First of all, I'd like to say that Anderson Cooper is EXTREMELY hilarious! And while being funny, all the points he made were absolutely valid! I agree with him 100%
I feel sorry for this girl.... wait no I take that back. She's so rill she doesn't need any support from anyone. Apparently, her love with a 51 year old man is TOTALLY RILL.
I honestly think this is morally wrong, you should NOT marry someone that is 3 times your age. That's just asking for trouble in loads of different ways.
I'd like to hear RRR's opinion on this.

Well it's like what they say, age is just a number. If they both consent to marriage and they are of legal age to wed, then I don't see a problem with this.

You really don't find it disgusting that she is marrying a guy that is older than her dad? He's probably gonna die by the time she's thirty.

Who the fuck cares. They're both over the age of consent so they can do whatever they want. I personally had relationships with women older than my mom and I know a few female friends who have no problems dating men much older than them too.

Seriously, what happens in other people's bed is none of anybody's business and nobody is entitled to give moral lessons either.

Wow he's funny. I never even realized lol although this does weird me out to quite the degree, to each their own is the way I go. I mean, rilly, who are we to judge? Though I have no doubt this will last just about no time, if it make them happy then so be it. Not my daughter

No, I am not disgusted by this. If two people love eachother and they are of legal age to marry, then we shouldn't make a big deal about it.

Meh.
Not really disgusted by this, though I think it's pathetic.

I don't buy that there is a hint of love in this relationship at all. 35 year age difference means that there isn't a lot of common ground to be explored, generational gaps and whatnot.
Oh ya, spousal abuse. Probably going to happen down the road, and it must be so much easier in this scenario.

The way I see it, its a publicity stunt. Guess the 51 year old gets some bragging rights as well.
Is the girl likely to move on and marry someone else when the older guy kicks the bucket? Eh, I might wager so.

But you can't call it immoral. Both sides are consenting parties.
Will there be some consequences in the long term? Possibly, but it's not big enough to ammend a law or anything.

But, I disagree with those saying this isn't a big deal. 35 year difference marriges don't happen all too often. Regardless whether it turns out good or bad, I think we'll all have something to learn from this. Might be worth checking once every year or so.

Hmm, and what about the choice and views from the young ladies point of view....despite the great age difference ?
She's old enough to make that decision herself. Now as the vid won't allow me to listen to what that guy says, I can
but ramble on about my own personal views on it.
In principle, I don't agree with it...inevitably in time it would raise possible infidelity issues, lifestyle indifferences, sex
drive and different perceptions on that subject. Differences in emotional and moral values etc etc, not so healthy really.
All said, if they genuinley feel in love together, who's to say it is wrong for them to marry ?
Chances are slim it will work out, but if she is happy feeling "protected" say in this marriage, then thats up to her.
I don't think its fair to judge two people over their age difference....thats discriminating them for one thing.

It may seem rather strange to people nowadays, but not even a century ago it was common practice for very young women to marry older men.
There were countless cases of marriages with more than 30 years between the man and woman (almost always having the man as the older one). The difference is that now it's extremely rare to see women get married at ages like 13 to 15, but that was common about 100 years ago.

In my personal opinion, I wouldn't marry someone more than 10 to 15 years older or younger than myself. Further, I believe it is the right and choice of any person to decide who they wish to marry, so long as that person is capable and old enough to fully understand what marriage is, and to consent to it. This is almost always in accordance to law, so it's easier to say "of legal age", but I wanted to explain it a little more because I'm not "just following what the law says" I actually agree to what it says to that specific degree.

1. She might be getting put through college on his money. My sister did the same thing. The guy was a loser (Only 40, not 50... but pretty close) and he offered money for sex, kinda like a prostitute but she was getting college instead.

2. They might genuinely love each other. Who's to judge?

3. They are indeed of legal age.

4. I think it's fine.

Additionally, if you start judging a couple based on age difference, then why not extend this judgement to another couple because one of the two is too obese, too ugly or too diseased?
Not to even mention that the search for a father/mother image in relationships is a rather common occurence...

