WHEN this former ring girl met her hunky boxer at an event, it was love at first sight.
Nikia Marshall, a traveller from Doncaster, was shocked when Michael Marshall, a local traveller, told her how he believed a wife should live.
Nikia Marshall was shocked when her now-husband Michael, who’s a traveller, told her what was expected of a wife in his community
WATCH THE SECOND EPISODE OF I MARRIED A TRAVELLER EXCLUSIVELY ON FABULOUS’ YOUTUBE CHANNEL
The 22-year-old TikTok star was horrified when Michael, 38, who owns a roofing company, said she was expected to stay home, cleaning and cooking, while he went to work.
The couple is fronting I Married A Traveller, an exclusive, six-part YouTube series with Fabulous, revealing what it’sreallylike to bring their two worlds together.
Nikia says to Fabulous: “A travelling woman must please her man. She will be cleaning, cooking and all the rest in the trailer. He would expect her to be pleased in the bedroom, too.
“In the very beginning, Michael said to me ‘I make the money, I provide the trailer and everything, you should make me happy.
“But I said ‘listen, it ain’t happening. I want to make money too, this is going to be a 50/50 situation’. Traveller women are all about catering to their men and that’s not something I’m into.”
Michael, who grew up in a caravan, says the expectation is for “the man to be treated like a king”. He’s now changed his mind and allowed Nikia to start her own beauty brand called Red Hot Cosmetics.
They’re not the only ones who have broken traveller tradition. Nikia and Michael, both of whom were married before, admitted that they didn’t wait for their wedding night to have sex.
Nikia says: “I and Michael didn’t wait until we got married, I’m not going to lie, but that doesn’t make me a bad person.”
WATCH THE FIRST EPISODE OF I MARRED A TRAVELLER EXCLUSIVELY ON FABULOUS’ YOUTUBE CHANNEL
The couple swapped numbers when they met and had sex on their third weekend away, but it wasn’t Michael’s flashy trips to London or the Crazy Bear hotel chain which won Nikia over.
He laughs: “Eventually we stayed in the Hilton in Doncaster, that’s where the magic happened. We went to all these lovely hotels and then we waited to come back to Doncaster.”
Michael grew up in a strict traveller community, which he now views as “prudish” and “outdated”.
He says that no one discusses sex there. But the Marshalls are very open about their own love life, saying they get intimate “every couple of days”, although there’s the occasional “drought” in between.
Nikia says Michael initially wanted her to stay at home cleaning, while he went out and made money/@nikiamarshall
But she works too and says Michael has come round to her way of thinking
So what about sex?
Michael says: “With travellers, there are no one-night stands unless it’s a big secret mission.
“It does happen, but it doesn’t get broadcast. Travelling lads will go off to have a little fun with a normal gorger girl. This is why they claim they aren’t suitable for marriage.
“If a man has got a girlfriend, he shouldn’t be going with gorger girls. He will cheat nine times out of 10 times.
“Travellers like to get freaky deeky just as much as everyone else. Why do you think they get married so quick?”
Nikia adds: “Women definitely have to wait until marriage in the travelling community, men don’t.
“Basically women have to be clean and decent, but the men can go and do and f*** who they want. I don’t agree with it. Not everyone waits until marriage though, they just don’t talk about it.”
Michael explained that girls are more likely to reject a man twice before they will allow him to take them on a date or have a kiss.
There’s then a “courting period” before the man asks his girlfriend’s parents for permission to marry her, with the pair eventually wedding a year or two later, which is when they’re finally allowed to have sex.
He says: “With Nikia, I just went off with her for the weekend. I didn’t really ask anyone for permission, because I didn’t think there would be anyone to ask.”
If a man is 25, he’ll date a woman between the ages of 18-21. Reason being, lower mileage. Traveller guys aren’t going to want to be with someone who’s had 50 boyfriends
Michael Marshall
The couple has a 16-year age gap, which Michael says isn’t unusual with his background.
He explains: “Generally if a man is 25, he’ll date a woman between the ages of 18 and 21.
“Reason being and I don’t want to sound sexist, but lower mileage. Traveller guys aren’t going to want to be with someone who’s had, 50 boyfriends.
“If she’s been married before it’s not a big deal, people will her as ‘used goods. She can get with anybody now, which is horrible that they think like that, but that’s just the way it is.”
Michael says traveller men are raised to believe they can get any woman in the world – even Beyonce
Nikia previously exposed a group of “love rat traveller men” she claimed had been messaging her asking for sex, because they view normal girls as “easy”, in a now-deleted TikTok video.
She says: “When I get messages from other men, it makes me feel worthless. It makes me feel like they think I’m a whore, when I’m really not.”
Michael adds: “It comes back to the fact travellers think they’re better than everyone else. They think ‘she’s only a gorger so I can chat to her and I’ll take her’.
They believe they can have any woman they want.
“We’ve discussed this before and I’ve said ‘listen you realise these men think they can go with Beyonce, that they can message Beyonce and she will reply’.
These men believe they can message Beyonce, and she will reply. They’ve been bred with that confidence
Michael Marshall
“They’ve been bred with that confidence, I was as well. But I hate it when people go after Nikia, I think ‘who does he think he is that he can message my wife?’
“Travelling men are encouraged to flirt with people, especially female clients. He’ll have a chat with her and be very charming.
“Me personally, I wouldn’t be allowed. And also out of respect for Nikia, I wouldn’t flirt with another woman.”
Modern family
The couple is already planning a big family, admitting it’s the “bigger the better” when it comes to travellers.
Michael says it’s common for men to refuse entry to the labour suite during a woman’s birth. Instead, he prefers to have the grandmother in the room.
He says: “When the woman’s in labour, travellers say it’s up to the man if he wants to go in or not. Sometimes the mother goes in and the man waits outside. Me personally, I’d like to be in there holding her hand.”
Nikia adds: “I want Michael to be there so I can punch him while I’m giving birth. He needs to be there. If he’s not, I’ll be pissed and I’ll hold the baby in just until he comes.”
And when they raise said kids, they’ll be keeping their modern values.
Nikia says: “My children won’t be cleaning at home, they’ll be out studying.
“They won’t be guided to get married at 16 or have kids at 16, they’ll be guided to live a single life and get married at an appropriate age.
“I want them to feel the high of making their own money.”
Michael agrees, adding: “I think it’s a waste if all travelling girls do is clean, I really do. That’s an empty life.
“Why not send your daughter to business school, to learn how to build a website and start her own business?”
Nikia was determined the pair have a 50/50 relationship
You can read last week’s I Married A Traveller here – which explains how their families reacted to their relationship and the awful names Nikia gets called.
You can follow Nikia on Instagram and TikTok. She also has her own beauty and fashion range, Red Hot Cosmetics, which you can shop here. You can also follow Michael on TikTok.
Check back next Tuesday for the next instalment of I Married A Traveller.