HOLLY, 20, and Diego, 21, first met in the summer of 2018, sparking a romance online, despite living across the globe from each other. She told Truly: "We met on TikTok back when it was still called Musical.ly. I posted a video of me sliding around my kitchen floor and it went viral. People all over the world saw it and liked it." Holly is from England and Diego, who is from Mexico, was one of the people who saw it and thought she was "beautiful". He messaged her, and they instantly clicked. Holly already knew how to speak Spanish, after teaching herself, but Diego taught her some Mexican phrases and slang. In April 2019, aged just 16, Holly travelled to Mexico with her dad to meet Diego for the first time. She explained how she felt "really nervous" and "there were lots of emotions leading up to that point." The meeting went well, and soon after the pair decided to marry. They have now been together for five years, and are still very much in love. Holly and Diego are content creators, living where her family are from in Leicester. The couple continue to share their love story online with their followers - despite their many fans, they have received a lot of negative comments. "There's a big range of hate that we get. It ranges from people talking about my appearance and saying that Diego's too good for me", Holly said. "And then it's the other end of the spectrum people saying that Diego shouldn't be allowed in this country, that he's just here to scrounge off the government or you for a visa, which none of which is true, but people are so ill-informed."
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00:00 This is Holly. She fell in love with Diego.
00:05 I was in school when I met my Mexican husband online.
00:08 Holly travelled across the world when she was only 16 years old to meet Diego.
00:13 People say I married with Holly or the visa.
00:16 The now married couple make videos online about their story.
00:20 But some followers have questioned whether their relationship is real.
00:25 People can be quite xenophobic, quite racist.
00:29 My friends thought you were just trying to get to the UK.
00:33 "Oh, he's just married you now, he's in this country forever, he's going to leave you."
00:36 We met on TikTok back when it was still called Musical.ly, which was back in 2018.
00:46 And I posted this video of me sliding around my kitchen floor effectively and it went viral.
00:53 And yeah, people from all over the world saw it and liked it and that included you.
00:56 I messaged Holly because I saw a video about her and I said, "Oh, alright, she's beautiful."
01:03 The first thing, actually, was your eyes because they're really nice.
01:08 Thank you.
01:09 They're like a green tree.
01:11 Thanks, I think.
01:13 Speaking to Diego, obviously he's from Mexico and the type of Spanish I spoke was more tailored to Spain.
01:18 So talking to him, he taught me how to speak proper Mexican Spanish.
01:22 Well, helping Holly with her Spanish is what we have.
01:26 I couldn't have done it without him.
01:27 I know, I really know.
01:29 We were talking when I was 16 and she was 15.
01:34 And after a year and a month talking before we met.
01:40 It was actually 10 months. We were talking for 10 months before we met in person.
01:44 But it's okay.
01:45 We made the decision to get married pretty soon after we met for the first time.
01:50 Purely because in my family a lot of people haven't got married.
01:54 I've not even really been to many weddings.
01:56 So I really wanted that big day for us.
01:58 So when we got married I was 19.
02:01 And I was 20.
02:03 The wedding was beautiful.
02:05 It was the best day of my life.
02:08 Actually, Holly in her dress, she looked like a princess.
02:12 My princess.
02:13 I hate this part. I need to learn the dance.
02:17 You do know the dance.
02:18 There's a big range of hate that we get.
02:20 It ranges from people talking about my appearance and saying that Diego is too good for me.
02:26 And then it's the other end of the spectrum.
02:28 People saying that Diego shouldn't be allowed in this country.
02:30 That he's just here to scrounge off the government or for a visa.
02:34 None of which is true. But people are so ill-informed.
02:37 They say something about, "Oh, you come from a truck or something like that."
02:41 Or a boat.
02:42 It's good.
02:44 We did the arms the wrong way.
02:45 I know.
02:46 I think we get judged a lot because Diego's come from a different country.
02:50 People can be quite xenophobic, quite racist.
02:54 They say horrible things to me.
02:57 But what we can say.
02:59 Give us a full video in Spanish and then we'll believe you.
03:02 How you've pulled him, I don't know.
03:04 Now he's happy. He got the passport.
03:07 Blink four times if you're being forced.
03:13 At first it did get to me a lot when we first started TikTok.
03:17 To the point where Diego would delete the comments so that I couldn't see them.
03:21 But in time I've kind of had to learn and tell myself that the more these people hate.
03:26 The more views we're going to get.
03:28 Use the hate as a strategy to grow.
03:30 And the more fool them.
03:32 Thanks a lot you idiot.
03:34 Thanks a lot Rachel. Thanks a lot.
03:37 The judgment carried on on TikTok after we got married.
03:39 And probably got even stronger because that's when people started saying.
03:43 He's just married you now he's in this country forever.
03:45 He's going to leave you which he didn't.
03:47 And we're still here five years later.
03:49 What we can say.
03:50 He's not left me yet.
03:52 We just trust each other and communicate.
