May December News: Age Gap Sited as Reason for Split
Confirmed, Mark Ronson and Daisy Lowe Split Up
September 16, 2008 08:26:52 GMT
aceshowbiz.com
A representative for her refused to comment on the cause of their split, but it’s been rumored that their age difference has become a trigger.
No words on the reason for their split, but rumor has it, their separation was triggered by their 14-year age gap. “Daisy is a girl about town just finding her feet on the party scene and loving every minute of it. She is still a teenager and although she’s got a wise head on her shoulders, she’s still a very young woman,” a source revealed. “But Mark is the opposite. He’s at a very different stage in his life. He’s 33 now and although he enjoys the party lifestyle he’s looking to settle down and Daisy isn’t ready for that.” Read entire article here.
Gayle’s Commentary
Okay, I hate to admit this, but I don’t know who Mark Ronson or Daisy Lowe are. Maybe it’s because I’m not a Brit. Maybe if I was British I still wouldn’t know. What I DO know is that he is 33 and she is 19. That’s a 14 year age gap. Ron and I have a 15 year age difference, but I wasn’t 19 when we started dating. I’m pretty sure that I wouldn’t be writing this article had we met when I was 19 (he was 34.) He was building a career and moving up the corporate ladder. I was bartending and getting ready to catapult into a very dark time in my life.
The Ronson-Lowe article made me think about common sense. I believe we need to use our head AND our heart when approaching any long-term relationship including one with an age gap. Here are a few quick pointers.
- Immaturity at any age doesn’t work to balance out a May December relationship. If the person you are dating is immature for his or her age whether it be 19 or 49, it is NOT a good thing. Being young and heart is different than immaturity.
- Moving a reasonable pace before getting in a committed relationship is also a good idea at any age. (Read “How Fast is too Fast” here.)
- The “half the older person’s age plus-seven” rule of thumb is one guideline for considering whether or not the age gap in an intimate relationship is acceptable. It says that if the younger person’s age is greater than or equal to the older person’s age, divided by 2, + 7; then the relationship is more likely to gain social acceptance. (I know, I know, this isn’t a math blog and there’s no real science here.) It is worth using this as frame of reference ONLY. Please remember that a “rule of thumb” means it’s not an exact or perfect measurement. Let’s see what happens when we plug Ronson and Lowe’s ages into the formula:
- Ronson is 33. Half his age is 16.5. Add 7 to that (16.5 + 7) and you get 23.5 (currently the relationship would fail according to this measure.) 10 Years from now, if they were to date, the numbers would be 43/2= 21.5+7 =28.5 (the relationship would pass according to this measure.)
- The compatibility gap can close as people get older even though their age gap will always remain the same. That’s a good thing to know. When I was dating Ron, people told me “you might not think 15 years is much of an age difference now, but you will when he is 60 and you are 45. Whoever said that was probably 30 or 40 years old at the time. Like it or not, at that age, 60 sounds older than it looks and acts (in most cases.) We passed the 45/60 milestone five years ago and we’re still growing (or is it going) strong.
Hmmmm. I think I hear a post about “the compatibility gap” in the making. Stay tuned for that one. Final food for thought. When I was 9, I was in love with Sean Connery (he was 36). When I was 19 I was in love with Sean Connery (he was 46). When I was 39, I was in love with Sean Connery (he was 66). I am now 50 and guess what I’m still in love with Sean Connery (he turned 78 in August!) Our age difference would never pass the “half the older person’s age plus-seven” rule, but who cares! For further comparison, here are the years of birth of a few celebrities you probably know:
Sean Connery – 1930 (78)
Pierce Brosnan – 1953 (54)
Meryl Streep – 1949 (58)
Clint Eastwood – 1930 (78)
Suzanne Sommers – 1946 (64)
Katie Couric 1957 (51)
Jack Nicolson – 1937 (71)
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