Ultimately even if this relationship fails, it's none of our business. Relationships fail often, regardless of the age difference; divorce rates are rather telling.

And lastly, you can exert your freedom of speech by judging a couple and call it disgusting and I'll exert mine by calling you morons.

I whole-heartily agree.
And someone should quote you on that last sentence, it made me laugh quite a bit.

I always feel there's an element of exploitation in relationships like this, more so in the U.S than the U.K.
You can marry at 16 (younger, I believe, with parental consent) but you don't have all of your 'adult' privileges until your 18 or 21 (could even be older in some countries).
That may not seem like much really, but I strongly doubt a 16 year old and a 25 year old live the same lifestyle, and that's only 9 years. I don't disagree with this, I just feel, like I said, that there's an element of exploitation involved.
I mean, most people don't get married at 16, let alone to someone so much older. Who marries immediately? This means he was probably dating her before she was 16 (I don't have the facts, and I doubt they'd let that on record) which is a bit more morally sketchy.

So we have a few weird little things we're gonna have to accept here:
They've only been going out for under a year OR he's been dating a 15 year old (strange how 16 seems that much older than 15...)
A 51 year old man asked a 15 or 16 year old out... Anyone wanna bet she was the first? OR a 15 or 16 year old girl had the hots for a 51 year old man... In which this man may not have been the first. (Basically you got two fetishes, one of them illegal and the other one just a little bit vomit inducing... But there are weirder and legal turn ons... OR she's with him for money/other)

I also wanna know how they even know each other? Either a 50+ man introduces himself to a 15-16 year old girl (stranger danger?), she approached him (Hi I have father issues... And Grandfather issues), or he was a family friend of somekind (Potential Childgrooming, for the win!)
Or maybe their eyes just met over a coffee table in some lonely starbucks... Even that image comes out creepy in my head.

That's not even getting into power relationships though... I mean, someone always assumes power in a relationship. So who takes the mantle, Gramps or Goldilocks?
Here's something to bare in mind:
The only thing scarier than how much we change from one year to the next, is how little you change, and the only thing scarier than that is when you really think about it and realise just how much you've changed.
Especially if you're still in education. Everything you learnt in the past year, you didn't know that last year. It seems obvious to say, but I'm a fairly curious person - I read a lot of articles online to learn random bits of sociology or behavioral psychology. I think the same is true for everyone (different subjects probably) but that doesn't change that you react to situations differently from year to year, and especially so when you're younger, because you're still learning.
Of course you'll keep learning as you go on, up that naive theory eventually becomes learned experience. It's like two stages of learning, the first is building up and the second is trimming down and reinforcing what is there. Fully grown adults have a fairly steady character, but younger people (teenagers especially) can completely change in a period of months - then back again.
... And you can't build a marriage on that.

I have yet to see a single marriage at <18 that has been successful. In fact, I haven't even seen an engagement go well (and a LOT of people I know got engaged in the past year) and this is people of the same age - I don't even want to think of the differences involved with someone three times older (which is misleading; you can't remember properly until your about four - so really he's got four times her life experience. Some psychologists think it's much older when we really become 'aware' and understand consequences, so he could have up to five times that REAL life experience. As for real world experience, well he has an infinite amount more than her.)

I don't think it's stupid for someone to marry someone 3x their age.
I think it's stupid to get married at 16.

This concludes another unwarranted and tangent-prone rant. Tune in next week when we'll explore the ramifications of cloning toothpaste.

