Influencers in 19-Year Age Gap Marriage Expecting First Baby Together

Influencers Emily Stomatuk and Michael Justin are expecting!

On Sept. 22, the married creators shared in a joint Instagram post that Stomatuk was pregnant with their first child together, captioning a set of sunset maternity photos, “making a best friend with my best friend 👼🏼🤍.”

The duo, who have a combined following of over 2 million across their Instagram and TikTok accounts, are known on social media for their 19-year age gap marriage, tying the knot in 2023 after a few years of dating.

“It was on our bingo card but we weren’t sure if it was going to happen or not,” said Justin of the pregnancy in a video the pair shared after the announcement. “Emily is pregnant for those of you who haven’t heard. We’re so excited.”

“It was a hard secret to keep there for a while,” added Stomatuk in the clip. “I just couldn’t really post anything because, one, I felt like crap during the first trimester, so I’m happy that’s over. And then, two, it’s hard to just post and it not be truthful — it didn’t feel authentic.”

After sharing the news, the creators took a celebratory trip to Wyoming, posting photos and videos by the campfire, playing cornhole and riding horses. 

“Celebrating our baby announcement with our friends in Wyoming, feeling more grateful than I ever have,” wrote Justin in an Instagram caption.

Last month, Stomatuk and Justin sat down with PEOPLE for an exclusive conversation about their unconventional love story — including what their parents thought when they told them about their difference in age, the “hate” they’ve received online after starting to share their life together and the community they’ve built of other couples in age gap relationships.

The pair first met at a yoga class in Stomatuk’s hometown of Scottsdale, Ariz., where Justin asked her out on a date. At first, said Stomatuk, she “politely swerved.”

“I was 23 and he had white hair,” she told PEOPLE. “I was calling my mom like, ‘This 50-year-old is asking me out. What’s going on?’ ”

But, missing the attention he had given her, she later agreed to go on an impromptu dog walk with him one night; after three hours of seamless conversation, the rest was history. Though Justin initially had plans to move to Los Angeles full-time to pursue modeling while Stomatuk was still in nursing school in Arizona, when the pandemic hit, the pair moved in together, strengthening their bond.

Still, they had to share the news with their parents that they were seeing each other. Justin said his parents were quickly on board — “they’d seen everything at this point with my dating,” he laughed — but Stomatuk’s were a bit harder to convince.

When she first told her dad, she told PEOPLE, “He was like, ‘I’m disappointed in you. I don’t approve of this. How could you be with this guy?’ ” But after her boyfriend had the chance to meet him, they quickly hit it off.

“Her dad is a Marine — there is some scariness to the thought of meeting him,” said Justin. “But I fixed that up by walking to the table with two shots of tequila in my hand.”

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After going public together on social media, the pair have elicited strong reactions from people in their comments — some appalled by their age gap and others who quickly jump to their defense.

“We kind of fed into it a little bit because we just knew that those videos performed well,” admitted Stomatuk. And the longer they were online together, added Justin, the more they got used to the “hate out there.”

“I think as we’ve lived here, people have gotten used to the idea that age really is just a number,” Stomatuk said.

“There is no recipe for what works,” Justin said. “Who gives a s—. It works out if you’re compatible, and we’re compatible now.”