Showbiz ladies and their younger models

Why should seedy old men have the monopoly on snaring partners half their age? From Demi Moore to Madonna, Barbara Windsor to Joan Collins, we look at A-list ladies who have caught themselves a toy boy

Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher

Age difference: 15 years

Never shy to court controversy, and, it would seem, engaged in a constant fight to defy the ageing process, 45-year-old Moore married semi-famous actor Kutcher in 2005.
Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin

Age difference: 5 years

Okay, so not a scandalously vast age gap here but enough to prompt the odd call of 'you go girl!' to Gwyneth next time you see her popping down to the supermarket in Belsize Park.

Having previously had a high-profile romance with Brad Pitt as well as flings with Ben Affleck and Luke Wilson, Paltrow married Coldplay singer Chris Martin in 2003.

The pair have two children, Apple, 3, and Moses, 1.
Madonna and Guy Ritchie

Age difference: 10 years

Having spent most of her young adult life moulding herself into the most successful female artist of all time while dating the likes of Sean Penn, Warren Beatty and Dennis Rodman, Madonna finally decided to settle down with a moderately successful film director from Hatfield called Guy.

They met through mutual friends Sting and Trudie Styler before getting married in 2000.

The pair and their three children divide their time between a house in Marylebone and a country estate in Wiltshire.
Courtney Cox and David Arquette

Age difference: 7 years

Best known for her role as Monica Geller in Friends, Courtney got together with David after they met on the set of slasher film Scream.

They got married in 1999 and had their first child, Coco Riley Arquette, in 2004.
Hugh Jackman and Deborah Lee-Furness

Age difference: 9 years

X-men star Hugh Jackman and Australian-born actress Deborah Lee-Furness have proved that an age gap of almost a decade is no obstacle to a long and happy marriage.

The pair got wed in 1996, so in Hollywood terms are genuine veterans of married life.
Sir Elton John and David Furnish

Age difference: 12 years

Elton and former filmmaker David got together after meeting at a dinner party in 1993.

Some 12 years later Elton proposed and they were joined in a civil partnership on 21 December 2005, the first day such unions could be performed in the UK.

Elton was, of course, married before but we won't go there...
Joan Collins and Percy Gibson

Age difference: 32 years

Joan, 74, didn't let the small matter of four previous failed marriages get in the way of her tying the knot with American actor Percy in 2002.

Asked by a journalist about the age difference, Collins famously replied: 'If he dies, he dies.'
Tilda Swinton and Sandro Kopp

Age difference: 18 years

This is a bit of a strange one, so stay with me...

Bafta-winning actress Tilda, 47, herself took on the role of younger model when she got together with artist John Byrne, who is 20 years her senior, in 1985.

The pair have 10-year-old twins and live in a grand mansion on the banks of the Moray Firth...

...along, according to The Daily Mail (I had to put that in), with good-looking, German-born artist and actor Sandro Kopp.

Eh?

Yep, rather than bin the old man in favour of the 'more mobile' of the two, Tilda decided to keep hold of both of them when she met Kopp on the set of The Chronicles of Narnia.

Good work that girl!
Barbara Windsor and Scott Mitchell

Age difference: 26 years

Babs was previously married to career criminal Ronnie Knight and is rumoured to have had affairs with Reggie Kray and Sid James.

Having gone off jailbirds and slimy old men she settled on the unknown, but much, much younger, Scott Mitchell.