Madonna's Dating History Actually Shares Similarities To Leonardo DiCaprio's
Leonardo DiCaprio made headlines in a way he often does: His newest rumored girlfriend is, you guessed it, younger than 25 years old (yet again). Even though some sources are saying Eden Polani — the 19-year-old model seen with DiCaprio at the end of January — isn't his newest girlfriend, the news took the internet into a chokehold. Comparisons to "The Last of Us" actors Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey's age gap (per The Independent) and "Stranger Things" stars David Harbor and Millie Bobby Brown's ages came up (per BuzzFeed News). Essentially, everyone agreed that all those age gaps seem absurd and more than a little creepy. However, one celebrity with who DiCaprio shares a dating history pattern is none other than Madonna.
While Madonna's dating history isn't linked to a "rule" like the "Titanic" star is — all of his girlfriends never seem to be older than 25 — she does have a history of dating men with who she has a large age gap. This doesn't include any of her relationships before 2008, though. Madonna's first marriage to actor Sean Penn was in 1985, on the singer's 27th birthday. Penn had turned 25 years old a few months prior. After they divorced in 1989, she was with Carlos Leon from 1995 to 1997, resulting in the birth of her oldest child, Lourdes Leon. And even though her second (and last) husband, director Guy Ritchie, was almost exactly 10 years younger than her, her partners would be much younger from then on.
Madonna reportedly wants to date men younger than her daughter
Madonna divorced her then-husband Guy Ritchie in 2008, and he was 10 years younger than the singer. She then dated Alex Rodriguez who was 17 years younger than she was. However, since then, she's dated men that were at least 28 years younger than her and she hasn't steered clear of that range. Her last boyfriend was Ahlamalik Williams, who was 41 years younger than her. They were together for three years before their breakup.
And why does Madonna stick to a very strict (and large) age gap? "She likes the idea of a guy being younger than her daughter," a source told The Post, via Page Six. "It announces her desirability to the world. Some people may see her as a vampire, feeding off of the young, but, in her mind, she is forever youthful and this helps to prove it." Madonna's daughter, Lourdes Leon, is turning 27 in 2023. So, if the man was born after 1996, it's apparently fair game for the "Like a Virgin" singer. Her current partner is reportedly 23-year-old Andrew Darnell, who she was "casually dating" as of September 2022.
Madonna has no issues with what people think of her dating habits
So, just like Leonardo DiCaprio, Madonna dates people much younger than herself. But unlike DiCaprio, she's acknowledged that she knows exactly how the world views her dating habits. "I have lovers who are three decades younger than me. This makes people very uncomfortable," she told Harper's Bazaar in 2017. "I feel like everything I do makes people feel really uncomfortable." Just like that handy little graphic someone on Reddit made that shows Leo's dating pattern, Page Six has a graph for Madonna. It shows that, since 2008, Madonna has dated men that are between 28 and 41 years younger than her. They're all either dancers or models, with their ages ranging from 21 (when she was 50) to 33 (when she was 61).
Even though her goal is to supposedly date men younger than her daughter, Lourdes Leon, it wasn't always purposeful. "It's just what happens," Madonna told the New York Daily News in 2015. "Most men my age are married with children. They're not datable. I'm a very adventurous person and I also have a crazy life." She noted that as THE Madonna, who's also a single mother of four kids (at the time), men "have to be pretty open-minded and adventurous to want to step into [her] world." She wants a younger partner for their flexibility in being adventurous, something older men might not be.