Kristin Cavallari, 37, hits out at trolls after announcing new relationship with 24-year-old boyfriend Mark Estes

Laguna Beach's Kristin Cavallari has a few things to say to trolls who've slammed her newly-debuted romance with her boyfriend who is 12 years her junior.

The TV star, 37, went Insta-official with her new man, 24-year-old Mark Estes last week, writing in the caption that her young beau 'makes [her] happy'.

Mark also took to social media to confirm their new romance, sharing a snap from their recent loved-up trip to Mexico.

According to sex and relationship experts, age-gap romances are one of the most popular dating trends of 2024.

The 'cougar' connotations that come with relationships whereby the woman is older are starting to fizzle out, and men who fall in love with ladies notably younger than them aren't being slammed as 'creepy' anymore.

And with the likes of big-name celebrity couples Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones (25 years apart), George and Amal Clooney (17 years) and Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively (11 years) proving that true love cannot be bounded by age, it's no surprise that some people are experimenting with cross-generational love.

This week, however, the fashion designer has been forced to defend her new relationship - as many other couples have in the past - after going official with her new beau.

You only have to look in the comment section of her latest snap to see that the couple have been met with a flood of criticism over their romance, with a handful of trolls hitting out at Kristin for dating a man that is over a decade younger than her.

"What could a 37 year old and 24 year old possibly have in common," one hit out on her recent Instagram upload.

Another went on to tease: "His high school glory days are still on his instagram"

"Homeboy was 6 when The Hills aired on MTV" a third joked.

This weekend, however, Kristin has taken the opportunity to clap back at the comments, taking to TikTok to defend her new relationship.

The reality star captioned the now-viral video: "When they’re all up in arms that im dating a 24 year old. Andddd?"

And in the clip, she could be seen lip-synching to an audio, which said: "So what are you going to do about it? Are you going to arrest me? Are you going to give me a ticket?"

Whilst it doesn't appear that Mark has any children, Kristin shares her three kids - Camden, 11, Jaxon, nine, and Saylor, eight - with ex-husband Jay Cutler, from whom she divorced in 2020.