Can Cougar-Cub Relationships Work? Adrienne Maloof Thinks So
Adrienne Maloof is a legend. Not only is she dating a man 28 years her junior, but he also happens to be the heir to the Anheuser-Busch beer company. Sorry Demi Moore, but you’ve been usurped.
The former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star packed in her tired old show, monstrosity of a mansion and her tragic ol’ husband and started a new life. At the age of 52, she’s now hawking her own vodka and playing nice with a handsome 24-year-old whippersnapper by the name of Jacob Busch.
Like Jennifer Lopez and the aforementioned Moore before her, Maloof has found herself in what is being called a “cougar-cub” situation.
She sounded off to ET about the moniker, saying, “It’s a label. It’s a name. Who cares?”
Who cares? Well, just about everyone, in fact. I’m willing to bet my bottom dollar that most people have an opinion on the May-December romance, if not on Maloof and Busch personally.
When you think about it, this is totally a double standard situation. When an older woman decides to take the reins and date a younger man, she’s called a ‘cougar’, and her relationship is labeled something embarrassing (and come on, how much more demeaning can you get than ‘cougar-cub?’). When an older man dates a younger woman, that’s considered normal, despite the fact that he’s probably having a middle life crisis and/or can’t come to terms with his receding hairline and rapidly multiplying amounts of back hair. We’ll only mock him for the cherry red Mustang convertible he uses to snare her (or, if he marries her, we’ll call her a ‘trophy wife’ behind her back).
I’m on the fence, because while I think ‘you go girl!’ to any woman who can hook an impressive-looking piece of arm candy like Ashton Kutcher or Jacob Busch (sorry JLo, but I can’t say the same about Casper Smart), I also think it’s kind of stupid for anyone to date someone who’s so out of their age range. It isn’t that I’m against these couples, but how can you really identify with someone who hasn’t had the life experiences you’ve had? Sure, Busch might like older gals, but he hasn’t been married, he hasn’t had kids, he hasn’t hardly lived. That makes him fun, but it doesn’t make him relationship material.
There are, of course, exceptions to every rule, and I sincerely hope Adrienne Maloof is one of them. If she’s happy and he satisfies her (and I can’t imagine that he’s not, if you catch my drift), then I’m happy. But if I were her, I’d be all Stella getting my groove back with the young toy, chalking it up to an experience needed, and moving on to a real man…who happens to be around my own age. Just saying.
