There is a discussion to be had about what it means for an older man to date a younger woman. He admitted to being 'afraid to get into a relationship and kept trying to break it off because I am so much older than she is and I didn’t want to feel old for the rest of my life'. Stanley Tucci has recently opened up about just this pressure and stigma and its impact on his relationship with his wife Felicity Blunt, who is 21 years his junior.
Every snide comment about them reminded me how stigmatised age-gap relationships are how they can drive a wedge between you and your friends, family and everyone who judges you for the person you love. And there was Dennis Quaid, 65, who proposed to Laura Savoie, 26 a few years ago. Mick Jagger's engagement to 36-year-old Melanie Hamrick (a 43-year age difference) has raised eyebrows, for instance. Every time a famous couple with an age gap hit the headlines, it all comes back. My boyfriend – a wholly inappropriate word – was 54.
When I was 18, I had my first proper relationship.