Wendi Deng is 47 years old, a Chinese-American businesswoman, and the ex-wife of 85-year-old media mogul Rupert Murdoch.
Back when she married Murdoch in 1999, she proved to the world that when it comes to relationships, age is just a number.
And since divorcing in 2013, she’s doing it all over again. Only now, with a much younger man — 64 years younger than her ex-husband, in fact.
Recent photos published in the British tabloids show Deng strolling along the beach hand-in-hand with Bertold Zahoran, a 21-year-old Hungarian model. He is believed to be her current boyfriend – and they certainly look smitten.
This isn’t the first time Deng has dated someone younger since breaking it off with Murdoch – who, for his part, married 59-year-old model and actress Jerry Hall this year.
Previously, Deng was cosy with 30-year-old British classical violinist Charlie Siem.
Deng and Zahoran have been seen together since May, according to the Daily Mail. First at supermodel Naomi Campbell’s birthday party in New York and then at an exhibition in November.
Their most recent public outing together was on the beach at the luxurious holiday destination, St Barts.
We love this. And not because it’s in any way juicy or worthy of applause to see an older woman with a younger man. She did not “score” this guy. Let’s not reduce them to a “cougar” and a “toy boy”.
The heart really does not care whether someone is younger or older. Deng is a champion and we are stoked to see her out post-divorce, enjoying her life and unapologetically dating whoever the heck she wants.
Singer Mariah Carey, 46, has been in a similar situation with her rumoured boyfriend, 33-year-old dancer Bryan Tanaka.
Carey recently broke up with her fiance, Aussie billionaire James Packer. She was shortly after spotted with Tanaka who did nothing to halt the speculation, telling Entertainment Tonight during an interview ahead of the debut of Carey's reality TV show Mariah's World, "I've always had a thing for Mariah. I love her so much. Just make sure you tune in to the show and you'll see kind of how everything happens."
They have since been photographed kissing on a beach.
While the archaic stereotype is to have older, rich men dating younger women, it's good to see the scales balancing and the stereotype being well and truly stomped on.
Both men and women are demonstrating that when it comes to love, age is only one minor consideration.
At a certain point, we all become aware of how difficult a healthy relationship can be to maintain. When you find something special, with whoever it might be, age just doesn't matter.
Well played, Wendi.
Dating sure has changed. Listen to Madison Messina explain to Carla the new dating status "monogamish".
Top Comments
Relationships like these are novel, while it's great to be hopeful the reality from research paints a grim picture.
From the Huffington Post - A recent study by Emory University polled data compiled from 3000 married and recently divorced couples. Various indices were used to predict relationship success. One of them was the age gap between partners. A one-year discrepancy in a couple’s ages, the study found, makes them 3 percent more likely to divorce (when compared to their same-aged counterparts); a 5-year difference, however, makes them 18 percent more likely to split up. And a 10-year difference makes them 39 percent more likely. Once you enter large-gap territory, the 20-year difference and the 30-year difference, the odds of divorce are huge.
How much did she make in her divorce settlement? This is money grabbing. Were the genders reversed (as they generally are) we'd proclaim as much anyway... Let's not exhibit double standards.
On the other hand we could applaud ALL relationships with big age gaps regardless of which gender is at the older end of the scale. Kind of like minding our own business and accepting they are both adults that can make their own decisions.