Russell Crowe’s romance reveals a double standard when it comes to age-gap relationships

Crowe’s romance reveals a double standard when it comes to the response women get when they date a certain type of man.

Two couples with a big age gap. Source: Instagram

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Aussie actor Russell Crowe has recently made headlines for his new romance with Britney Theriot, but there’s a double standard no one is talking about.

Crowe is almost three decades older than his realtor girlfriend, and they just went viral after they were spotted at the Australian Open looking like a very happy couple.

Crowe is approaching 60 while Theriot is only 31, so he’s been alive for all of Elton John’s farewell tours, while she’s likely been more influenced by Taylor Swift’s Reputation era. To put in other terms, Crowe would appreciate she was only 23 when the Rabbitohs beat the Bulldogs to win the 2014 NRL premiership.

The big gap between them hasn’t been making waves, which is interesting when you consider heartthrob and actor Aaron Johnson-Taylor’s marriage is going viral on TikTok because his wife Sam Taylor-Johnson, is two decades older than him.

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So why is one age gap newsworthy and the other isn’t?

Well, it boils down to gender. Psychotherapist, Julie Sweet explained that we don’t see women

dating younger men as normal, she said: “Research shows approximately 35 per cent of women over the age of 40 years are dating younger men. However, I also observe within my private world and the clinical space I work in, these particular relationships continue to be generally met with social disapproval.

“Some causes of this stigmatisation range from traditional gender roles are challenged, sexism, societal norms, projected expectations, bias, criticism, sociocultural factors, judgment and more.”

Russell Crowe with his girlfriend Britney Theriot at the Australian Open. Picture: Tennis Australia/AARON FRANCIS

Aaron Taylor Johnson and his wife Sam Taylor-Johnson have gone viral on TikTok because people are shocked by their age-gap romance. Picture: Instagram

Basically, we still find it shocking to see an older woman with a younger man, but we are desensitised to seeing an older guy with a younger girl. So, maybe that explains Hugh Hefner’s whole career in one sentence.

It makes sense when you consider there are just more famous examples of older guys with younger women. Singer and Jennifer Lopez’s ex-husband Marc Anthony 54 married 23-year-old model Nadia Ferreira today.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s age gap with his older wife is often judged. Picture: Instagram

Kyle Sandilands and his partner Tegan Kynaston have 15 years between them. Meanwhile, Karl Stefanovic and his wife Jasmine Yarbrough have a nine-year gap. Even Michael Clarke’s complex romance with Jade Yarbrough has a decade between them.

Of course, there are still famous examples of older women dating younger men, but the most famous is likely Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher and the whole relationship became eclipsed by the 15 years between them. Which is nothing when you remember that Michael Douglas is 25 years older than his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore were together for years. Picture: AP Photo/Matt Sayles

Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones are another famous couple with a big age-gap. Picture: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for BAFTA

I’d go as far to say if you google any male celebrity, there’s a good 80 per cent chance his wife is significantly younger than him. Plus, we can’t ignore the fact we have a word for women when they date younger guys - cougars. But, we don’t have a word for men that date younger women.

Still, even though women dating younger men isn’t as accepted, Sweet is happy to say women are feeling empowered to follow their hearts and go younger. She said: “More and more women are dating younger men. I see it both personally and professionally.

“I do see though an increase in women prioritising self, feeling empowered to choose directly, becoming more sexually confident, having greater self-worth and slowly dismantling a societal construct that may have once governed their way of life.”

So perhaps we will know we’ve made progress when the day comes that a famous Australian actress gets spotted at the tennis with a man half her age and no one even utters the word cougar.

Originally published as Russell Crowe’s romance reveals a double standard when it comes to age-gap relationships