49-year-old man defends relationship with daughter’s 23-year-old friend after backlash from family

A 49-year-old man has defended his relationship with his daughter’s 23-year-old friend after receiving backlash from his family.

Joni Wilcox's 'heart sunk to her stomach' after she made the shocking discovery that her father, David, started dating her friend, Gina.

Gina, who is 26 years David's junior, went on to fall pregnant with his baby - something that seemed to only add fuel to the fire.

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Speaking on an episode of Dr. Phil, Joni explained: "I feel betrayed and disrespected by both of them, it feels like a slap in the face."

The American woman also claimed she and Gina were inseparable after holidaying, attending family events and going on nights out together.

She explained to Dr. Phil: "I'm very p*ssed off at the relationship my dad has with Gina. I do not support it."

But Gina and David insist their relationship is simply none of Joni's business.

Explaining what happened, Joni claimed: "Before Gina started dating my dad, we were close friends. We did everything together - we went to bars, she would go to my house, I would go to her house, we went to family events, and take trips together.

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"I introduced Gina to my father... she saw dollar signs. She kept complimenting his house and just continued on about it."

Joni continued: "My dad is being very naïve about this relationship. He needs to wake up."

A handful of months after Gina's introduction to David, they began dating, with Joni claiming she was a 'gold-digger' who wanted to 'build herself a better life'.

However, Gina explained she was 'making her own money' and that Joni had allegedly exaggerate just how close they were.

She added: "I don't wake up and think about these people every morning, so why are they thinking about me? Joni is making these assumptions that I'm using her father for money, and it really does p*ss me off.

"His money is not why I want to be with him. Our relationship, it's healthy, it's fun."

David admitted he has previously gone for women a lot younger than him and confessed about knowingly making his child uncomfortable after asking out her friends from her softball team.

He told Dr. Phil: "I've dated younger women but when there's a connection between a man and woman the age shouldn't matter. Gina and I have a great relationship, even though there is an age gap.

"I agree that there should be a boundary there to not date her friends. But I also want to continue living my life romantically with someone that I’m with."