Mark Hillary and Ellie Liptrot, who is now 21, have just shy of 80,000 Tik Tok followers
A couple with a huge age-gap say they “love” the attention that comes from online trolls. Mark Hillary, 45, and Ellie Liptrot, 21, have become used to being in the spotlight after amassing nearly 80,000 followers on TikTok.
According to the pair, they were friends for years before their relationship began when Mark was 42 and Ellie was 18.
Mark, who already has two children from a previous relationship, said: “The relationship grew naturally as we had known of each other for a while beforehand.
“So people knew us as friends first before being together, so there wasn’t a really shocking factor for our family and friends because they saw it happen naturally. Our friend groups have mixed for quite a while.”
The two have gone viral several times on TikTok where they operate under the moniker, ‘It’s The Hillary’s’. Over the years, they have cultivated a dedicated following which has allowed them to quit their day jobs and focus on creating content on the social media site, reports the Liverpool Echo.
Despite the 24-year age gap attracting sceptics, Ellie, who is expecting her first child and hails from Wales, said: “If anything, we like the attention. We find it funny”.
The former dental nurse shared her surprise at their online success, saying: “We were just posting like everyone else, trendy videos and vlogs, and it just all blew up, really.
“We would always reply to comments with more videos, so it just kept going. It was by accident, really. What started as us posting simply about living our lives has gone to this now.
“It grew so big that we were able to leave our jobs. We didn’t really consider it a risk either, because it got to the point where we didn’t have to worry about working because we already had that income.”
Mark added: “We’re very thick-skinned. If we weren’t, we would never have started this and put ourselves out there on social media.
“The rude comments don’t really get to us. We have quite a laugh with it because it’s usually people with #BeKind in their bio who have something hateful to write under our videos of us just being us.”
The couple recently spoke to the ECHO as they prepare for Liverpool’s inaugural National Influencer Awards. Set to take place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel next week, the event is designed to recognise individuals across various sectors who use their digital platforms to drive positive change.
The awards will celebrate influencers from the realms of fashion, beauty, travel, fitness, technology, and lifestyle who are making a meaningful impact through their work.
Nominated for the Best Family accolade, the couple, along with Mark’s children Isabelle, 16, and Marcus, 12, will be attending the ceremony on Friday, May 16, with hopes of taking home the top prize.
Ellie said: “It was a surprise to be nominated, but it is exciting at the same time. We have never done anything like this before because it is all new to us.
“But we come to Liverpool quite often, we were just there yesterday. It’s only an hour from where we live. The awards will be a good chance for us to meet new people, people who we consider famous and will likely be fangirling over.”
Post-awards, Ellie shared that the family plans to shift their attention towards creating YouTube-style vlogs, with the intention of releasing an episode weekly following the arrival of her first child.
