Love is a many-splendored thing, especially when you’re gawking at it from the outside. In this column, we’ll be examining the celebrity couples that give us hope for our own romantic futures and trying to learn what we can from their well-documented bonds.
As far as I’m concerned, it’s always good news whenever somebody famous joins the LGBTQ+ community (except for TERFs! We don’t want you at our party! Go flood J.K. Rowling’s mentions hoping she’ll notice you!), so as you can imagine, I’m practically doing calisthenics over Pitch Perfect star Anna Camp and stylist Jade Whipkey, who confirmed their relationship back in May. Camp has previously been married to men—actors Michael Mosley and Skylar Astin, to be specific—and I don’t know precisely how she now identifies (as a lesbian? Bisexual? All-around queer?), but I’m extremely excited to have her batting for the rainbow team, so to speak.
Unfortunately, social media seems to disagree, given Camp and Whipkey have faced some backlash over their 18-year age gap. For her part, 42-year-old Camp has responded with absolute grace and aplomb, writing in a comment on Instagram: “I’ve dated men exactly my age and Jade is far more mature than any of them. We have more in common than anyone else I’ve ever dated and can literally talk about anything and everything. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and I’m wishing everyone well, especially this pride month.”
Yes, Anna! Get those immature men’s asses! Has anyone instinctively criticizing this relationship ever heard of, oh, I don’t know, Sarah Paulson and Holland Taylor?
To be clear, I’m not always a fan of the May/December dynamic, even when the May and December are both queer; that said, I think the trick to figuring out whether an age-gap relationship can work is a) actually being in it (stand down, armchair quarterbacks!) and b) gauging how emotionally mature and/or ready for a relationship the younger person in the equation is. If Whipkey were newly 18 and dating a woman double her age, sure, I might have doubts, but she’s 24!
As a proud lesbian alumna (class of ’22) and current bisexual who dated a fair number of older men—and even older women—in my single era, yes, certain challenges can arise from that arrangement. But then again, it’s kind of fun to explain TikTok home reno videos to your older paramour over drinks; and they, in turn, can come in handy when it’s time to figure out what a 401K is and what, exactly, should be in yours.