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CAROL McGIFFIN
THE WAY I SEE IT... Wise words from our feisty, fearless and funny columnist
‘Once again, I find myself getting pretty wound up about the peculiar obsession people have with couples where the woman just so happens to be older than the man.
It’s so tiresome. For example, you know the moment you see a headline about who the next James Bond might be, there’ll be a picture of Aaron Taylor-Johnson with his wife Sam. Somewhere it will mention that there is a 22-year age-gap between them. Never mind that they’ve been together for 16 years and have three kids! The most important thing is pointing out the age difference.
Even when someone dies, they can’t help themselves. In both the tragic cases of the late Barbara Windsor and Tina Malone’s husband, Paul Chase, articles always feel the need to highlight the fact that both women were considerably older than their husbands.
Did anyone emphasise the age difference between Des O’Connor and his wife, Jodie, who was 37-years younger than him, when he died? Probably not.
Maxwell Caulfield was in London recently. All the news articles made a big thing of his wife Juliet Mills, who he’s been married to for 44 years, being 18 years older than him. He even felt the need to say that despite the age difference, she keeps him young!
Weirdly, Joan Collins and Percy Gibson seemed to have earned their stripes. No one mentions the 32-year difference any more. It’s as if Percy’s got their respect for staying with old Joanie.
My question is, when will it stop being a ‘thing’? When will the
