Yesterday we all had a good time discussing whether or not it was gross that a 43-year-old woman was pregnant by and engaged to a 19-year-old up-and-coming actor, Aaron Johnson. Some of you thought I was being sexist because I wouldn’t have called out an older man dating a 24-years younger girl, although, just to defend myself, I have and I will continue to do so. A 24-year age gap is crazy, despite the glowing stories of how this couple or that couple made it work. What I really found disturbing, however, was that it’s not the 24-year gap between, say, a 30 year old and a 54 year old (although that one is gross and creepy too). Aaron Johnson is 19 years old! They got together when he was 18 years old – that’s crazy to a new level.

Anyway, People Magazine seems to know that they’re gotten their hands on an interesting story, because they put up a story using some weeks-old excerpts from Sam Taylor Wood’s interview in this month’s Harper’s Bazaar (full piece here). In the piece, Sam addresses her detractors, and explains how she fell in love with the then-18-year-old Johnson:

On how she doesn‘t care: “I’ve made lots of big decisions in my life that have shocked people. I’ve never really thought of other people’s opinions, so why start now?”

On being a role model: “My friend said I’m an inspiration to women in their 40s. Let’s all make babies!” Taylor-Wood jokes of her life. “It’s a fairy tale.”

On not boning her 18-year-old actor while she was directing him: “When I was on set [on Nowhere Boy], I was working so hard that I didn’t really have the wherewithal to think about anything else.”

They became a couple last May, but she “won’t divulge any details”: “I have to keep it a secret,” she continues, though she will allow that Johnson’s proposal was “a complete surprise. He had been planning a lot longer than I had imagined. So it was incredibly romantic.”

On telling her 13-year old daughter that she was going to have a 19-year-old step-father: “When I first told [Angelica] about Aaron, she said, ‘Well, that’s so much better than some random fat bloke coming into our lives.’ I was like, ‘Why would I be with a random fat bloke?’ She’s excited about the baby. It’s all been remarkably cool and easy.”

The double standard: “The amount of men I know with the same age gap that we have — how come no one says anything about that? It’s totally sexist. I try to ignore it. In my life, I’ve never really listened to when people start forming opinions on how you should be doing things.”

Wedding plans: “So many decisions. Do we do it big and have all of our friends, or do we go small and offend all of our friends? We keep thinking about it, but then we’re like, Okay, let’s go out to dinner. That’s the thing: not to get stressed by it, or it ruins the whole event.”

And in the end: “[In] our situation, no one is hurting anyone, no one is unhappy. It’s just the outside world that feels they have to remark,” says Taylor-Wood. “And you can’t listen to it. Or else what are you going to do? Say, ‘Oh yeah, you’re so right! I should have just gone out with a random fat bloke.'”

[From Harper’s Bazaar]

I think she sounds like an a–hole. Is it just me? I get that she’s had cancer – twice – and that she probably has a much different view of mortality and life and love and seizing the day, but still, the dude is 19 years old. I could maybe do some rah-rah-sisterhood stuff if it was just a fling, or just about sex, or just a relationship that was fun for both of them. But to get engaged and pregnant… ugh. Well, I hope she has fun planning that wedding. It won’t be Aaron’s last.