A South Carolina couple with a 34-year-old age gap has gone viral after sharing the “non-negotiables” they follow in their marriage.
A 26-year-old, Gracen Greagan, and her husband, 60-year-old Kevin Greagan, posted a TikTok video explaining the rules they claimed help keep their relationship strong.
While some viewers praised the couple’s commitment, others described the rules as “strict” and questioned the relationship dynamic.
Highlights
- A South Carolina couple with a 34-year age gap went viral for sharing "strict" marriage rules.
- One rule sparked heavy debate; the pair agreed to only consume alcohol when they are together to avoid being vulnerable or intoxicated alone.
- While critics labeled the dynamic as controlling or financially motivated, the couple insisted their boundaries are about "clarity and alignment."
“This is how bad I want a lake house,” one person joked in the comments, while others accused Gracen of being a “gold digger.”
A South Carolina couple with a huge age gap has gone viral after sharing “non-negotiables” that help their marriage work
Image credits: gracenfaithg
In their viral video, the couple sat together at their lake house in Greenville, South Carolina, and explained the relationship rules they both agreed to follow.
The first rule was praying together every night before bed.
“Something we’ve implemented in our marriage is that we pray together every single night … It’s the last thing we do,” they explained.
They added that even outside religion, the routine helps them stay grounded and express gratitude together.
Image credits: gracenfaithg
The couple’s second rule, involving alc*hol, became a focal point of discussion online. They shared that they do not drink alc*hol unless together.
“There’s a vulnerability in drinking and being intoxicated, and that’s not something I wanna be without my partner present,” Kevin said.
He explained that the decision was mutual and not forced by either person.
“This was a decision we each made individually. We didn’t impose it on one another,” he explained.
“Rather than looking at it as limiting or controlling, we look at it as uniquely special and uniquely committed to one another.”
As soon as their video went viral, online viewers began sharing their divided opinions
Image credits: gracenfaithg
Their third rule focused on still serving each other during disagreements, rather than letting arguments completely change how they interact.
“The disagreement can stand on its own … it’s not going to affect our kindness and courtesy toward one another,” Kevin said.
The final rule was “not keeping score” in the relationship.
“You both give your all, and that’s how you can make it work,” Gracen explained while talking about advice from her father.
Image credits: gracenfaithg
Kevin added, “The worst thing a person can do is keep a list … of the ways they’ve been slighted.”
Their video quickly sparked debate online, especially over the alc*hol rule.
One commenter expressed, “If you don’t ‘allow’ one another to consume alc*hol without your significant other, this could indicate a lack of self-control.”
Image credits: gracenfaithg
Another viewer commented that the rules came across as “forced” rather than natural.
Several people also focused on the couple’s 34-year age gap rather than the relationship advice itself.
“I also hate working,” one person joked, implying the younger wife married for financial reasons.
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“Excited that my wife could be born in three years,” another sarcastically wrote.
Despite the criticism, the couple pushed back, insisting their relationship rules are about “clarity and alignment,” not control.
“People hear rules, and they think control, but we hear clarity and alignment,” Gracen said. “It’s not for everyone, but it works for us. So you do you, and we’ll do us.”
Following the discussion of the couple’s rules and the online reaction, a relationship expert weighed in to share her opinion on Kevin and Gracen’s habits
Image credits: gracenfaithg
Relationship coach Beck Thompson shared that she does not see anything inherently wrong with most of the couple’s relationship habits.
“Praying together, not keeping score, showing up with kindness even when you’re in conflict – these are things I encourage in my own clients,” Thompson explained to News.com.au.
However, she emphasized that the wording around the rules may be why so many people reacted negatively.
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“The issue isn’t the rules themselves, it’s the language around them,” she explained. “The moment you call something a ‘non-negotiable rule’ in a relationship, it shifts the tone from connection to compliance.”
Thompson further admitted that the alc*hol rule stood out the most to her.
“On the surface, choosing not to drink alone sounds like a boundaries conversation,” she said. “But when you’re pre-emptively defending it to the internet before anyone’s even asked, that’s worth paying attention to.”
Image credits: gracenfaithg
At the same time, she pushed back against the automatic criticism of age-gap relationships, stating that the age gap is not the problem and that adults are free to choose “who they love.”
Besides Thompson’s expertise, research by the University of Michigan published in The Gerontologist found that couples with similar drinking habits often reported less marital conflict and longer-lasting relationships.
"I want to know what your parents think," wrote one netizen
