Stars Who Left Their Husbands For Younger Men

Famous men aren't the only ones looking for newer models. These female celebs ditched their spouses in favor of going the cougar route. More power to them!

Madonna and Guy Ritchie announced their divorce in November 2008 after months of speculation that the marriage was over. Then 40, Ritchie was already 10 years younger than then-50-year-old Madonna, but she still rebounded with men even younger than he was: Within weeks of announcing the split, The Daily Mail reported that she was publicly canoodling with Alex Rodriguez, who was 33 at the time — though they'd been rumored to be hooking up for months before her separation from Ritchie.

Even A-Rod wasn't young enough, however: She was reportedly dating model Jesus Luz at the same time — he was 22 years old at the time, and Madge was 14 years older than his mom. She later moved on to Brahim Zaibat, who is 24 years younger than she is.

She said of her relationship with Zaibat in 2012, "I didn't choose to, you know — I didn't, like, write down on a piece of paper 'I'm now going to have a relationship with a younger man.' That's just what happened. You see, that's the romantic in me. I just met someone that I cared for, and this happened to be his age."

In January 2017, she told Harper's Bazaar of her penchant for youthful gents, "I've created a very unconventional family. I have lovers who are three decades younger than me. This makes people very uncomfortable. I feel like everything I do makes people feel really uncomfortable."

Robin Wright was stuck in a tumultuous marriage with Sean Penn for 13 years until they divorced in 2010. He rebounded with several young starlets, including Petra Nemcova and Scarlett Johansson, but Penn wasn't alone. Wright quickly moved on with actor Ben Foster, who's 15 years her junior. The pair were together for more than three years and engaged for a year before they split for good in August 2015.

Before the split, Wright told Vanity Fair of her May-December relationship, "I was pregnant and ostensibly married at 24. You hear people say how they have 'arrived,' but it was just always there, waiting to come out. For me, it just took a long time. I'm 48. I'm finally a person. I think I'm finally ready." She added, "I've never been happier in my life than I am today. Perhaps it's not ladylike [to say], but I've never laughed more, read more, or come more than with Ben. He inspires me to be the best of myself. There's so much to learn. It's endless. How great! It took me a long time to grow up. Love is possible as life is possible."

Director Sam Taylor-Johnson (then known as Sam Taylor-Wood) was 42 years old and married to art dealer Jay Jopling when she met 17-year-old actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson (then known as Aaron Johnson) on the set of Nowhere Boy (2009) in 2008. Johnson turned 18 in June 2008. By September 2008, The Telegraph reported that Sam and Jopling's marriage was over. While they both denied anyone else was involved in the dissolution of their relationship, Wood gave birth to Johnson's first child, daughter Wylda, in July 2010. They welcomed their second daughter, Romy, in 2012, after which they got married and hyphenated their last names.

Sam told The Hollywood Reporter of the relationship, "If I gave a second thought to other people, I would be the unhappiest person, probably still in a miserable marriage. People like to talk about it. I'm like, 'Yeah, but it works better than my last marriage.' It's lasted longer than a lot of my friends' marriages."

Aaron, meanwhile, told the U.K.'s Sunday Times, "I don't engage with [talk about the age gap]. At an early age when I saw articles, it just f***ed me up ... What does it even f***ing matter about our age? I never noticed it when we fell in love with each other. And I don't notice it now ... We just instinctively gel ... People who know me call me Benjamin Button — they think I'm an old soul and she's a young soul."

Tilda Swinton went from a much older man to a much younger one. The actress was in a relationship with Scottish playwright and artist John Byrne, who's 20 years older, from 1989 until 2003; the couple are parents to twins. After the split, Swinton began dating German artist Sandro Kopp, who's 18 years younger than her. Five years later, Kopp moved into the home she and Byrne still shared. They all co-habited pretty happily for a while until Byrne eventually moved out.

Swinton explained to The Daily Mail of the seemingly unconventional arrangement, "It's all quite boring really. The father of my children and I are good friends and I'm now in a very happy other relationship. And we're all really good friends. It's a very happy situation. Life doesn't have to be complicated. You just have to have compassion with yourself and stop blaming yourself when things do get complicated."

After divorcing husband Sonny Bono, who was 11 years older than her, in 1975, Cher took up with a series of men who got younger and younger: First with southern rocker Gregg Allman, who was two years younger. They married almost immediately and were together for four years, when she met musician Les Dudek, The Daily Mail reported. Dudek is six years Cher's junior, but the romance didn't last: She moved on to hockey player Ron Duguay, who's 10 years younger than her, but the relationship only lasted for a month. She then dated Kiss rocker Gene Simmons, who's four years her junior, followed by Val Kilmer, who's 14 years younger, for nine months, then Tom Cruise, 16 years her junior, for six months in 1985. She then dated movie mogul Josh Donen, who's 11 years younger than her, from 1985 to 1987, followed by Rob "Bagel Boy" Camilletti, 18 years her junior, from 1986 to 1989. When that fizzled, she dated Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora, 13 years her junior, for six months in 1989.

After a brief fling with Eric Clapton, who's actually one year older than her, Cher moved on with biker Tim Medvetz, who's 24 years younger, off and on from 2008 to 2012.