MaderaMadera posted this photo of Matson’s engagement ring in September. The ring was purchased at Mikaelian’s Jewelry in New York City.
Posts on Twitter show that the two has been in communication since at least June 2016. Matson said, “We don’t expected people to know we are engaged, and not father and daughter because age gap relationships aren’t typical, we try not to let it bother us. I’ve been called his daughter quite a few times, but he proudly tells them she’s my fiancee, other times we laught it off while they apologize.”
4. Matson Is a Photography Student in College
Matson is a photography student, reports the Daily Mail. Among their shared common interests are food, expensive cars and music while she plays “the violin and he’s been singing for a long time. It’s hard for some people to understand age-gap relationships, but William and I are really happy, we can’t wait to be married.” Matson also said that she understands when her friends ask about the “intimate aspect” of their relationship, again Matson laughs that off too.
5. Experts Say Younger Women Date Older Men Because of Different ‘Mate Values’
A January 2016 feature in Men’s Health magazine attempted to uncover the truth behind women dating older women. Gary Lewandowski, a psychology professor at the Monmouth University, told the magazine that men and women seek different “mate values.” Dr. Lewandowski explains, “For men, it comes from money, status, and power. And for women it comes from youth and physical appearance.” Speaking about the relationship between 86-year-old billionaire Ruper Murdoch and 61-year-old Jerry Hall, Dr. Lewandowski said, “Murdoch has more power and status and Hall has more youth and beauty. So in the mating market, they are essentially trading their sources of mate value for each other.”