Slightly unrelated, but still related to what you've mentioned:
My parents were born 6 days apart, of the same year, and were married when they were both still 17. (So there isn't a huge gap, but I wanted to mention that early relationships can work out.)
They've been married for the past 31 years (earlier this year was their 31st anniversary). During the first few years of their relationship, their parents (both sides) hated the other parents and constantly tried to separate them. Not to mention that they were having financial problems (just starting out at that age and, after just being married, had a baby that first year). Not only that, but they both had different religious beliefs (dad was atheist, mum was protestant) and so did their parents (dad's parents were Catholic, and hated my mum for being protestant, and they were constantly telling my dad that he should return to being a Catholic, and mum's parents were Baptist).
Over the next few years of their marriage, they had two more babies (making it 3 at that time) and were still in financial difficulty, finding it difficult to get work and difficult to find money to buy food for their children (me included, as the second child).

Through it all, I'd never change the family I was born into, nor the situations surrounding that family, because everything turned out fine and both families are in harmony now due to the strong will of my parents to make things work out and their dedication and love for each other (and their five children, which is how many they eventually had over the first 15 years of their marriage).

So, I do believe that early relationships can work out, and be especially grand (I've seen other families with better situations, and brighter possible futures, and they've turned out horribly - whereas my family's situation only got better and better and continues to do so).

I can't say that it would have turned out as well if there was an age gap, but that wasn't the case and I can't make such assumptions.



I do agree that I would personally regard it as a terrible idea to marry at such a young age (for me, personally) or to someone much older than myself (for me, personally) however I believe that everyone has that choice to make on their own, and despite the fact that I may not like it (for me, personally), I would argue that people have their reasons for getting involved in those situations/relationships and shouldn't be considered stupid for doing so. It may be the only option they have, or possibly the better option in their case. We can't know their situation or reasons, but if we were told I would suspect that it would be justified (otherwise, it's a good learning tool for those who had no justification for their decisions).

You've brought up a lot of good points Sparrowsmith. I don't think you really know what love is until your mid 20's, because pretty much every older person that I talk to either got married in their 20's or fell in love in their 20's, which led to marriage. Maybe I'm just saying that from personal experience too, because I'm 15 (16 in about 6 months, very mature for my age also, I don't run around doing crap like most other boys my age (and older, sadly)) and I have thought I had found "love" but it always just ends up screwing over in one way or another. Every time, it seems, I like a new girl or go out with another one, the feeling gets stronger. So I guess I'm just going to have to go until I find a girl that has that feeling and a long-term relationship associated.

Also, for those of you who saw the compilation on CNN a few days ago of all the interviews from the "couple" and Anderson making fun of them, there was a big part that he pointed out during pretty much every interview where she was looking at him like, extremely seductively, licking her lips and smacking them together. I'll throw in a few more videos here, but I'd like to make a few more points here. Look at the way she dresses, the way she walks, and the faces she makes even. She's just checking him up and down! I think that she just wants him as a boy toy. Who knows about him, but they've already had sex (which is made very clear in this next video). So check these out and see if they change your mind at all.



And for a happy time moment, check out this video!

Aye, there's five years between my parents, but they married while my mam was still young (I think it was 17 or 18) and even though they later divorced due to my dad having some health issues they stayed good friends and are still part of each others lives. As parents though they did pretty damn good all things considered.
So I know it can work when people marry young - that doesn't change that I think it's a rash move. They're not going anywhere Another year or two, financial stability, make sure you're comfortable, that kind of thing.
Sort of like buying entering a raffle contest, your odds of losing are greater than your odds of winning, and if you saved up all that money you spent on raffles you could buy the stuff on offer anyway... So it's not stupid to get married early, just a bit foolhardy and impatient.
I think that's a better way of putting it.

