49-year-old Demi Moore is back in the gossip headlines for her alleged* blossoming relationship with 35-year-old Joe Manganiello. If you remember, Demi Moore recently divorced 34-year-old Ashton Kutcher, whom she married in 2005. “Okay, Kathleen, we get it, she likes younger men. Where is this going?” you’re probably thinking. Here’s where it’s going: I don’t have a problem that she dates younger men. I have a problem with the way gossip websites and the readers comment on it–it’s mean. Many outlets make jokes that she’s making the same mistake twice, that Manganiello is helping to “get Moore’s groove back,” calling Manganiello a toy boy and Moore a cougar, so on and so forth. One commenter had the nerve to call Moore a “narcissist who should stick to men her own age rather than try to recapture her youth with such younger men.”
Could this type of attitude and coverage be any more sexist? Okay, fine, there are some people that get disgusted when they hear that a 60-year-old man is dating a 26-year-old woman. But it’s not anywhere near as drawn out as this. Nobody is calling Alec Baldwin (who is 54 and married to 28-year-old Hilaria Thomas) or Kelsey Grammer (who is 57 and married to 31-year-old Kayte Walsh) pigs. Most of the comments in regard to their relationships are pleasant, how they have “finally found happiness.” However, if there is negative press, it isn’t toward the guys for going after such younger women–that’s socially acceptable. It’s usually toward the woman. “Oh, how disgusting, she’s a gold digger, she’s lazy, she can’t take care of herself, she’s trying to get famous.” I don’t hear anyone calling Kutcher or Manganiello lazy gold diggers. Sure, they may get called boy toys, but it’s meant to be more of a reflection on Moore rather than the two of them, as in, she’s probably using them for sex. When Kutcher and Moore announced their split, many comments were along the lines of “Well, she should have seen it coming, she’s too old for him. He got bored with her.”
This kind of talk needs to stop. It’s unfair to women, it’s unfair to whomever they’re allegedly dating, and it’s just mean spirited. Women can’t win in most industries, but it seems to be especially true in the entertainment industry. So how can we stop this? I say, don’t comment on TMZ or what have you. Or if you do say something, be positive. Gossip sites feed off of negativity. Remember, we don’t know what’s going on with her alleged relationship with Manganiello. Maybe they’re just hooking up. Maybe they’re really good to each other. Maybe he’s planning to dump her for me. Maybe it isn’t even true! We don’t know, and really, we shouldn’t know. Do you have other suggestions? Shout it out in the comments!
*I use “alleged” since as of this post, there are a ton of conflicting reports as to whether or not this story is true. LivLuna is not a gossip website, and does not wish to spread rumors about any of the celebrities featured, we just want to talk about the coverage surrounding them.
Update: Joe Manganiello shot down the rumors on Ryan Seacrest’s KIIS-FM radio show on June 22nd. While the story turned out to be untrue, we still think the gossip websites are rude and mean and we will keep this discussion up.
Kathleen H. Furey 