From the outside, Janice Lorraine appears one of the most confident grandmas around as she strikes a pose on stage in a small bikini alongside women half her age, but her story has a sad twist, with the 76-year-old bodybuilder making the heartbreaking decision earlier this year to cut off contact from her kids.
At the age of 48, Janice’s life took a dramatic turn when she met the love of her life after deciding to divorce from her previous partner. He was polite, a true gentleman and captured her heart from word go as he got down on one knee to ask her to dance during a night out. But there was a problem, at least from her children’s point of view. The dashing David Kendall was 24-years-old, making it a 23 and a half year age gap between the two of them.
While Janice initially lied to David about her age, saying she was 38 instead of 48, the gap hasn’t been a problem for the couple ever since – and they’re still head over heels in love 28 years later.
Sadly it came with a major downside however, as the gran has now claimed her family have never approved of the relationship or her decision to compete professionally as a bodybuilder, which has since led to making a recent appearance on Australia’s Got Talent.
“My family still haven’t come to terms with it [the relationship] even after 28 years,” Janice told Starts at 60. “It’s really one of the saddest things for me. They ignore me, they ignore the bodybuilding. They just want me to be living a different life.”
Janice explained while the relationship with David was “perfect from the start”, her children, aged 48, 50 and 51, apparently couldn’t accept the age difference.
“That’s the big problem,” she said. “They’re about the same [age] as my partner. I think they’ve got the idea that because they are married and older, that I’ve taken on another child. That’s the sort of thing one said to me once.”
To makes things worse, Janice claimed her three kids never supported her decision to take up bodybuilding and expected her to be a traditional grandmother type. While she tried to grin and bear it for a while, she said the pain and heartache of not being accepted by her own children took its toll on her health, causing major problems towards the end of last year.
So, in a decision that she has learnt to accept, the grandma decided to cut ties for good, ceasing any communication with her children and three grandkids.
“My blood was really bad last year, then in March after I made that decision to walk away, they’d been treating me badly for 28 years, it was the saddest day of my life,” she told Starts at 60.
“I had my blood tested in March and it was back to normal, so the agony of it … it’s hard to let them go … but the agony of what to do next was obviously affecting my health. I tried for 28 years.”
Janice added: “They can’t take their minds off the stereotypes.”
Though it broke her heart to step away from her family and follow her dreams, the grandma said she has since come to terms with her decision and believes one day, when she has passed, they will understand where they went wrong. Janice explained while devastating to admit, after a loved one’s death things become clearer and the truth is revealed.
“I’ve spoken to a lot of older people, one lady said she never got on with her mother, she said she favoured the grandmother,” Janice explained.
“She said after her mother died she started to think she should have given more love to her mum, she regrets that now. You start to see things in more clarity.”
“It’s sad but I’m at peace inside,” she added. “The most important thing to analyse is have I done anything to intentionally hurt anyone? Have you had love in your heart? The answer is yes and I haven’t hurt anyone. I know people’s minds will be clearer when someone dies. That’s life.”
Adding a few words of advice, Janice said: “Live the life you want to live at any age, irrespective of stereotypes.”