21-year-old social media influencer Tasha Newcombe has defended her decision to pursue a romantic relationship with a 16-year-old boy. Newcombe from Kent has been involved in a three-month relationship with 16-year-old Marko Vituk from Maidstone.

However, since the pair made their relationship official, they have received an avalanche of backlash from angry trolls. In response to the ongoing controversy, the 21-year-old recently took to her TikTok page to defend their relationship. She admitted that she was initially unsure about starting a relationship with Mark, who is of GCSE age, but that they had a “healthy, happy and loving relationship.”

Speaking in a five minute long video, the party rep said: “The reason I'm making this video today is obviously to talk about my relationship. I am in a relationship with someone who's five years younger than me and I know a lot of people are gonna have their opinions on that and quite rightly so, you're allowed to have your opinions, that's your free will.”

“I've seen a lot of comments and videos from bullies saying ‘you know what you're doing is wrong; and ‘this is why you said you wouldn't meet him.’” She revealed that the couple had initially been speaking online before they decided to meet up. But Tasha hesitated before meeting Marko in person because she was concerned about sparking a “backlash.”

“The reason I was so unsure about meeting my boyfriend or pursuing anything with him is because of the backlash I was going to face and that is quite frankly, only down to opinion. Nothing else, opinion, that is it. Nothing to do with what's right or wrong, just opinion,” she insisted in the video. 

“I was also unsure of meeting him because I've actually never dated someone younger than me in my life. I didn't know what kind of challenges that was gonna bring forward for me but regardless, I'm in a relationship with him now,” she confirmed. “It's my life, I'm going to live my life how I want to live my life. If I decide I want to be in a relationship with him, I can because it is legal. Whether you think it's morally right or not, it is legal. Although my relationship is very new, I just have to say that this boy is genuinely the most mature, kind, loving person I've ever been in a relationship with.”

Once again insisting that the backlash is the cause of “opinion” she demanded that fans not to “direct hate at me, my friends, family.” At the end of the video, Tasha made her feelings clear about her critics. “Quite frankly, I don't give a f*** about the 12-year-oldswho are commenting towards me and my family and stuff like that, it's the grown women directing hate towards my family,” she said.

She revealed she has also received threatening messages encouraging her to cause harm to herself.

“What I can't wrap my head around, is if you don't like something, a creator or relationship, there is a block button. Is it affecting your life? No. Me and my boyfriend are in a very beautiful, loving, happy and healthy relationship and the fact that people are sitting there, worried and throwing such serious accusations at me, is sick and twisted.” The couple appeared together on The Bro'Cast Podcast, where Tasha said she had never expected “the level” of backlash the two have received and it has impacted her mental health.