An important part of life, or so many believe, is having and raising children. However, if one step of the process is removed– raising the children– the situation doesn't seem quite as pleasant. We see examples of absent parents often in the world, and especially in Hollywood where it has become a bit of a trend to have as many children as possible with as many different people as possible. However, what if being an absent parent is unavoidable? You see, being a great parent doesn’t exclude you from entering a nursing home.
Yes, today we will be talking about expecting Hollywood fathers who happen to be elderly. Of course, age gap relationships are nothing new for the rich and influential, where for most of history young spouses have been shown off as a sort of trophy: “look at the beautiful people that still want me, even at this age!” However, it appears a rather modern trend that these older people are deciding to have babies. While I do believe people can achieve anything no matter their age, having a child should not be the goal in your golden years. Conceiving a child when you are older can cause many developmental issues, both in the womb and then outside when they inevitably lose a parent early on in their lives. With that being said, let’s look at some famous old-timers having babies.
First on the docket is 83 year old Hollywood legend Al Pacino. He and his girlfriend of three years, 29 year old Noor Alfallah, welcomed a baby last month in June. He was reportedly “excited to be a dad again” after raising three (now adult) children. News outlets that have reported on this situation seem thrilled for the elderly actor with headlines like, “Al Pacino is a dad of four!” and “Al Pacino is Daddy Again”. This situation, however, seems in need of criticism, as deciding to have a child at such an age is objectively irresponsible. Unfortunately, the child will likely only have a few years to spend with his father before Alfallah must raise him on her own. It is surely not a fun thing to think about, but it is something that will be pivotal to the child's upbringing.
Credit: Hollywood Life
Around the same time, it was also announced that Robert De Niro, another Hollywood legend and good friend of Al Pacino, was expecting a baby. He and girlfriend of two years, 45 year old Tiffany Chen, were apparently “over the moon” about the child. Although the age gap between De Niro and Chen is much smaller compared to that of Pacino and Alfallah, the headlines about the pregnancy aren’t quite as uplifting: “Robert De Niro Says His 6 Older Kids Haven't Met Their Baby Sibling Yet” or “Robert De Niro, 79, and girlfriend Tiffany Chen, 45, too tired to smile after welcoming baby”. But again, nothing that comments on the baby’s future and the short time she will have with her father.
The last man I’d like to look at is the immensely popular Mick Jagger, who is perhaps the most well known example of the elderly-dad trend. The 80 year old singer had his most recent child in 2016, when he was 73 and his girlfriend, Melanie Hamrick, was 29. To put this into perspective, Jagger had his first child fifty two years ago, in 1970, and has since then had seven more kids with five different women. Therefore, not only will he end up being an absent father to his youngest son, but he’s already been rather absent in the lives of seven other children over half a century.
Credit: Today Show
Although these are just a few examples, there are many more to be found in the public sphere like with Leonardo Dicaprio, who famously doesn’t date women over 25, or Nick Cannon, who has twelve children with six different women (who are all younger by a decade or so). As I asked in the introduction to this article, why is this a trend? There is an aspect of showing off, but why else? Is it possible that these men are only attracted to women who were babies when they were already adults? And why decide to have children when you are aware you won’t last long? Perhaps this is a way for them to feel younger, or maybe they genuinely have the desire to be parents. Either way, it is objectively irresponsible, and not something that should be normalized. Maybe pick up golf instead?
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