03:55 And if the hate or anything to do with TikTok is getting in the way of our relationship.
04:00 Then we talk about it.
04:02 And we've always said that if it gets to the point where we're putting TikTok above our relationship.
04:06 Then we would take a break.
04:08 A lot of the people said when we started our relationship.
04:10 Was that I was going to get to Mexico and you weren't going to be real.
04:13 Or you were going to be somebody else.
04:15 Which you weren't.
04:17 My friends mainly thought at first that you had different intentions.
04:22 Or quite stereotypical things that again you were just trying to get to the UK.
04:27 The friends I had in school when I first met Diego had a lot of doubts.
04:30 And the way that they conveyed those doubts to me was quite hurtful.
04:34 And they were quite mean about Diego and his family.
04:38 So I just cut them off straight away.
04:40 And it's not something that I've missed.
04:42 I've never looked back.
04:43 I've got some great friends now that love you as well.
04:46 Everyone loves you.
04:48 My dad's coming over today.
04:49 And he's the one that took me to Mexico to meet Diego for the first time.
04:53 My dad didn't have any worries about us going to Mexico.
04:55 The common misconception is that he flew me out there.
04:58 I want to make it clear that I paid.
05:00 I knew from the beginning that we were going out there mainly for me to meet Diego.
05:04 But he was also getting a holiday out of it.
05:06 So everyone won.
05:08 I get that it's kind of strange that a 15-year-old would go up to her parents and say,
05:12 "Oh, I've met this guy in Mexico. I want to fly out from England to Mexico to meet him."
05:16 Most parents would be like, "Absolutely not."
05:19 But my parents are really open-minded.
05:20 They've always been really chill.
05:22 And I was just grateful for that.
05:24 My parents, they support me.
05:25 Actually my dad, he comes with me.
05:27 I told him, "Oh, dad, I met this girl at my school."
05:33 So he said, "Oh, right. I'm going to come with you to meet her."
05:38 And then once they approved of me and they liked me, he told them the truth.
05:42 And they weren't mad, actually.
05:44 They actually said, "I see why you did it. We probably wouldn't have let you go and meet her.
05:46 So well played."
05:48 Hello.
05:54 Hi. Come in.
05:55 OK.
05:57 I'm going to wipe my feet.
05:58 Thanks for coming.
05:59 Nice to see you.
06:00 I'm here.
06:01 Hello.
06:02 All right, mate. Nice to see you.
06:03 The morning we first met Diego, I think it was a bit, I think you were obviously the most nervous.
06:11 I think I was more nervous about meeting his mum and dad.
06:15 Because you didn't speak the same language?
06:17 Obviously, yeah.
06:18 They didn't speak hardly any English.
06:21 So it was kind of like, "Hi."
06:23 A lot of hand movements.
06:24 A lot of hand gestures.
06:25 And sort of like that.
06:27 I think that was more of a weirdest moment.
06:29 But after that, it was fine.
06:32 It felt a lot better to have you there when I met Diego for the first time.
06:37 Just because there was lots of emotions leading up to that point.
06:41 I think it would have been better, obviously, that there was somebody there with you
06:45 rather than you attempting to do it all on your own.
06:49 Definitely.
06:50 I was really nervous, actually, because, well, I just see him like, he's tall with tattoos.
06:56 I was like, "Oh, I'm really scared, Bob."
06:59 It was really nice, actually.
07:01 Well, I come with my dad.
07:02 Your dad was short with no tattoos?
07:04 Yeah.
07:05 Yeah.
07:06 And now on Christmas, you drink whiskey together.
07:08 Look at that.
07:09 Yes, absolutely.
07:10 Yeah.
07:11 You looked a lot younger back then.
07:13 Yeah, you were really scrawny.
07:15 Yeah.
07:16 Holly's aged you well.
07:19 Yeah, I think some people thought that Holly was a bit young, Diego was a bit young,
07:23 and some of their concerns was, you know, there was an air of irresponsibility
07:29 from our parental point of view.
07:32 But at the end of the day, all we want is for you to be happy.
07:35 And there shouldn't be any negativity, whether it be because, you know,
07:39 you're English and Diego's from Mexico.
07:41 It doesn't matter.
07:42 You make each other happy.
07:44 And, apart from when Holly makes you do the washing up.
07:48 [Laughter]
07:49 See you later, mate.
07:54 Take care.
07:55 We've been together for five years now.
07:57 Five years still going strong.
07:59 We're thinking about having kids in a few years.
08:01 We're all good.
08:02 What I most love about Diego is how he makes me love the parts of myself
08:06 that I don't want to love.
08:08 Oh, my God.
08:10 [Laughter]
08:11 Oh, dear.
08:12 He just accepts me for me.
08:14 She's the best person in the world.
08:16 I just love her personality and everything about her.
08:20 For the people that judge us, I just want them to see that we're a normal couple.
08:23 We're people.
08:24 We have feelings.
08:25 Just back off.
08:27 [Laughter]
08:28 (laughing)
08:30 you