[user104658]

My dad (who is 65+) is married to someone who is in her early 40's, they met when he was about 60 and she was in her mid 30's ... I have to admit I find it a little odd in the sense of ... why on earth is she attracted to my dad who is neither rich nor "young for his age" - he's genuinely pushing "little old man" status at this point. I mean, he's not poor, but he retired in his late 50's and is well into his pension pot already . Plus she's on about £50k herself and has no kids so it's not about that .

So yeah. I don't really "get it" and it's odd that someone who is technically my "stepmother" is basically the same age as my sister ... but I don't find their relationship creepy ... because again, it's not about the GAP so much as the AGE. Someone pushing 40 clearly knows what they're doing. Even over about 25, I'd still find it pretty strange, but there's a pretty big difference between a 25 year old and an 18 year old. I would genuinely always worry about the motivations of a GROWN UP adult (anyone over about 30) getting into a relationship with an 18 year old just out of school. It just feels like a huge imbalance in terms of life experience, and that sadly often ends up being controlling, and I think that's probably a large part of the appeal for many of these older partners.