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A Cornwall mum who gave up her job to be with her daughter has hit out at people who criticise her for being a 'kept woman'.

Gylisa Jayne, 26, from Liskeard, is a stay-at-home mum with three-year-old Lily and controls all the household finances - even what her husband spends.

Ryan, 27, earns £25,000 a year as a self-employed builder and despite being completely happy with his wife giving up her job as a housekeeper two years ago, Gylisa still says she receives negative comments.

"When I get comments from strangers, it comes from a place of jealousy,' she told the Daily Mail's FEMAIL.

"What age are you meant to be a 'kept woman'? Age is just a number. A lot of people will feel bitter towards it."

Since Gylisa gave up her job which earnt her £10,000 a year, Ryan has happily given her control over the household budget out of his £25,000 annual earnings, and he even runs his purchases past her before he spends money on himself.

While the concept of being a 'kept woman' is often associated with the wife of a high net worth individual, Gylisa feels she fits into the category because she has to rely on her partner for every penny.

And she claims that self-employed builder Ryan likes being the breadwinner, The Daily Mail reported.

"It's the feeling that you're providing for your family," she said.

"It's a source of pride for him. He feels like he's responsible for everything we have and we're grateful for it. If you can earn enough to say you don't have to work if you don't want to, it makes you feel good."

After the birth of her daughter Lily, Gylisa felt that her baby took priority over work - she decided not to go back after her maternity leave.

"It was quite a low paid job anyway," explained the mother-of-one.

(Image: Gylisa Jayne)

"Ryan was a breadwinner even then - my wages were just pocket money.

"Then when I got pregnant I went on maternity leave and took the full year. As the year came to an end we were thinking about what to do with childcare as we didn't have any family down here.

"I returned to work for two months but it made me miserable. He was earning to sustain us so Ryan just said, 'look if you don't want to work then you don't have to' - so I jacked it in before Christmas 2017.

"Your job gives you a bit of purpose but once I had Lily, I thought, 'I don't want to be wasting me day in work when I could be watching her grow up'".

Gylisa Jayne, known on Facebook as rockandrollmother, and has around 39,000 followers on her blog, has received backlash following her lifestyle choice.

The minute maternity leave ends there's this massive pressure to work,' she explained. 'I feel people look down on me for not working - almost as if i'm lazy. I see it very different.'

She added: "I'm very privileged to be able to stay at home and I enjoy homemaking. I was a housekeeper so I like making my own house really nice."

And as the mother-of-one sees her relationship with Ryan as equal, she ensures he runs his purchases past her - just like she does him.

"We see it as our money so we both run decisions past each other.

"Last year Ryan bought a motorbike but beforehand he asked, "Is that alright?" Obviously I said yes. It's OUR money - we both put the hours in."

But not everybody Gylisa has met shares the same view as her - and to anyone who believes she's too young to be a 'kept woman' she said: "Maybe they should look at their own relationships. I find it really strange people would have their own money in the relationship.

"Once you're in a serious relationship, especially now we're a family unit, yes he earns the money but it's not really his - it's ours."

(Image: Gylisa Jayne/ Facebook)

Gylisa said that whilst Ryan is working and when Lily goes to pre-school twice a week, she has the opportunity to catch up on her hobby of writing. Aside from that, the mum-of-one says she entertains her daughter all day and does "a lot of cleaning".

But while Gylisa is spending her days visiting the local beach with her daughter, Ryan sometimes feels that he's missing out.

"It's always harder when it's cold winter mornings and he gets up before us," explained Gylisa.

"But we feel equal in our roles in that we're both working towards one household. He works and it benefits the financial side and I do everything in between."

Since becoming a full-time mum, Gylisa has found that there's a stigma surrounding how she chooses to live her life.

"We've been to a lot of weddings lately and people will say, "what do you do?" There's a stigma when I say I don't do anything - anything that's paid.

She added: "Some people will say that's really lucky or lose interest, but quite a lot of people hold a lot of importance in being paid."

"A lot of people think if you don't get paid you're not successful. If i was working from home people would see it differently, but because I write and don't get paid a monthly wage they see it as me wasting my time."