Like many men of his status, Lagardere has a hot model girlfriend, Jade Foret, who happens to be 30 years his junior and at least a few inches taller than he is. Sounds like one of the many advantages of being wealthy and powerful, right? Sure, but with the perks of a younger girlfriend come some very strange backlashes. For instance, Lagardere and Foret recently posed for a somewhat provocative photoshoot together for Le Soir, a Belgian weekly magazine, and apparently Lagardere’s business partners are none too impressed. But is that precisely what happens when men date women who are much younger than they are? Do they lose their minds trying to keep up with a girl from a generation they clearly don’t relate to?
Dating a girl 10 or 20 (or 60) years your junior is a recipe for trouble. Let’s examine the specific reasons why dating younger women will end badly.
Because she’s not a fresh start
One of the mistakes older guys often make is assuming that older women have emotional hang-ups and younger women don’t. Such men are enticed by the seeming innocence and purity of the younger woman. They think that because she’s never had her heart broken she won’t have intimacy issues. They think that because she’s years away from turning 40 she won’t constantly remind him about her biological clock. These men are wrong.
Every woman has baggage. Further, younger women are likely to have issues that older women have outgrown. For example, because of their comparative inexperience when it comes to relationships, younger women are more likely to be needy and insecure.
Because she’s in it for the wrong reasons
Before you start entertaining the idea of dating younger women, ask yourself this: How come when you were 27 you couldn’t get a girl like the blonde bombshell who now seems so interested in you? How is it that now, 10 or 20 years later, when you’re older and probably worse looking, that you can score the hottest woman you’ve ever dated? What’s different about you?
Here’s a hint: When you were young, you were poor. Now you’re not. Yes, it’s a bit crude, but there’s some truth to it. Younger women are often attracted to the security that older men can provide them. Maybe at first you won’t mind exchanging money for sex, but if you develop feelings for the girl you’ll become less and less comfortable with her insincerity and her materialism.
Because you can’t see eye to eye
Another reason why relationships with younger women end badly is because of the generation gap. To put it simply, the 50-year-old will never understand the 20-year-old’s obsession with texting, and the 20-year-old will never understand what you see in classic Humphrey Bogart movies. A wide generation gap means that the two of you will necessarily have different habits and different tastes. It’s hard to build a relationship when you have so little in common.
Because your relationship is based on a transient state of mind
One of the most attractive things about younger women is that they live a life largely free of responsibility. Single women in their 20s, for example, often don’t have kids or mortgages. They can still afford to get sloshed on a Wednesday night and they can have sex with whomever they want, whenever they want.
Older men often date younger women in an attempt to recapture this lost state of youthful adventure, but it rarely, if ever, works. While it might be fun to relive your youth for a few weeks, you’ll eventually tire of the club hopping, all-night binge drinking and the other things men over 30 shouldn’t be doing. And when you’re lust for adventure fades, so will your relationship.
Because your relationship is the honeymoon
One of the other reasons why relationships with younger women end badly is because the entire relationship resembles a honeymoon. Initially, you might think that sounds great — a whole relationship based on sex and romance — but honeymoons always end. Not only is the intensity of emotion and physical attraction ultimately unsustainable, it’s also a pretty shallow basis for a relationship.
Because she’s your last, but you’re her first
You have lots of relationship experience under your belt. You know what you’re looking for in a partner. You know how to weather the storms. You know when to stand your ground and when to compromise.
She, however, does not. You are essentially her guinea pig, as she experiments in the field of sex and relationships. Sometimes those experiments will be fun. Other times they’ll blow up in your face.
The fountain of youth
Not all May-December relationships are disasters waiting to happen, but most of them are. While we’ve outlined the reasons why dating younger women isn’t always the best thing to do, it’s ultimately your choice to make. In the end, if you’re thinking about dating a younger woman, make sure it’s a decision you’re making with your heart and your brain — not with your pecker.