Emmy Abrahamson fell in love with Vic Kocula while he was sleeping on the streets in Amsterdam. Photo / ITV
Emmy Abrahamson fell in love with Vic Kocula while he was sleeping on the streets in Amsterdam. Photo / ITV
A children's author has told how she fell in love with an alcoholic homeless man she met on the street - and now they're married with children.
Emmy Abrahamson, 41, from Sweden, was in Amsterdam in 2006 when Vic Kocula, a stranger, approached her, and she says that despite beingstruck by his 'beautiful brown eyes', she knew immediately he was sleeping rough because of his 'dirty' clothes and hair.
But the pair got to talking and there was instant chemistry - so much so that after 10 minutes of chatting, Emmy agreed to meet Vic on the same bench a week later for another date, the Daily Mail reported.
When Emmy had to return to Vienna - where she lived at the time - she suspected she'd never see or hear from Vic again, but three weeks later he called her to say he'd made his way to Austria to find her.
More than 10 years later the couple, who appeared on This Morning on Tuesday, are married with six-year-old twins, Desta and Til.
The couple were on the show to discuss the book Emmy has now written about their unlikely love story - called How to Fall in Love With a Man Who Lives in a Bush.
Emmy revealed on the show how she was instantly attracted to Vic, despite his unkempt appearance.
She explained: "Straight away I could see he was homeless because he was very dirty and so were his hands and fingernails. He was holding a briefcase which I thought only crazy people did, and later on I found out that's where he held his sleeping bag and cans of beer.
"We started chatting and I realise he had the most beautiful brown eyes i'd ever seen and he made me laugh straight away."
Emmy revealed how they chatted for ten minutes before he told her to be back on the same bench a week later for their first date, where their relationship blossomed further over a romantic picnic lunch.
Vic, an American, had been backpacking around Europe when he ran out of money.
He decided he wasn't ready to go back to the US, and resorted to sleeping on the street instead.
He begged for money which he then used to make his way around, but soon fell into a pattern of drinking heavily.
Vic said: "The wheels fell off and the alcoholism kicked in heavy. It was such a gradual turn that one day I realised: "Oh my God, I'm a homeless alcoholic."'
Emmy was convinced their unlikely romance had come to an inevitable end when she had to return to Vienna, but she gave Vic her number in hope they would connect again.
Little did she know that he was desperately trying to raise enough money to make his way to see her again.
His three week silence was down to the fact he ended up in police custody after stealing a chicken to feed himself.
The couple are now married with two children. Photo / ITV
"I didn't know if I was going to see him again but I couldn't stop thinking about him," Emmy said on the show today.
"Three weeks later [in Vienna], I'd just turned 30, and I got a phone call from Vic who said 'I'm here now', and we've been together ever since."
The couple were married in a fairytale castle wedding and Vic transformed his life, going on to retrain as an electrical engineer.
They have explained to Desta and Til how they met, but the couple aren't sure their children fully understand their unique tale.
In fact, the twins even inspired the name of Emmy's book with their childlike understanding of their parents' romance, though she admitted it has been fictionalised to make it more 'interesting'.
Vic explained: "We've told them everything that happened. I don't think they grasp the social aspects of the whole thing, they just think its funny that daddy lived in a bush."
