19 thoughts on “An April-October Marriage”

  1. Meh. This is exceptional only recently in human history. Color me unimpressed.

    Well, except for the manager — most impressive, sir.

  2. If she was one year younger, this would not be legal, as is the legal system does not consider her mature enough to make such decisions on her own (required parental consent).

    51 and 5 foot six – short man syndrome?

    How does marriage make it any better, the odds of this marriage lasting are remote to say the least. Then again, get them young enough and turn them into a chattel and such relationships can last – as Garrido demonstrated with Jaycee Dugard…

    This one is borderline, even for Hollywood.

  3. While I agree with Titus that it’s only been about a century that teenage brides have been considered inappropriate; I’m not impressed that the parents are somehow good and progressive. Any reasonably intelligent man with the wisdom of 30 plus years can probably pick an attractive looking 14-16 year old girl and, given the opportunity, talk her into bed and out of her virginity without complaint. It’s not that hard.

  4. I’m not impressed that the parents are somehow good and progressive.

    Oh, agreed. It’s probably hard for them to see clearly with all the dollar $igns in their eyes. I’d be surprised if this PYT isn’t thoroughly Lohanized before age 20, but you never know. I mean, I can’t blame the guy for wanting to legally tap fine 16 y.o. booty, and women his age are likely infected with Femnazi memes. I hope works out well for them.

  5. I’m not saying you can pick any girl, but it’s not hard to figure out a vulnerable person’s insecurities and work them. Not too difficult to find a vulnerable teenager that also is attractive. Stories exist all over with Pete providing an excellent example. One can even do it in mass and call themselves Christian, see David Koresh.

  6. Why is this anyone’s business?

    She is barely legal to marry even with parental consent, just a year out of statutory rape, and such laws are there for a reason. We are no longer, presumably, in the dark ages (or the middle east) where girls are married off young to men many years their senior and into a life of servitude and sexual slavery. Sure this was the historical norm, and so people do not seem to get that upset about it, but this does not make it acceptable in this day and age. At the age of sixteen she is not mature enough to vote, drink alcohol, serve in the military, etc., yet she is old enough to marry, have children of her own, and commit herself to a life that will likely make no sense to her in another few years when she is a little more mature.

    She is still mostly a minor, as such the rest of us have a duty of care to protect her from exploitation, like any other weak and vulnerable members of society who are open to exploitation by predators in our midst.

  7. It was NOT all that unusual 100 years ago, that’s true. But as time goes on, ideas and laws and morals change. Currently, this seems creepy to us.

    Here’s what I don’t understand about ‘relationships’ like this. Is she exceptionally sophisticated? Or is he just a big kid? If not, this won’t last long. She’ll be tweeting her friends soon enough.

    “OMG, dougie is such a STIM I want to go shpng he says NO we need to wrk he ttly sucks!”

  8. She is still mostly a minor, as such the rest of us have a duty of care to protect her from exploitation, like any other weak and vulnerable members of society who are open to exploitation by predators in our midst.

    I call bullshit. No laws are being broken. I have no “duty” towards her and neither do you. Her family is OK with it. It’s none of your business, nor mine, nor anybody else’s.

  9. That is a rather literal reading of the law. It is quite possible to act within the law and yet still act in a rather immoral manner that does significant harm to those around you. The law is necessarily only an approximation and an attempt to limit the harm done by such immoral behavior.

    What is the intention of the law of statutory rape? Is this case getting close to that circumstance? Do you think this circumstance morally questionable to any extent?

  10. Ed, I get your point, but I do hope you get Pete’s. I don’t think Pete plans on pushing criminal charges, signing petitions, or starting boycotts to call attention to the girl’s plight. Still, this relationship began at 14, and if the man and the daughter had sex at that time; it can be against the law (don’t know the specifics of that state, and don’t care, but I know my state). If the parents don’t care, then the state and people have decided that they might want to protect the girl.

    To give another example, I was on a jury for a case in which a man and woman adopted a young girl, and then the man molested the child for years. So when you say, “Her family is OK with it.” is meaningless to me.

    That said, if the lady in Rand’s linked article is happy, then I’m fine letting her and husband be. I got bigger stuff to worry about then her acting career and his inability to converse with mature women.

  11. From wikipedia:
    California
    The age of consent is 18, with a misdemeanor if the minor has 3 or fewer years of difference with the major, and potentially a felony if the major is more than 3 years older. It is worth emphasizing that unlike most other states, the close-in-age rule in California (3 years) do not provide an exception nor provide any defense; it merely lowers the crime to a misdemeanor. Under this law, two minors of the same age could both be prosecuted. Penalties increase if the minor is under 16 and the major is above 21 or if the minor is more than 3 years younger.[42]

  12. Leland, I do see Pete’s point and it has some merit – if one is dealing with hypotheticals. However, this isn’t a hypothetical, and none of us are close to these people. They are already married, so presumably they had to stand before a Justice of the Peace or religious leader, who would without a doubt asked all the pertinent questions before agreeing to perform the ceremony. It’s no more anybody’s business now than it was when Anna Nicole Smith married whatzhisname. That’s what the whole “speak now or forever hold your peace” part is about.

  13. At the end of the day, her parents abdicated their responsibility as it exists in the 21st Century, given our laws and the current attitude about a marriage like this. I expect the fact that this is a “Hollywood” style marriage says a lot.

    If this 51 y/o showed up a Johnny Bob and Marlene’s house, in Anywhereville, TX, looking for their 16 y/o, HS Junior, Cheerleader daughter, JB would’a chased him off with small pieces of lead hurled at high speed!

    JB’s my kinda guy for what it’s worth.

    Even if this young girl is talented, even quite talented, it says little about HER emotional age. For that matter, I question his too.

    Maybe we need Michael Clarke Duncan to drop by the new love nest. Soon. Or often.

  14. It’s none of your business, nor mine, nor anybody else’s.

    If it were just about sex, that might be true. But it’s also about children, you know. And the rest of us do have an interest in seeing that the potential children here are treated right. They are not in a position to give consent, not being born yet, and roughly speaking the rest of us must stand in as a proxy for them.

  15. Ed,

    Glad you agree on the hypothetical. I do think at this point, the only interest is curiousity about other’s affairs.

    Alas, the parents have now completely abdicated their legal rights. If the couple is indeed legally married, then the 51 yr old husband is now next of kin, and the parents no longer have fiduciary or medical say in their daughter’s wellbeing.

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