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A grandmother who was married and divorced four times before the age of 50 - even re-using her wedding dress to wed different men - has not ruled out a fifth trip down the aisle after taking up with a toyboy a decade younger than her.
Gwen Webber, 54, a carer, from Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, is now working through a bucket list of activities she never got to do while raising her six children, and urges other women to treat their 50s and 60s as the new 20s.
'Why let all the young people have all the fun,' Gwen, said. 'And who said at 50 or 60 you had to knit jumpers and be sensible? Ladies, it's time to have fun - after four marriages, I deserve it.'
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The grandmother says that after years of worrying about her weight, she is finally at peace with her body
'Addicted': Gwen first walked down the aisle in 1980 aged 19, left, then again in 1989 aged 28, right
Gwen said 'I do' for a third time in 1999, left, but by 2003 she was divorced again - only to wed the next year (right)
The grandmother, who says she is known locally as the 'Liz Taylor of Enfield', says that her four failed marriages and the recent death of a close friend have made her realise that each day is for living and she doesn't care who she shocks in the process.
'After I got divorced for the fourth time I realised I'd spent 20 years making other people happy,' she explained.
'Then a close friend died and since then I have become obsessed with doing things you don't expect a 54-year-old nana to do and, despite my white wedding addiction, I couldn't be happier.'
'If I learnt anything from my marriages is that you have to know who you are as a person before marriage otherwise you end up not knowing and living other people's lives. Now I am discovering the real Gwen and I love her,' she said.
Gwen, now 54, says that after years of being unhappy she is finally learning to live her life to the full
Gwen as a young girl. She got married for the first time at 19 before going on to have six children
Gwen married for the first time at 19, before developing what she has called 'a wedding addiction'
'Some people will think I am crazy or bonkers but who care s? I am going to make my mark.'
Gwen also revealed that she is trying her hand at lingerie modelling, and is enjoying the best sex of her life. 'It's on my bucket list,' she said.
'People may laugh and make fun of me. People my tell me I am crazy or tell me I shouldn't be trying modelling or wearing lingerie but I'm happy and so I don't care.
'People are too scared to give things a go and I want other women to be like me. I often think, what would Liz Taylor do? She'd give it a go and blow the haters!'
Gwen who, is a size 18, has battled with weight problems all her life. 'Now I don't care and it helps that I have some delicious boy candy a decade younger than me on my arm,' she said. Gwen met her 44-year-old boyfriend Jan Rudzki on a website last year.
Gwen with her 'toyboy' Jan, who is 10 years younger than her. She says she won't rule out marrying again
'People are too scared to give things a go': Gwen, pictured after giving birth, says that others have been quick to judge her life choices
After years of battling with her weight and being devoted to her children, Gwen is working on her bucket list
'We started messaging each other and clicked, and he thinks my wild behaviour and bucket list obsession is great. He gets my zest for life. I'm 10 years older than him and exhaust him. Now ladies that's how life should be,' she said.
'All my life, I have tried to please the men I married – I've been a thin bride, a fat bride and a medium sized bride,' she said.
'I have the pictures to prove it now, though I've decided to find the real Gwen and if it means modelling lingerie, having wild h olidays in Ibiza, dancing until dawn, and trying out different ways to have fun in the bedroom I will. '
She said: 'Even on my fourth wedding I refused to let go of the special meaning of wearing white or ivory. The white dress, the flowers, the bridesmaids – I love it all.
'I love it all': Serial bride Gwen says she loves the idea of a white wedding, even after four marriages
Gwen at her second wedding in 1989. The mother-of-six reused her wedding dress from her first marriage
'Your life isn't yours': Gwen says that being a mum-of-six meant she was dedicated to pleasing other people
'So to make that happen I simply reused my wedding dress from my third wedding - a slightly altered dress and I said I do to a different fella!'
Gwen's first wedding was in 1980 to a man s he'd met at nightclub, aged 19.
'I thought he was the one and spent days and weeks planning my big day,' she recalled.' I wore a covered shoulder bridal dress in white which was all the rage then and a veil. But from the moment I said I do I realised I shouldn't have. But being young and wanting to try my best I stayed married until we got divorced in 1988.'
However despite her heartache, she soon moved on. Gwen recalled: 'I met a nice fella who was my local postie, and we had a baby.
'In 1989, aged 28 I walked down the aisle again with my family and friends praying this time was forever. This time I chose a big white wedding dress with hoops and a gone with the wind flair.
Modelling lingerie and online dating are just a few of the things that Gwen has ticked off her bucket list
'It's funny the things yo u remember. The best memory of the big day was me in my wedding gown running down the road to the house to breastfeed my six-week old baby in my wedding dress during the reception.'
That marriage lasted a decade and ended when the pair grew apart, with Gwen recalling she had gained weight dramatically after having children.
'I weighed 18 stone at my heaviest so I shrunk down to a skinny size 8 weighing just 9 stone. I met hubby number three, who was a security guard were I worked as a cashier and again hoped he was 'the one''.
I had gained weight but decided this time I would recycle my third wedding gown. I mean I was a mum-of-six and I simply didn't have cash for another wedding dress – so this time I became a frugal bride and had the dress altered'For this wedding well I was the skinniest I had ever been in my life and I wanted to show off my arms. But looking back at the pictures I may look slim but I was miserable at that size. It wasn't me and nor was the marriage. We said I do in 1999 and by 2003 I was divorced – again. I regained the weight and felt happier,' she explained.
But Gwen refused to give up in her quest for romance and in 2004 she met husband number four, who was the coach driver of a tour she went on with her mum. The pair married later that year.
'I had gained weight but decided this time I would recycle my third wedding gown,' she said. 'I mean I was a mum-of-six and I simply didn't have cash for another wedding dress – so this time I became a frugal bride and had the dress altered.'
She recalled: 'The thought I'd reuse a wedding dress fro m a marriage that ended in divorce shocked people.
'There was a lot of tut-tutting, with people I was doing the wrong thing re-using the dress. But frankly, after three weddings, I was looking to save a little on marriage number four.'
However, her fourth marriage ended in 2009. Gwen was left a single mum to Leanne, now 34 Nick 32, Joanna 31, Stacey 30, John, 29 and James 26.
She said that her fourth divorce prompted her to start working through her bucket list, which include being signed as a 54-year-old model, posing in sexy lingerie, learning to chat and flirt online and join dating sites taking wild Ibiza style holidays with friends, playing drinking games, treating herself to different hairstyles and looks and shocking as many people as possible,
Gwen says women should treat their fifties and sixties like they are in their twenties
'There is responsible Nanna Gwen, and mother Gwen,' she said. 'At work I am serious but in my personal life I have finally found myself. Meeting Jan has been amazing, and I can tell you having a toy boy makes you feel great.'
Looking back at her four marriages, she said: 'I am proof that I love a good wedding – I mean all my weddings were white or ivory, big receptions and fun events but afterwards after I signed that wedding registry with my husband's I forgot about me.'
Gwen estimates her white wedding addiction probably saw her spend well over £60,000 over the years in dresses receptions and honeymoons but she says she has no regrets.
She said: 'What I have learnt is that I went for the same type of man, and when you have six kids, life is never your own.'
'I look at my wedding photos and see a woman battl ing weight and battling to make others happy.
'Now, at a size 18, I am happy to pose topless for photo shoots, strut in lingerie, dance until dawn or enjoy drinking games. Other women should do it and let go and have some fun.'
Source: Grandmother, 54, who has been divorced FOUR times (and even wore the same wedding dress twice) says she won't rule out marrying the toyboy she met online
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