The cougar crush is a tricky thing to deal with. It conjures up feelings of attraction and then, subsequently, feelings of horror and disgust when we realise just how young the object of our affection actually is.
But sometimes we can’t help developing inappropriate crushes. Just look at Zac Efron. He’s only 24, but the guy is an absolute babe. Or what about the cheeky charm of Harry Styles? It’s impossible not to go a bit Caroline Flack whenever One Direction appear on our television screens.
Just remember, as long as your cougar crush is over the age of eighteen then it’s perfectly acceptable for you to drool over them. Eh…within reason. Too much drooling could be misconstrued as being creepy or weird and if you over do it, you’re likely to be told you need some kind of psychological help.
Anyway, keeping that in mind, here are five celeb women who have happily embraced their inner-cougar…
5. Jennifer Lopez: Jenny from the block wasn’t fazed when her seven-year marriage to Marc Anthony fell apart. Instead, she upgraded to a newer, younger model in the form of backing dancer, Casper Smart.
Casper is eighteen years her junior, but despite the fact that J.Lo is more (ahem) mature than him, their relationship is still going strong. The pair have been an item since late last year and Casper has made various appearances in J.Lo’s music videos over the past few months.
In her Dance Again video, J.Lo ties a blindfold around Casper’s eyes. The blindfold reads ‘love is blind.’ Maybe so, but we imagine the fact that J.Lo looks amazing for her age also probably helps things a fair bit.
4. Demi Moore: Thanks to Demi Moore, the term ‘cougar’ isn’t as negative as it used to be. When Demi stepped out with her toy boy Ashton Kutcher in 2003, suddenly older-woman-younger-man relationships became a bit more accepted.
The pair got married in 2005 after two years of dating and, despite various opinions, their fifteen year age difference didn’t get in the way. Demi and Ashton were the poster couple for the phrase: “age is just a number.”
However, the pair eventually did split late last year, but when it was good between them, it was great. We don’t think anyone will be forgetting THAT picture of Demi that Ashton posted on Twitter any time soon…
3. Mariah Carey: A few eyebrows were raised when diva extraordinaire Mariah Carey started dating presenter Nick Cannon. Why? Well, mainly because Nick told the world that he used to fancy the singer when he was growing up and had her poster on his wall. Eh…disturbing…
But despite the fact that there’s an eleven year age gap between the pair of them, they’re still completely mad about each other. The couple got married back in 2008 and since then, they’ve repeatedly grossed us out by showing the world how sickeningly in love they are. Aw.
Last year Mariah gave birth to the couple’s first children – Moroccan and Monroe, a set of twins.
This is one cougar relationship that seems to be in it for the long haul.
2. Madonna: Never one to do anything by halves, Madonna is currently dating Brahim Zaibat, a 24 year old man who is less than half her age.
According to reports, Zaibat is so smitten with the Queen of Pop that he has already asked her to marry him and Madonna is currently considering his offer. (Eh…what’s to consider, she has seen how hot he is, right?)
Madonna’s relationship with break-dancer Zaibat isn’t her first foray into the realms of cougardom though. Oh no. In 2010 Madonna ended her relationship with toy boy Jesus Luz, who was also in his twenties when he was dating the singer.
1. Caroline Flack: Last December, Caroline Flack caused outrage when she revealed that she was dating 17 year old Harry Styles from One Direction.
Granted the outrage was mostly coming from broken-hearted teenage girls, however the media also questioned just why 32 year old Flack was messing around with someone who was fifteen years her junior.
Flack faced mass amounts of abuse and was labelled “creepy” for dating someone who wasn’t even old enough to buy his own alcohol or vote.
Eventually the couple split, but despite the fact that Caroline and Harry are no longer a couple, Caroline is still known as a cougar. Rawr!
