Do age gap relationships work and is a cougar the answer when looking for love?
Nothing catches the attention of the headlines like a celebrity age gap relationship, whether it’s Leonardo DiCaprio’s new girlfriend or Robert De Niro fathering a child at 80 with his 45-year-old wife.
However, the intrigue and shock seem to be heightened when the older partner in the relationship is the woman.
Referred to as a ‘cougar’ due to their alluring confidence and mature appeal, there are many ages gap famous relationships where the women were older.
Some of these most famous pairings are Harry & Meghan Markle, Demi Moore & Ashton Kutcher, Ryan Gosling & Eva Mendes, Priyanka Chopra & Nick Jonas, Aaron Taylor-Johnson & Sam Taylor-Johnson, Hugh Jackman & Deborra Lee-Furness and Gabrielle Union & Dwyane Wade.
But what about the cougars out in the wild in our everyday lives? For Deanna Boomer she proved that age is just a number when she met her husband Steven, who is 19 years younger than her.
Dianna met Steven when he was still a teenager through being friends with his Auntie and Steven was 3 years younger than her own son at the time.
The couple admitted that the first few years of their relationship were difficult due to the negative backlash of the age difference from their family and friends but proved them wrong by showing them that an age gap is not a barrier to true love.
Steven said: “The beginning of the relationship was the hardest but now it’s much easier; as the people who see us for who we are, know we’re meant to be together.”
Deanna met the man of her dreams after being close friends with his auntie and started hanging out with him at his high school.
The mother of five would take her Jeep to Steven’s car club and take him and his friends off-roading whilst getting to know the then 19-year-old.
Steven explained: “Me and my friends all had a car club in high school, and Deanna had a jeep and so she would always come to our meetups and stuff and then we’d all go off-roading.
“Then one day, she just kind of hit me up and asked if we wanted to go to the bar and hang out and that’s where it led.”
As Deanna and Steven were getting to know each other, the stay-at-home mum was going through a divorce from her ex-husband of 22 years.
Deanna and her four children moved into an apartment and asked her Steven to move in.
As the couple made their relationship official to family and friends, Deanna received support, but Steven struggled to maintain his friendships at the beginning of their romance.
Stay at home mom Deanna added: “My friends didn’t really care, in fact, one of my friends was also talking to him before me, so she couldn’t really say anything, but they could see how happy I was, whereas Steven’s family were more annoyed.”
Steven, who works as a plumber, added: “My mother didn’t like it very much; Deanna is just a few months older than her, so she found that a little strange.
“I had comments from my family saying that I was just a kid, and I wouldn’t understand what it was like to raise a whole family as obviously, Deanna had kids before me, one being older than me, but that doesn’t matter now as I have a great relationship with them all.
“I also lost a lot of friends from it just because they were all young at the time too, so they wanted to go out have fun, party, and enjoy themselves but now, they have all settled down and had kids of their own.
“They’re starting to see what it is like, but my family are now starting to accept the relationship, and I have developed a great relationship with Deanna’s children.”
After nearly 10 years together, Dianna and Steven also had a child of their own together.