Do Cougar Couples Survive?

Do Cougar Couples Survive?

Amid rumors that Ashton Kutcher, 33, and Demi Moore, 48, have split after six years of marriage, May-December relationships still keep everyone guessing: Who chose whom? And how long will it last once buttocks sag and double chins set in? Anneli Rufus finds 15 statistics on couples far apart in age, from mortality risks to gay men’s preference for older partners.

1. Women who marry men seven to nine years their junior have a 20 percent higher mortality risk than women who marry men their own age.

Cougarship could cost you your life, according to the study that yielded this stat. “The probability of a woman marrying a much younger man rises significantly as women get older,” says psychotherapist Mira Kirshenbaum, author of I Love You But I Don’t Trust You and Too Good to Leave, Too Bad to Stay. “Twenty-four-year-old women don’t marry 15-year-old boys. The higher mortality rate may come from the fact that the women in this group are just older.”

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