Vogue Williams calls out Anthony Kiedis for dating 19-year-old when he was 50
www.the-independent.com
The Red Hot Chili Peppers musician began dating Helena Vestergaard in 2013

The musician started dating Australian model Helena Vestergaard in 2013, and they split after being together for approximately two years.

Before that, Kiedis, now 63, had a relationship with Heather Christie, who was 22 years his junior. When the pair welcomed their son, Everly Bear, in 2007, Kiedis was 44 and his partner was 21.

In the latest episode of My Therapist Ghosted Me, Williams and her co-host Joanne McNally discussed age-gap relationships, with the former I’m a Celebrity campmate saying: “Do you know who else I find really disappointing, because I really like the Red Hot Chili Peppers? Anthony Kiedis.”

Seemingly referring to his romance with Vestergaard, Williams continued: “He is like 54 or something, and he is going out with a 19-year-old. And it is like, ‘Dude, what are you talking about?’”

McNally replied: “I’ve seen this. I just accept now that most men, all men, are drawn to – I’m going to be very careful how I say this – significantly younger women. That’s all I’m going to say. It is what it is and I don’t think there’s any getting away from it. We judge it but it’s not going to change.”

“I would have to say that it is not all men,” Williams continued. “Because I do think it is a very specific thing.”

Addressing why younger women might decide to date older men, McNally added: “And of course, people like him [Anthony Kiedis] and rockstars like him can get away with it because no 19-year-old girl wants to be going out with some old lad who is driving a Toyota Corolla around town.

  • lathEnglish
    1110·
    19 days ago

    Is 19 year old girls looking to date older men because they’re more “mature” and provide more stability a choice or a biological urge? Are they even allowed to make that choice if it one? Or is it a decision others have to make for them?

    • keiko@fedia.io
      1210·
      19 days ago

      It seems that some people believe romantic/sexual relationships with large age-gaps are inherently predatory and that it’s the responsibility of the older party in the would-be relationship to infantilize the younger one. Idk how else to explain it than that.

      • velma@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
        181·
        19 days ago

        It’s the responsibility of the older party to not prioritize their selfish wants over the well-being of a young person.

        • keiko@fedia.io
          711·
          19 days ago

          It is the responsibility of consenting adults to prioritize their wants and needs while making sure that everyone involved is also consenting. Your comments suggest that people should be expected to infantilize people due to age-gaps. That is wildly unreasonable.

          • velma@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
            14·
            19 days ago

            Have you ever heard of the campsite rule when it comes to relationships?

            Dan Savage’s “campsite rule” states that if you are in a sexual relationship with someone significantly younger or less experienced, you must leave them in at least as good a physical and emotional state as you found them.

            There’s room for age-gap relationships to be healthy.

            I don’t think a man who has bragged about raping a 14 year old is having healthy relationships with 19 year olds.

            • captainlezbianEnglish
              6·
              19 days ago

              Yeah, in my mid-late 20s I occasionally went for cougars (the largest age gap was a little over 20 years, I was her daughter’s age). I was old enough and stable enough for it to never be this predatory situation. Someone who typically goes for their own age, but is able to be seduced by a grown and stable adult who’s younger than they would consider their age range and is watching out to make sure they don’t take advantage is fundamentally very different than someone who keeps getting older and keeps dating people freshly legal. Or as is this man’s case, eventually his type moves up to being legal.

              I’m a huge supporter of young people’s autonomy. I think the age of consent should remain 18. I believe that the main concerning power differential at that age range is legal adulthood and the powers it conveys. But preferring barely legal means I have to assume someone would go younger if they could. And those who make a habit of going for people new to legal and social adulthood can’t be comfortably given the benefit of the doubt.

              Like, I know several people who’ve had good relationships/flings with people with a significant age gap, and some who’ve had horrible ones and it’s not hard to tell which will go which way. The main questions are maturity (honestly of both parties) and who’s driving the relationship forward (should be the younger person).

              • velma@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
                6·
                19 days ago

                This is incredibly well said.

                I know that age-gap relationships are more common in queer communities, hence the quote from Dan Savage. And they can be healthy! But it takes a lot of conscious work to keep them healthy on both sides.

                And of course, Kiedis here is a pedophile.