There is still the difference that most people who get married have known each other more than a year, and this couple have not.
However, after watching the video I've decided I don't mind the marriage... JUST MAKE HER STOP LAUGHING

Something that worries me (and is readily apparent in this video) is the number of middle aged teenagers who strive to be mature. I've been in the exact same boat, so I'm not guilt-free. I listen to this girl, and I won't call her a woman no matter how mature she thinks she is, and I see someone who looks older than she is, and can talk older than she is, but she has no confidence, just arrogance, she doesn't make a good case for herself.
"I'm mature" *pout*
Please, if that's all it takes to be mature than there's a bunch of thirteen year olds on bebo who should be aloud to marry as well. Maturity comes with being more assertive with yourself about yourself, and knowing your own limitations and the limitations of others. People who think maturity is all fart jokes and getting married have a lot of growing up to do.
You can be ninety two and still enjoy a good fart joke, but a sixteen year old girl getting married is STILL a sixteen year old girl getting married.

Most annoying thing though, she 'saved herself' until she was 16. Only a 1/4 of people (on record anyway) claim to have had sex before the age of 16. 'Saving yourself' at 16 is complete rubbish - It takes about as much effort as putting clothes on and keeping them on.
At first I felt sick that a 16 year old could be stuck with someone so much older than her, now I kinda feel sorry that he's stuck with someone so annoying... On the brightside, she'll make a great role model to kids... Oh wait, no, she won't...

Another weird thing was that they "fell in love" over the internet. But wait, without all of the "physical distractions" it is easy right? People on the internet don't always sound like they normally sound, or do what they normally do. You can't hear someone's laugh through text xD
So maybe the question isn't "how is this not wrong" but instead "how is this not right."

I wonder what Dr. Drew would say about this..

Having watched the videos, my opinion on these two has shifted.

Before I delve into that, I'll personally say age doesn't matter to me. Point of fact, I dated a guy that was 44 when I was 19 so I'd be quite the hypocrite to bash their relationship due to their age. Furthermore, many people can't discern the difference between love and infatuation. Typically relationships that fall flat after a short courtship and early marriage, are people that were infatuated and once it's gone, the magic of the relationship melts and you're left with reality. Infatuation can last anywhere from a few weeks, to several years. I personally don't find this disgusting, but I do question motives, intentions and whether they truly are in love, or in infatuation.

Now let's take the facts:
He's an actor = he's got money.
Look at the way she dresses/acts/talks = honey's just in it for the money.

She's an aspiring actress and pop singer, that can't carry a tune in a bucket from the clips they played. She appears more like an aspiring porn star with the way she acts. I highly doubt there's anything solid in her intentions; and she's obviously loving the attention.

I didn't want to point it out... but yeah, I agree.
I feel like someone should be singing gold digger right now...

As for the attention thing, well she had her 'five minutes of fame' and somehow managed to vaguely yet explicitly say, "We had sex" to the cameras. Only she used the ridiculous 'saving' line that I previously ranted about still, it's impressive to be a sixteen year old girl having her five minutes of fame and get away with saying that.
Pretty sure if a teen celebrity tried that stunt it'd be a bigger story than who they'd married.

Just as Mr. Cooper said, wait for the divorce. My thought is that the girl is using him and he is perverted enough to fall for it. She wins either way. She gets the exposure she needs, marriage work or flop. Don't you love our society's moral drop?

Haven't watched the video (me being bad with spoken English) but if the guy is an actor, and the girl a wannabe pop star, yes, there's most likely a correlation there. Not that it's uncommon though, and the guy certainly finds some advantage in the situation as well - just a give and take relationship.
Again, that's their business, they can do whatever they want.

I'm not fond of marriage in general, let alone marriage at 16, but maturity can really vary depending of the person. One of the two friends I still know from middle school married the history teacher 13 years ago (she was 14 at the time and he was 33) and they're still together.
Personally, as a precocious child (puberty at 9, first relationship at 12, university at 16), I've been attracted only by women much older than me because just every girl around my age seemed like kids to me until around hitting 17.

Bottom line, there are so many differences between two individuals that it's difficult to generalize.

But to come back on the subject at hand, even if it ends out being purely taking advantage of each other, that's their choice eh.

Kread won me over in this topic. I can't say i could agree more.
Yeah, i can't really say anything that hasn't been said.