Annie Hall was on TV the other night. I have seen this movie classic about 28 times but it still cracks me up. As funny as Woody Allen is in character, I find him way more intriguing in real life. Take his marriage to Soon-Yi Previn for example. Soon-Yi began her romantic relationship with Allen when she was 19 and he was 56. Controversial not only because of the almost 40 year age gap but also because Soon-Yi was the daughter of Allen’s then partner, Mia Farrow.
There is a certain yuck factor to this relationship, perhaps best captured in a tweet by Mia and Woody’s son Dylan: “”Happy father’s day — or as they call it in my family, happy brother-in-law’s day”. Still, May-December relationships of all kinds fascinate us.
Closer to home, it was the marriage of Canadian Senator Rod Zimmer and his wife, Maygan Sensenberger that set our tongues wagging. Maygan was charged in 2012 with uttering threats and causing a disturbance during an incident with her husband aboard an Air Canada flight (the charges were later withdrawn). At one point during the whole fiasco, one media outlet observed, “… she is in it for the money and he is not in it for the conversation.”
Who cares?
I say it is time to put aside our biases about these May-December relationships. Let’s face it – every relationship is some kind of deal. Our deals are no better or worse than those of Woody, the Senator or any other May-December romance. The only real difference is that our deals may be less transparent.
So what if the deal is: Aging famous person provides status, money and career support in exchange for the devotion and sexual interest of a young, dynamic energizer-bunny?
Sounds like a fair deal to me.
Posted by a friend on FB
Next: Stand by your man?