When age is not a hindrance: famous women who loved men much younger than themselves

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Couples are often discussed where a man is much older than his woman. What is this, they say, the mercantilism of young ladies or the charm of any talent? Stories in which women are much older than their husbands and lovers evoke more unambiguous reactions. In a society where it is considered the norm when a man is older, such a couple could only be formed out of great love.

The mistresses of the cameras: Kira Muratova and Leni Riefenstahl

It is rather strange to put next to a halachic Jewish surrealist and one of the main participants in the propaganda machine of the Third Reich, but in terms of relationships with men, they do have something in common. They found their happiness with lovers much younger than themselves.

Some time after the first, not very successful marriage, Kira Georgievna met the artist Yevgeny Golubenko, twenty-two years younger than her. Golubenko idolized the talent of a director misunderstood by many, supported her in all creative endeavors and worked side by side, like a colleague. Kira Georgievna's dislike for everyday life did not bother him. What does it matter if his woman is bound to enter eternity?

And Leni met her, perhaps, the greatest love already at the age of seventy. She was a thirty-year-old cinematographer Horst Kettner. Before him, there were many other men - Leni did not like to limit herself - and some of them were also younger than Riefenstahl, but for the first time the difference was so impressive. With Kettner, Leni lived up to her century, for the first time in her life having admitted a man to her for so long. Perhaps the first one who realized that the main love for her will always be cinema, and the companion must come to terms with his second place.

They met almost by accident. For filming in Africa, Leni was looking for an operator with the skill of driving an off-road vehicle: two in one. When Riefenstahl tried to recruit him into her team, Kettner decided he was being made fun of. Who is he, the assistant operator, and who is she, the dark legend of German cinema! Perhaps he realized that everything was serious when Riefenstahl added the detail to her proposal: she could not pay him a salary. Only cover travel expenses. He agreed and never regretted it.

Pen Artists: Agatha Christie, Georges Sand and Marguerite Duras

Christie is the surname of the first husband of the famous detective writer. And, although we know her under this name, the marriage did not bring her much luck. The husband confessed to infidelity, and Agatha was shocked by his betrayal - especially since she had just lost her mother. Christie got divorced. To drown out the grief, Agatha threw herself into adventure - she went to explore the East.

At an archaeological site in Iraq, she met a young man fourteen years younger. His name was Max Mallone, and he assisted the famous archaeologist Leonard Woolley. The young man had to persuade Agatha for a new marriage for a long time - it was the age difference that confused her. In the future, she more than once accompanied her second husband on the excavations. Seriously delving into his profession, one day she persuaded Max to work with a small mound near Mosul. The book about the secrets revealed under the mound glorified the young archaeologist.

READ ALSO: The mysterious disappearance of Agatha Christie: sophisticated revenge on her husband or brilliant PR? >>

For several years, the spouses were separated by the Second World War, and yet she did not manage to completely break this union. The writer and archaeologist lived together for forty-five years. Malone remembered her with trepidation for the rest of his life.

And Georges Sand constantly contacted men a little younger. True, the first husband was still nine years older. But with lovers there was a different situation. The lawyer and writer Jules Sando was seven years younger than Sand, the poet and playwright Alfred de Musset by six, as well as the composer Frederic Chopin, the physician and writer Pietro Pagello by three years.

None of Sand's lovers fully understood her. De Musset broke up with her in fact because she devoted eight hours a day to writing novels - it seemed to him that a woman in love did not behave like that. After the breakup, he soon began to dream of reconciliation, but Sand had already found another love. And most of all the problems were caused by Chopin.

READ ALSO: A Portrait Cut in Half, or What Separated Chopin and Georges Sand >>

Frederick was very sickly, and at some point Sand, fearing for his health, abandoned the carnal side of love. This made him jealous, and it was ugly to be jealous. With his whims, he exhausted the writer. Many friends considered him the "evil genius" Sand, her "cross" and were against the romance of the two high talents. The relationship ended when Chopin had a falling out with his son Sand. She, of course, chose the side of her son, and Frederick had to leave her house.

The scandalously famous writer Marguerite Duras in the twentieth century managed to turn her last love into a grandiose scandal. For the last sixteen years of her life, her chosen one was Jan Andrea, a man almost forty years younger, who, moreover, did not hide his interest in other men. Nevertheless, for all these sixteen years he was a companion for the writer, more selfless it is difficult to find. Editor, secretary, chauffeur, courier, cook and even just a nurse. The scandals between Jan and Marguerite's son (five years older than his mother's lover!) Did not stop, but they could not end this relationship. Only death put an end to them.

Three symbols of France: Coco Chanel, Edith Piaf, Diane de Poitiers

The famous fashion designer and no less famous singer are united not only by accusations of collaboration with the Nazis. Both have been seen with lovers much younger than themselves. Walter Schellenberg, a German officer twenty-seven years younger than Chanel, was even going to write a memoir about his connection with the legend of the fashion world and blackmailed his former lover with these plans. After the war, he served six years for war crimes and finally lost all human feelings, if they were ever inherent in him at all. To Chanel's relief, Walter died before he could carry out the threats.

Edith Piaf's last love was the Greek hairdresser Theo Lambukas, twenty years younger. To marry him, Edith even converted to Orthodoxy. Theophanisa Piaf called "Sarapo" - "I love you" in Greek. He was more than once suspected of selfish motives, but after the death of his wife, Theo got only her debts - which he knew very well before.

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At the suggestion of Edith, Theo went on stage himself, became a singer and an actor. And they met at the hospital. Lambukas came to visit her with a present: a small doll that brings good luck. Then he brought a small gift each visit until he dared to propose to Edith. By the time of the wedding, he already knew that Piaf had a year of life left - and did not tell anyone that not a single sympathetic look would spoil her happiness.

When Piaf was again hospitalized with pulmonary edema, she lay delirious for two weeks, Theo did not leave her. After discharge, he continued to look after Edith at home, until her very last days, replacing her nurse. Seven years after Piaf's death, Theo crashed in a car and was buried in the same crypt as hers.

Diane de Poitiers was not one of those favorites who favorably added their youth and freshness. She was twenty years older than Henry II, her lover and beloved. When they first saw each other, he was seven, she was twenty-seven. The prince and his brother were taken hostage to return their father, King Francis, to their homeland. The boy was sad and frightened, and Diana was the only one who guessed to kiss him goodbye on the forehead. Just so he doesn't feel so alone.

Four years later, two turning points happened in Diana's life. She was widowed, and Prince Henry, returning to his homeland, declared that he loved her and would always be faithful to this love. Can a teenager's words be taken seriously? But time has shown that Heinrich did not lie. All his life he wore her colors, as she wore all her life in mourning for her deceased husband. Until the death of Henry, she retained influence, which infuriated her lawful wife, Catherine de Medici. Heinrich covered his beloved with expensive gifts, never tired of kissing her hands when he came to her for consolation.

READ ALSO: Diane de Poitiers and Henry II: a lifelong royal adultery >>

After the ridiculous death of the king (an accident at the tournament), the queen, as usual, demanded that the favorite return all the gifts. The fact is that the jewelry that the king distributed to his wife or other women, children, courtiers was not considered transferred to them, but given for temporary use and continued to belong to the royal treasury. Returning everything meekly, Diana retired to her castle and lived there almost without a break until her death.

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