Ever since the beginning of Hollywood, it seems like age gaps in relationships have been a thing. From George Clooney and Amal Clooney, to Leonardo Dicaprio and his resistance to women above the age of 25, there are many cases of men and women dating much, much younger people.
The human brain, on average, is fully developed at the age of 25. One of the last parts of your brain to finish developing is the prefrontal cortex. The prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain responsible for decision making. Good decision making is incredibly important for relationships, and deciding what’s appropriate and not.
Leonardo Dicaprio has an infamous history of breaking up with women when they turn 25. Over the past 24 years, Dicaprio has had eight confirmed relationships with women. He’s often being criticized for this, as many people believe that it is predatory. His most recent relationship started when this woman was 20. He is more than twice her age.
Another example of age gaps in Hollywood, would be Sam Taylor-Johnson and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Aaron and Sam met when Aaron auditioned for a film called Nowhere Boy, which Sam Taylor-Johnson was responsible for directing. Aaron was 19, she was 42. Many people claim this is predatory as well, as she was his boss and roughly 23 years older than him.
George Clooney and Amal Clooney have a 17 year age difference, yet people don’t call this creepy nearly as often as the other two. Why is this? Well, I believe that it’s because George and Amal Clooney met while they were both fully and completely developed. While Leonardo Dicaprio and Sam Taylor-Johnson met their much younger partners while they were still freshly out of high school.
However, this phenomenon isn’t just inside of Hollywood. It’s also incredibly common in the music industry, with faces such as Cher, and Ronnie Wood from The Rolling Stones.
Cher, who’s age gap with her boyfriend is probably one of the more drastic ones, has a 40 year gap with her boyfriend, Alexander Edwards. Many people have voiced their criticisms of the relationship, and say that it’s creepy and uncomfortable, especially when you look at pictures of the two together.
Ronnie Wood, most notably a member of the 60’s rock band, The Rolling Stones, is currently married to a woman 31 years younger than himself. His wife, Sally Humphreys Wood, is 45 years old. If you know anything about Ronnie Wood’s children, you would know that two of them are actually older than Sally, and one of them is roughly the same age as her. This fact alone has obviously sparked controversy in the public’s eye. They say that, even though dating someone so much younger than you is odd, it’s even worse if they’re younger than your children.
Although you may find some of these age gaps predatory and a bit uncomfortable, especially when looking at photos and mistaking them for parent and child, at the end of the day they’re not truly harming anyone or anything.. except for their reputation as a decent person.
