The rules of age gap relationships? Here's what we can learn from famous men
Here's a maths problem for you. If actor Anna Camp (42) has a new girlfriend called Jade Whipkey (24), meaning there's an 18-year age gap between them, is this a) disgusting; b) perfectly fine; c) something I have no desire to think about?
If you answered c), then I'm afraid large sections of the internet disagree with you. There has been heated debate about the propriety of the Camp-Whipkey romance ever since the two went public – so much so that Camp recently spoke out on the matter.
'I've dated men exactly my age and Jade is FAR more mature than any of them,' Camp wrote in a social media post. 'We have more in common than anyone else I've ever dated and can literally talk about anything and everything.'
Of literally anything and everything happening right now, Camp's relationship with another consenting adult is obviously low on the list of things to worry about. It's probably one step above fretting over whether we're trending towards 'tomato girl summer', 'lavender girl summer', or 'apoplectic girl summer'. That said, it might be wise to use this as a teachable moment and review some important rules about age-gap relationships.
First, if you are a 38-year-old adult whose 17-year-old love interest is still at high school, you need to be sent straight into detention. I'm not pointing any fingers here, but I suggest you Google what Jerry Seinfeld was up to when he was 38 in 1993.
Second, if you are a 72-year-old man who has a child with a 30-year-old who happens to be the former stepdaughter you first met when she was four, that's … problematic. Again, I'm not pointing fingers, just advising you to research Elon Musk's father. It explains a lot about how poor Elon turned out.
Third, if you are middle-aged and everyone you date is under 25, it's less a sign of their maturity than it is a red flag about yours. I was going to cite Leonardo DiCaprio here but, after years of dumping girlfriends the moment they turned 25, he now seems settled down with a 27-year-old. It looks as if 50-year-old Leo has finally grown up.
Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist
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