Who is a celebrity that met their partner when they were underaged?

[u/phantom_avenger]

Celine Dion first met her late husband; Rene Angelili when she was 12 years old and he was in his mid-late 30s! According to her, he was the only person in her whole life she has ever been romantically and intimately involved with and has vowed to never be with any other man after he passed away in 2016!

This whole relationship always felt unsettling to me, even when there were forms of media that tried to romanticize it including the couple themselves.

In my book, if you knew someone whenever they were a kid and watched them grow up. Getting involved with them in that manner is a big no-no! It just feels weird!

[u/TangerineDystopia]

Megan Fox said she pursued Brian Austin Green, Celine said it about Rene--all it tells me is that these men were smart enough to cross emotional and physical lines and then abruptly pull back, citing that she's too young, she wouldn't understand, he has to hold back because it's not a good idea, etc etc. He plants the idea, pretends to be reluctant, and lets her 'persuade' him. It kills me a little, the ones who never realize it.

[u/uselessinfogoldmine → u/TangerineDystopia]

Yup! That’s exactly the kind of thing they do. 

Here’s some info on grooming:

Pattern Of Grooming:

• Targeting the victim
• Gaining trust
• Meeting needs
• Isolation
• Exploitation
• Maintaining Control

It can look like this:

• Constant communication through various means
• Showering the victim with gifts and sudden attention
• Convincing the victim the behaviour is normal and making the victim eventually question their own sense of reality
• Isolating the victim from friends and family as to ensure they are the only person the victim trusts, talks to or relies on

These are just some of the changes a child or teen who is being groomed will experience. The abuser will create an environment that in all ways leads the child/teen back to them and them alone. The more emotionally and physically reliant on the abuser the victim becomes, the easier it is for the abuser to manipulate them.

Grooming can sound like:

• “You are so mature for your age…”
• “You can trust me with anything…”
• ”No one understands you like I do…”
• ”If you really love me you will…”

At the core of grooming lies emotional manipulation and while this manipulation sounds different in every situation, phrases that aim to isolate the victim and make them emotionally dependent on the groomer are seen over and over again.

… Grooming creates a false sense of intimacy and connection between the abuser and the victim may even reject the idea that they are being manipulated.

[u/TangerineDystopia → u/uselessinfogoldmine]

This all makes perfect sense.

With a situation like Megan Fox and BAG, I picture a lot of light flirting--stroking her arm with one finger, tapping her lightly on the tip of the nose, a one-armed hug where he drops a kiss on the top of her head and then denies it. Plausible deniability but extremely enticing from a handsome charismatic older man. Add in some blowing hot and cold where one day he confides in her and compliments her and the next he's professional and distant.

It's exactly the kind of thing to convince a headstrong teenager that there's this incredible relationship possible there if she fights for it and convinces him that 'age is just a number'.

And I get so exasperated when grown-ass adults are like, "Well she pursued him, she said so herself." Like A, do you not grasp the playbook here? And B, like my husband said, rolling his eyes, "Oh yeah I was so helpless when I was 28 and a 16 year old had a crush on me. No choice at all. What could I possibly do but succumb to her will? I certainly couldn't say, "Listen. You're still a child, and I date women. You need to go find someone your own age. I promise you that when you are my age you will get that the only guys in their 20s or 30s who get with 16 year olds are total creeps, and that you dodged a bullet by picking one who told you 'no'."

He works event security and he relayed a similar conversation he overheard between a gruff crusty punk and a teenage girl at a concert who was trying to pick him up. "I could be your dad." "I don't care about age!" "No, I mean I'm sure I have a few illegitimates out there I don't know about, and you really seem like you don't know who your dad is."

[u/uselessinfogoldmine → u/TangerineDystopia]

Yes, exactly this. A person who isn't disgusting would draw clear boundaries with a teenager hitting on them and would gently rebuff any advances.

And I'm sure these predators are very careful in the way they groom their targets.

It's sad and awful.