I’m an Irish traveller & got married at 18 -trolls say I’m too young, but some gypsy girls have had three kids by my age
A TRAVELLER girl who got married at just 18, has hit back at trolls who say she is too young to have a husand.
Zoey, 19, revealed that she had to keep her boyfriend a secret when she was a teenager, as girls in the travelling community are not allowed to be in relationships.
Then, when she was 17, her boyfriend asked her parents if he could marry her.
Her parents agreed to the union, and just two weeks later, Zoey was married.
“I know what you’re all going to say, ‘you got married at 18 years of age, that’s very young’, but in my culture, it’s actually not young”, she revealed in a TikTok video.
She revealed that at her age, it is not uncommon for a woman to already have three or four children.
“I think I got married at a good age, because I wasn’t too young, and I wasn’t too old”, she said.
Zoey’s (@unknowngirl_119) video, has likely left many open-mouthed, as it has racked up over 75,000 views on the video sharing platform.
TikTok users raced to the video’s comments section to share their thoughts.
One person said: “If you’re both happy hun then that’s all that matters.
“Wishing you both the best.”
A second person said: “It doesn’t matter what age you get married, you look very happy.”
A third person added: “You sound like a great person, hope you have a lovely life.”
In a previous video, Zoey revealed a number of things traveller girls aren’t allowed to do before they get married.
Sharing an insight into her life as an Irish traveller on TikTok, Zoey said: “Before we get married, we aren’t allowed to drink, and we’re not allowed to smoke.”
Even though she is now married, she said there is no way she would ever smoke as it’s “disgusting”.
Facts on gypsy and traveller communities
Typically, gypsies is a term used to describe Romani people who migrated to Europe from India while traveller refers to a person with either Irish, Scottish or English heritage.
Around 300,000 Gypsy, Roma and Irish travellers are thought to live in the UK.
All three groups come from nomadic ways of life, however, as it is increasingly difficult to find land to live on, many are moving into permanent housing.
They place high value on family life and often live close together even after reaching adult years and getting married.
Often the men are the breadwinners of the family while the women stay home.
While many English gypsy girls are allowed to drink alcohol and go on holiday with their friends before they get married, their Irish counterparts are not.
Another thing Zoey was not allowed to do growing up was mix with people from outside the traveller community.
“You can mix with them in school, but outside school you’re not allowed,” she said.
When Zoey was younger, she said she would never even bother asking her parents if she could have a sleepover at a non-traveller’s house, as she knew the answer would be no.
“That would never happen in a million years,” she said.
Another cultural difference between travellers and non-travellers is that travellers drop out of school when they are very young.
Zoey explained that some children in her community don’t even go to secondary school whilst others drop out at 13.
She herself stopped going to school when she was around 13 or 14.
“What’s the point of going to school?”, she said.
“Because being a traveller, you’re never going to be able to get a job.”