'We spoke about our 56-year age gap after welcoming our baby. This is the truth.'

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John still remembers the first moment he saw Yanying, 11 years ago now.

To fill the gap left by his late wife of 57 years, the widower enrolled in a language school.

Yanying, 26 at the time, was his Mandarin teacher.

"When she walked out, I got such a surprise because I expected some middle-aged or older person, and here's this beautiful young girl," John Levin, a doctor specialising in anti-ageing medicine, told Mamamia.

The then-83-year-old student came as an equal shock to Yanying. 

"I wasn't expecting a doctor in his senior years wanting to take on Chinese," said Dr Yanying Lu, a linguist and teaching scholar at Deakin University. "I was very surprised."

Watch: Liz Ellis talks about IVF on 'I'm A Celebrity'. Post continues after video.

Over their first few sessions, try as he might, John struggled to hear the tones of Mandarin. By their third lesson, Yanying told the octogenarian that he was the worst student she'd ever had. And they both decided the language wasn't for him.

But while their student-teacher relationship was over, John and Yanying had struck up a close friendship.

"We have a lot in common because Yanying's father was a surgeon and her mother was director of nursing. And on my side of the family, they're all doctors," John said.

One day, on a trip to the zoo, their friendship turned into something more.

"We were walking through the snake section," Yanying, now 37, recalled.

"It was very dark," added John, now 93.

Struggling to manoeuvre, John leaned on Yanying for support.

"He grabbed hold of my hand," she said. "At first it was purely out of respect for the elderly that I helped him to walk through the session."

Then, she said, the energy shifted.

"We were holding on to each other tight, we looked at each other, and it looked like more than a friendship,'

From there, it didn't take long for John and Yanying to move in together. Months later, they were wed.

"We got married in the oldest chapel in Las Vegas. It opened in the Second World War in 1942," said John.

Back in Australia, the newlyweds had a reception with their loved ones. While John's family knew about Yanying from the start of their friendship, it took a few years for the linguist to tell her parents back in China.

"Without really seeing us together, without the cultural context, it would be hard for them to understand," Yanying said.

When she eventually told her family about John, they were "shocked and surprised" but supportive.

"My mum was the one to go 'As long as you're happy, I'm happy'," she recalled.

The couple, who are now based in Melbourne, settled into married life over the next few years. Then, in 2018, Yanying's father sadly passed away from motor neuron disease, and she began thinking about the future.

Realising that she wanted to keep a part of John's memory alive when he was gone, Yanying told her husband that she wanted a baby through IVF.

"It was a long discussion, but John was very supportive," she said.

"For each step, it was me who made the call to go ahead, and John was just there supporting me and never doubting any of my decisions or choices."

The doctor also has a "special" connection to IVF, as he played weekly golf with the man behind the world's first IVF pregnancy, the late gynaecologist Carl Wood.

John and Yanying met in 2014. They are now married with a child. Image: Supplied

Coming from a medical background herself, Yanying initially approached the IVF process in a very clinical way.

"I had this detached feeling, I was examining myself as a patient," she said. "I had never really taken in the idea of being a mother."

That all changed in February 2024, when Yanying and John welcomed a baby boy, Gabby, through donor sperm IVF. 

With John having to return home to see a patient, the new mother was alone in the hospital. Suddenly, the emotions washed over her.

"All of a sudden, I realised I'm a mother," she said. "This little creature completely depends on me. You have all these ideas about how he's going to be with you and what he's going to do when you're gone.

"If I really close my eyes and try to go back to relive that moment, I can still feel my eyes fill with tears. It's just those emotions I can never forget."

John, meanwhile, had already welcomed three children with his late wife, Veronica. Tragically, five months after Gabby's birth, his eldest son died of motor neurone disease, just like Yanying's father.

For the anti-ageing doctor, becoming a dad again at 93 has been a gift. 

"I'd forgotten what it was like to have a little baby around the house," he said. "I'm finding it absolutely amazing. I might be biased, but I think he's a genius."

The parents also have the help of Yanying's mother, who left China and moved in with the couple shortly after COVID ended.

"John doesn't have to change nappies, and he doesn't have to cook the meals or even babysit. My mum and I share those responsibilities," Yanying said.

"But it doesn't mean that John is not being there and observing the developments."

With Yanying and her mother speaking to Gabby in Mandarin, John interacts with his son in English, and regularly shares parenting wisdom.

Yanying's mother lives with the couple, and helps out with Gabby. Image: Supplied

"He comes up with comments about his own children when they were little… it helps us to appreciate each stage of Gabby's development," she explained.

John and Yanying are also hoping to welcome another child, a little girl. But they aren't in any rush.

"Gabby keeps us very busy, so probably four years of difference between him and a younger sibling would be ideal," said the teaching scholar. "But, of course, when Gabby's a bit older I need to ask for his opinion."

Yanying has considered how she will talk to her son about their unorthodox family dynamic, saying the "conversation will definitely happen" down the road.

"As long as it is a loving family, and it is a supportive environment, I think Gabby can have a happy upbringing," she said.

"Hopefully, John can be with us for many more years to come. But when we have to face the world without John, I think Gabby can be strong enough to be a source of love for me and for the rest of the family."

Though society is "becoming more accepting of different choices", Yanying acknowledges that Gabby's future won't be immune from judgements. 

"I think Gabby will be quite understanding, and he probably will face the similar criticism we face today," she said. "But, by then, he will be an independent thinker and fend off the other unnecessary and unhealthy criticism."

It's certainly an approach Yanying and John have taken when faced with judgements about their relationship.

"Most people think, because of our age difference, Yanying married me for money," said John. "The fact is, when we met and married, I was bankrupt. And we live in her house."

These sorts of comments, he said, are "water off [their] back". 

John and Yanying have a son, Gabby. Image: Supplied.

"It's never really affected us at all," added Yanying. "To those trolls online, or any sort of noise, we don't really pay much attention. None of those criticisms bother me."

Among the online discourse has been curiosity about the couple's physical intimacy. According to Yanying, she and John "do everything normal couples would do in the bedroom."

"I think we do more than most," added John.

"To me, it's not an issue," continued Yanying. "For older men, there are medications and procedures to help them function the best. And John being a resourceful doctor, I can assure you, he's always on top of things."

Of course, the age gap doesn't come without its challenges. And both Yanying and John have had to learn to see the world in different ways.

"Many of those discussions have proven to be quite interesting and stimulating," said Yanying. "I feel I have definitely become a lot more mature."

By the same token, she and Gabby "keep John young".

"I think being busy at this stage of life helps John to maintain cognitive vigilance," said Yanying. "And being at the peak of his energy level to accommodate the needs of this complex family. He doesn't have time to feel old or even entertain the idea of retiring."

Despite being 93, Yanying considers John to be in his "first childhood".

"Of course, at this age, physically, he wouldn't be as strong as me or my mum," she said. "But, mentally, he's still got that curiosity and innocence towards the world.

"I think it was this innocence and genuineness that brought me to him, and I still very much cherish that," she said, adding she hopes these traits are passed on to Gabby.

For John, his time with Yanying and Gabby has been like a second life.

"I've only had two real loves in my life," he said. "I'm luckier than most people… I've really had two lives. Most people only have one."

As for Yanying, the 37-year-old said she doesn't "consciously think about future romance."

"I think it's really pointless to pre-set any conditions," she said. "Even though we often joke about what might be suitable, I never really have that dialogue with myself. All I can think of is how to live our lives at present."

Feature Image: Supplied.