Influencer, 22, who is married to her high school teacher, 60, speaks out against critics

A student who married her much older high school teacher has spoken out after a series of social media posts celebrating their relationship received a wave of criticism.

22-year-old influencer Minea Pagni shared the story of her hefty 38-year age gap with a man simply referred to as 'Massimo' over a series of Instagram posts in recent months, with the majority of comments seeming to express shock at the relationship, or calling her a 'gold digger'.

Speaking to the New York Post last week, Pagni hit back at her critics by saying: “Reducing a woman’s choices to money is one of the oldest and most unfair stereotypes. I have my own goals, my own work, and my own independence. I married him for who he is — his mind, his values, and the way he loves.”

The pair first met when Pagni was 17 and Massimo was her philosophy teacher, but she says their romance began a few short years later when she was 21 and they met in a book store and she told him about her schoolgirl crush.

Around a year later, she married the much older man who, when he was roughly her age in 1989, would have seen the fall of the Berlin Wall. Another 15 years after that, his future wife was born.

In a series of posts, the Italian medical student and influencer said she wanted to share her story to fight back against the stigma associated with these large age-gap relationships, which she said was about 'prejudice.'

Revealing her controversial choice of life partner in November 2025, Pagni said: "Many years ago, in the school of my small hometown, something happened, something that happens to many students.

"I found myself fascinated by a teacher: a man whose age didn’t match the brilliance of his mind; curious, passionate, alive. A teacher who knew how to light a spark inside people."

She recalled of her time Massimo's classroom: "With him, I discovered the desire to learn, to grow, to become someone. And alongside all of that, a small crush bloomed."

Five years later, after giving him her phone number in a book store but hearing nothing, she began attending his public lectures 'out of nostalgia, curiosity, or maybe hope'. Eventually, she summoned the courage to ask him out for a coffee, and the rest is history.

She finished explaining their love story by saying: "Today, a year later, we still look at each other with surprise - astonished by how deeply we connect, despite the age gap, despite our very different lives."

But despite her relentless positivity about the 38-year difference in age, many in the comments were bewildered by her romantic choices. One Instagram user said: "Listen its not the age difference that bothers me the most, what bothers me the most is that he saw you GROW UP. Its weird."

Another said: "As someone who has worked as a teacher and taught kids, this is incredibly disturbing.

However, Pagni believes that these reactions say more about social understandings of love than they do about her choices, adding to the Post: “I knew not everyone would understand, but I wasn’t fully prepared for how intense some reactions could be.

"Still, I’ve learned that criticism often says more about society’s fears than about our love.”