‘The View’ Debates Age Gap Love Amidst Harry Styles, Olivia Wilde Dating Backlash

Is age really just a number? On today’s episode of The View, the hosts discussed the backlash that Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde‘s relationship has received based on their 10-year age difference, and debated whether age gap relationships are worth criticizing, anyway.

“Are people making a big deal because the woman is 10 years older here?” Joy Behar asked. “When it’s a guy who’s 70 and dating an embryo, no one blinks.”

Guest host Laverne Cox voiced her support for Wilde and Styles, noting that her own boyfriend is 22 years younger than her. “Get your life, girl,” the 49-year-old actress said. “I feel like Zoomers, particularly, are so much more open-minded. And so many men my age don’t date women my age.”

But Sunny Hostin questioned what age gap couples even talk about, given her experience parenting her 19-year-old son. “Sometimes we talk, and I’m like, ‘You don’t know anything,'” she said. “If he dated someone my age, what would they possibly have in common?” Hostin admitted that she would make an exception for Michael B. Jordan, but honestly, who wouldn’t?

After Sara Haines shared she only thought about her significantly older ex-boyfriend’s age when she had to explain her relationship to people, guest host Ana Navarro chimed in: “Unless they’re paying my mortgage or my grocery bill, I don’t gotta explain to you how old my man is!”

“If a guy is great in the sack, who cares how old he is?” Behar added. “There’s a certain advantage to having a younger husband. Because when you’re old, he’s wheeling around. You’re not wheeling him around.”

Viewers will have to wait and see if Navarro takes Behar’s words to heart. “In my old age, I reserve the right to have [a husband] that’s half my age, and I don’t want any of you critiquing me!” she exclaimed. “I don’t care!”

The View airs weekdays at 11/10c on ABC.

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