Daily Mail - 28.08.2019

Page 22 Daily Mail, Wednesday, August 28, 2019

A

s IF I didn’t detest the

President of Brazil enough

already for crimes against

nature and humanity, his

latest proof of oafish

stupidity — rejecting a $22 million

offer of help from the G7 to fight the
fires raging through the Amazon —

confirms him as a disgrace to

his country.
Not only that, but surely President Macron
is right when he suggests that Brazilian
women will be ashamed of their leader for his
crass approval of a tweet mocking Brigitte
Macron’s age.
It was one of his macho supporters who
posted on social media a less than flattering
picture of Mrs Macron, 66, and her husband,
beside one of Brazil’s first lady, 37-year-old
Michelle Bolsonaro, with her husband smirk-
ing behind her.
The caption says: ‘Now you understand
why Macron is persecuting Bolsonaro?’ Then
the far-right Brazilian leader replied: ‘Do not
humiliate the guy, ha ha.’ The meaning is
clear — President Macron, 41, should be pit-
ied for being married to a woman 25 years his
senior, while Bolsonaro is top dog for having
hooked a hottie 27 years younger than him.
sexist and ageist? Of course. Extraordinar-
ily rude — as Macron has said? For sure.
Boorish, witless, coarse and pig-ignorant?
All that.
But oh, how incredibly unstylish, too.
Brazilian women are famous for their style
— and currently their level of education is

Insults: President Bolsonaro

and Brazil’s first lady Michelle

life

by Bel

Mooney

greater than that of men, with 53
per cent in university.
so I hope they let their appalling
leader know that the antediluvian
attitudes displayed by him and his
supporters are just embarrassing.
That rather annoying ‘Girl from
Ipanema’ once shimmied along,
‘young and lovely’, making men
sigh with longing — but now the
stunning Woman from Ipanema is
striding to warn them not to be
such trivial wimps.
We are all accustomed to seeing
pictures of men like Bolsonaro, 64:
rich, powerful, and successful with
their much younger wives.
Proudly, they show off their beau-
tiful partners — classic ‘arm candy’
which (let’s face it) might not have
come their way had they been ordi-
nary blokes.
Personally, I avoid judgments
about age. Let people love whom-
ever they wish, I say —although it’s
hard to avoid a certain cynicism
when an incredibly unattractive,
rich, 60-something guy is snapped
with his obligatory, beautiful, East-
ern European accessory. Of course,
she might well have a PhD in
nuclear physics, but most of us
doubt that’s why she’s wearing
those diamonds.
But never mind that cliché of
younger woman with older man —
what about the magnificent older
females who do not give a damn

about a number on a birth certifi-

cate? I celebrate beautiful, elegant,

intelligent, confident Brigitte

Macron, who captivated the heart

and mind of a bright, handsome

schoolboy years ago (and by the

way, no impropriety is ever sug-

gested) and is now at his side as

First Lady of France.

Adored and adoring, Mrs Macron

represents the best of sophisti-

cated French womanhood. And I

wish fashionistas would stop criti-

cising the length of her skirts. Have

you seen her elegant, shapely,

toned legs? Let older women wear

skirts as short as they please — and

bikinis, too. We can do what the

hell we like.

I would say all this, wouldn’t I? In

2006, a few days before my 60th

birthday, my second husband

asked me to marry him. He was 43.

We married the following year, a

couple of weeks before Emmanuel

Macron married Brigitte Trogneux.

All lives are private and compli-

cated, but I hazard a guess that

both men were marrying a beloved

friend and mentor, something they

never imagined could actually hap-

pen. My husband gained two step-

children; Macron three. Toutes nos

félicitations... Comme nous som-

mes heureux!

I would be dishonest if I said that

the 17-year age gap never crossed

my mind. Of course it did — for the

simple reason that I knew marry-

ing me made it unlikely that he

would ever have children of his

own, and it worried me.

T

HIs is the terrible unfair-

ness of nature: men can

go on fathering children

in their dotage while we

wave goodbye to our fertility once

the dreaded menopause kicks in.

Not that I would have wanted

any more children — heaven for-

bid! — and Robin said he didn’t

care. since that time, if the subject

of an age gap comes up, we usually

end up laughing. Because (vanity

statement alert here) the truth is,

he can’t imagine why any man

wouldn’t want to share a life with

somebody like me.

There’s plenty of life in the old gal

yet — so who cares what’s on our

respective birth certificates?

The term ‘cougar’ has always

made me smile. It has come to

mean an older woman who is pri-

marily attracted to and may have a

sexual relationship with signifi-

cantly younger men.

Although precise ages vary, in

general, the woman is 35 years or

older, the man is more than eight

years her junior.

Of course, the cougar is also

known as a mountain lion, puma or

panther — a beautiful, fearsome

big cat that purrs when pleased,

hisses its warnings, and is lethal in

pursuit. sounds about right...

Was that how the artist and direc-

tor sam Taylor-Wood (now 52) felt

when she first set eyes on the

young actor Aaron Johnson (now

29)? Of course not. No self-respect-

ing women would think of herself

as predatory — although some

women, just like some men, are

only attracted to younger people.

Is it any surprise that a nervous

young actor should fall for a pow-

erful, creative, charismatic older

woman (strong and brave too, hav-

ing survived cancer) with the con-

fidence to hold his whole life in the

palm of her hand? They now have

two daughters and (to me) epito-

mise courage and ‘cool’.

Fabulous older women attract

men who have no interest in

age ... or ageism, or sexism.

The founder of Net-a-Porter

Natalie Massenet (54) has recently

had a baby (by surrogacy) with her

photographer partner Erik

Torstensson (38).

Actress Joanna Lumley (73) is

eight years older than her hus-

band, the composer stephen Bar-

low. strictly’s Tess Daly is 50 — five

years older than her husband Ver-

non Kay, while Hollywood actress

Julianne Moore (58) is nine years

older than husband film-director

husband Bart Freundlich.

There is a 12-year age gap

between TV presenter Caroline

Quentin (59) and her husband

sam Farmer and a 13-year gap

between fitness guru Rosemary

Conley (72) and her husband Mike

Bel Mooney’s husband is 17 years younger.

No wonder she was so enraged when the

Brazilian president mocked Macron’s

older wife. The truth, she insists, is that...

Insults: President Bolsonaro

Real men

pRefeR

an older

woman!

‘There’s life in the old gal yet, who

cares what’s on our birth certif icates?’