why do celebs always date someone like 20 years younger 🤔

talking a bit about aaron taylor-johnson (and beyoncé, leonardo dicaprio, and george clooney i guess)
in-depth commentary videos at @DAngeloWallace

[DAngeloWallace]

there's a word for a lot of these relationships... it starts with a g and ends with a ukulele apology

[thisisayoutubeaccount]

Remember kids: it's not about age gaps, it's about developmental gaps. 10 years between a 42yo and a 52yo is NOT the same as a 19yo and a 29yo!

[JuniorBaconSleezeburger]

Wilmer Valderrama was notorious for being “friends” with teenage girls and then publicly dating on their 18th birthday. That 70s Show had a rotted cast

[LoraK]

I'm glad people are finally pointing out how problematic this is. Demi Lovato recently released a song called "29" about how she turned 29 and realized how messed up it was that Wilmer Valderrama dated her when she was 17 and he was 29. There's a line about how now that she's the age he was, dating someone who's 17 would never cross her mind. I hate that we as a society normalized this for so long

[SomniaRomantica]

I remember being at a festival when I was 17 and a really nice guy was talking to me for quite some time. He asked at some point if I went last year. I said that last year I was not allowed to go yet. His expression sunk, he asked how old I was. I said 17. He said "Ooooo no I thought you at least 25, my apologies, good to know." I asked how old he was, he answered "old, verrrry old." He was 31. In any case, we had a nice further conversation and went our ways. It was clear he liked me and hoped something came out of the conversation, but as soon as he realized how young I was ( which was not on him, for some reason around my 16-20 years old, many people thought I was way older) he cut it off. Which should be the right reaction.

EDIT: Hey, as this got pinned it got a lot of responses.
Just to give it a littlebit more context, this was in 1999 (yes I’m ancient) at a music festival in The Netherlands. We were in my experience just chatting about music in a conversational way and I did not have a single clue that he was into me. Only when he asked if I also went last years and I said this was the first festival I was allowed to visit, he realized that I was actually very young and could not hide his surprise and dissapointment. But he handled it in a very good way, that is why I always remembered ^^

[tamaraaa]

Remember when we found out Keanu Reeves' partner is an adult woman in her 40s or 50s who looks like an adult woman in her 40s or 50s, and we were shocked?

[TheMermaidSushi]

This is exactly the issue that so many people have regarding Billie Eilish's relationship. They met when she wasn't even legal yet, and homeboy is in his 30s. It's sickening.

[rachelcarolyn]

What makes Aaron and Sam Taylor-Johnson's relationship even worse to me is that she was directing him on a film when they met so she was his boss, which adds to the power imbalance even more. Both their children were born by the time he was 22. I wonder what it will be like for him when his daughters reach the age he was when he began dating Sam and he sees how young they are.

[giancarlojacobs]

Leo's dating life is like employers with minimum wage. If it was legal to go lower he definitely would.

[GallifrAngel]

I definitely agree that the age gap isn’t the problem, it’s the maturity gap and the power gap. With Aaron and Sam you also have to remember that he was a young actor trying to break into the business and she was his director. SHE WAS HIS BOSS. She had the opportunity to make or break his career, and even if he doesn’t realize it, the rest of us do.

[laurenk]

I'm reading the article that's on screen and the fact that Aaron Taylor Johnson's marriage is described as "one of Hollywood's great love stories" is actually disgusting. Also, if we want to talk about older women preying on younger men, Emmanuel Macron (the president of France) met his wife when he was 15 and she was his 39 year old teacher.

[ExAngel]

Celine Dion and her late husband had a weird age gap. They met when she was twelve years old and he was 38 years old and he became her manager/ producer. They got married, when she was 26 and he was 52.
I always thought that this is weird. Especially because of the power dynamic.

[kuronemuri]

over ten years later I'm still dealing with issues I have from dating a 30 yo at 19. "Maturity" doesn't matter when you don't have any experience.

[fanime]

I want to add context on why Leo's dating preferences are weird. I specifically remember seeing the Titanic in theaters when I was in Kindergarten, and yet, I am considered too old for Leonardo DiCaprio. Let me repeat that. I was in *kindergarten* when Titanic was first released and yet I'm too old for Leo's standards.

[robbinova]

While 18 is government legal, that is still a child in my eyes. You don’t turn 18 and suddenly have an adult brain. I’m 32 and thinking back to my 18 year old self, I would absolutely have no business dating someone in their late 20’s or older.

[MisIman]

Actually the Beyoncé "we meet at 18..." is new. It came AFTER people realized that her dad introduced them when she was 16. She said it in exactly one interview they met at 16 and "dated" at 18 and changed it to a more...appropriate 😬....time frame. Like babes that *rooming

[TinyLoaff]

W/ regards to Leo…I noticed when turning 25 (and running up to that), men both within and out of my family started commenting on my age. It’s really interesting how women are considered “expired” as they age while men are seen to “age like wine”. Girls are taught that the world is their oyster, yet as we age, the men around us “devalue” us. I wasn’t bothered by my age, but I have to admit it’s made me a bit nervous now. If men can’t handle a grown woman then that is something they need to reflect on and yes..Grooming and targeting children is both pathetic and disgusting - normalise calling friends or family out on it.

[_peace_please_]

Madonna has been dating 20-somethings for a few years now, she's currently 64 and her boyfriend is 29. Before him she dated a 23 year old. Her own daughter is currently 26.

[LizzyLoves]

There’s a Japanese singer, Utada Hikaru. When they were 17-18, they met a director named Kiriya Kazuaki, who was in his early 30’s at the time. The two started dating and got married when Utada was only 19 years old. They eventually divorced when Utada was still a very young 24. People in the JPop community don’t seem to talk about that relationship enough. It’s so very strange and seems wildly inappropriate. Though the age of consent is low in Japan, you’re not a legal adult until you turn 20 (though that recently changed to 18), so they weren’t even an adult technically.

[xtrastrengthsassx]

The sad thing about this dynamic is that the younger person in these relationships will rarely (if ever) see a problem with what’s happening. They’re at ages where they WANT to feel mature and like an adult. So, an older person coming to them, telling them they’re “wise beyond years” or “mature for their age” is super validating for them. They’ll eat that up every time. It’s up to the adults to put an end to it, and they *probably* won’t.