Scott Evans has defended his brother Chris Evans’ relationship with Alba Baptista after fans criticised the couple’s 16-year age gap.

During an appearance on The Viall Files podcast, the Barbie star shared that he “approves” of his older brother’s relationship with the 26-year-old Portuguese actor, as he spoke about the difficulties of dating someone in the spotlight.

“It’s tough with everything…in the world, people can ruin things pretty quickly,” the 39-year-old actor told podcast host Nick Viall. “It’s not getting better, it’s only getting worse. The way people can be can make it pretty hard to date someone like that.”

The soap opera actor admitted that being in the public eye has made “relationships kind of hard” for the Captain America star.

“Because you think: ‘I’m just dating a person, he’s a guy’ and all of a sudden it’s article after article, after article,” Evans continued. “[And] everybody [is] just being like you are a piece of crap to anybody he’s tried to date and just destroying them. You can only take that for so long and it makes relationships kind of hard for him.”

The Massachusetts native went on to reveal that he received messages from fans calling him their “brother-in-law” and professing their love for the Knives Out actor.

"I can’t tell you how many messages and things I get tagged in on the daily – ‘If your brother just meets me, we are going to be in love,’” Evans explained. "Everybody’s always commenting, being like: ‘Hey, brother-in-law.’”

He added that social media has allowed fans to further comment on Chris’ private life, admitting that the internet “can be a dark place and people can get very bold”.

Last November, it was reported that Chris Evans had been dating Alba Baptista for “over a year” and that their relationship was “serious”.

“They are in love and Chris has never been happier. His family and friends all adore her,” a source told People at the time.

However, fans quickly pointed out the 16-year age gap between Evans, 42, and Baptista, 26.

“Another middle-aged man dating someone in their early twenties. Nothing says I’m ready for marriage like dating someone who could legally drink four years ago,” one person wrote.

“I just... wish he hadn’t turned out to be a Hollywood cliche,” another said.

“If he’s happy then I’m happy, who cares about their age difference, love is love,” a third fan said.

Despite some of the criticism, Chris Evans has since shared glimpses into his relationship with Alba Baptista. In January, the Ghosted star made their relationship Instagram official when he shared a series of videos of his girlfriend to his Instagram Story.

Evans also shared a sweet Valentine’s Day tribute to Alba on his Instagram Story, which included snaps of them hiking together and a clip of Alba playing a Nintendo video game. “I introduced her to Mario Bros 3…She hates this video but I LOVE it,” he wrote.

Scott Evans’ defense of his brother’s relationship comes just two weeks after the Avengers star deactivated his social media accounts. He announced on 29 June that he is “treating [himself] to a summer with a little less screen time” on Twitter and bid his followers “much love” before deactivating the account.

Chris seemed to have been inspired by actor Taron Egerton, who published on the same day about trying to “break away from a cycle that I’ve grown to find a bit addictive”. The Rocketman star said he spends “too much time scrolling” on his phone and it had affected his “ability to sit and be present” with his loved ones.

The Lightyear actor shared Egerton’s post on his own Instagram Stories and added: “Couldn’t have said it better myself!!! Count me in. Gonna take a little break. Much love everyone!”

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