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Relationships : Dating, Sex, & Love

500 Years of Cougar History

A timeline of cougar-cub love.

By the MORE Cougar Café Editors

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1533-1603 Queen Elizabeth I

She may have been the Virgin Queen, but that didn’t stop Liz from lusting after several of her young courtiers. Whether those passions were consummated is anybody’s guess, but we’re basing our judgment on that sly smile in her portrait.
Time & LIfe Pictures/Getty Images

1726-1796 Catherine the Great

Reports of her sexual rapaciousness may have been exaggerated, but the fierce and feisty Russian empress enjoyed a string of younger male companions, with the age difference ranging as high as 40 years.
Getty Images

1893-1980 Mae West

Younger men. Older men. In-between men. She done ‘em all and made the world safe for bawdy broads. Go West, young man, indeed. To buy the movie on Amazon.

1920 Colette’s "Chéri"

In her books Chéri and The Last of Chéri, Colette tells the story of an aging courtesan and the younger lover who pines for her. (The tale was recently made into a film starring Michelle Pfeiffer.) In real life, Colette scandalized Paris by, among other things, having an affair with her stepson. To buy from Powell’s Books.

1950 Sunset Boulevard

Killer cougar! OK, not the most flattering portrayal. But a great film, and we like it when Joe Gillis (Bill Holden) tells Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) to get over herself, because "there’s nothing tragic about being fifty . . . " To buy on Amazon.

1967 Mrs. Robinson

The year The Graduate was released, Dustin Hoffman was 30 years old. And Anne Bancroft, who played that predatory older woman? 36. Yes, you read that right. To buy on Amazon.

1971 Harold and Maude

No, not that Maude-though Bea Arthur would surely have been epic in this cult classic about a January-December romance. To buy on Amazon.

1971 Maggie May

"All you did was wreck my bed, and in the morning kick me in the head." Damn, that’s cold. Rod Stewart’s classic. To buy on Amazon.

1983 Mary Tyler Moore

When America’s sunny TV sweetheart married Dr. Robert Levine, a cardiologist 15 years her junior, this type of match was still relatively uncommon. But the couple is still together, evidence that they were "gonna make it after all."
Photo by Tom Walck/ PR Photos

1984 Hot For Teacher

Maggie may have lured her cub away from the classroom, but the protagonist of this Van Halen hit wants to get schooled, ‘cause he’s "got it bad, bad, bad . . . " To buy on Amazon.

1986 Cher and the "Bagel Boy"

Cher made headlines with her intense affair with actor/bartender/ bagel maker Rob Camilletti, a cool 22 to her 40. The relationship lasted for several years. (Bonus points: Cher recently revealed that she also spent some 1980s quality time with 16-years-younger-than-she Tom Cruise. She got them, babe.)
WireImage

1991 Liz Taylor

Just when we thought La Liz’s wedding marches couldn’t get any wilder (though hey, we’d have married Richard twice, too), she up and weds construction worker Larry Fortensky-in a ceremony at Neverland! They met in rehab. He was 20 years younger; the union lasted five years.
Getty Images

1996 How Stella Got Her Groove Back

Divorcée Stella Payne finds new love (and hot, hot sex) in Jamaica with a stud half her age. Author Terry McMillan’s love life, not so groovy: Her marriage to a younger man ended when he announced he was gay. To buy on Amazon

1998 Kim Cattrall

Her Samantha on Sex and the City was a breath of hilariously foul language and bawdy sexcapades. Bonus points: Catrall has enjoyed relationships with younger men off-screen as well as on.
Photo by Scott Alan/ PR Photos.

1999 Stifler’s Mom

Ah, American Pie. The term MILF had been used before then, but it was Jennifer Coolidge’s character in this film who, for better or worse, put MILF on the map. To buy the movie on Amazon.
Photo by Eric Shimonhata/ PR Photos.

2002 Joan Colllins

Collins had four previous husbands before marching down the aisle with theatrical-company manager Percy Gibson. Fifth time-and a 32-year age difference-must be the charm.
Photo by Albert L. Ortega/ PR Photos.

2003 Stacy’s Mom

Not to be outdone by Jennifer Coolidge, Rachel Hunter lets her MILF flag fly in this iconic video for the Fountains of Wayne hit. To buy the CD on Amazon.

2004 Desperate Housewives

Gabby and the gardener!
ABC/ Ron Tom

2008 Ellen DeGeneres

Why should male cubs have all the fun? Ellen DeGeneres’s bride, Portia de Rossi, knows a fabulous (older) woman when she sees one.
Photo by Albert L. Ortega/ PR Photos.

2008 Cougar Den

Saturday Night Live‘s hilarious mock talk show debuted the night Ashton Kutcher hosted. Coincidence?

2009 Cougar Town

Courteney Cox as a single-mom fox on the hunt.
ABC/Micheal Desmond

2009 Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins Call it Quits

Noooo, say it isn’t so! Still, they had a great, 23-year run. Sarandon has denied rumors of a new relationship with her 31-year-old business partner.
Photo by Albert L. Ortega/ PR Photos.

2010 Demi and Ashton, Still Going Strong

Ain’t they tweet? We can only hope the rumors of trouble in paradise turn out to be untrue. Next: Cougar Bait-32 Younger Men We Love
Photo by Albert L. Ortega/ PR Photos.

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