About two seconds after Kaia Gerber turned 18 years old, Pete Davidson dumped Margaret Qualley and started hanging around Kaia. We were told, at the time, they were “just friends.” Then friendship quickly blossomed into a full-blown relationship. By Christmas of last year, Pete was in a bad place, and he was having some kind of breakdown IN Kaia’s New York apartment, and Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber had to step in. After that, it was kind of established that Kaia and Pete were over, and that he sought treatment at some kind of rehab facility or something. All in all, Kaia and Pete’s relationship probably lasted about three solid months, but it felt like it was Kaia’s first big romance and it ended in disaster. Cindy and Rande stuck close to her for a month, but I’m still concerned that Kaia will go back to him.
All of which to say… I was not expecting any degree of level-headedness from Pete. I thought he would be the exact type to worm his way back into Kaia’s life. But no – apparently, he broke it off with her because he had a moment of clarity that she was way too young to deal with all of his issues:
Pete Davidson is getting candid about his relationship with Kaia Gerber. In a sit-down interview with Charlamagne Tha God posted on Youtube Monday, the comedian, 26, opened up about his relationship with the 18-year-old model and why things didn’t work out between them. The interview comes as Davidson’s Netflix comedy special is set to be released on Tuesday.
“We were dating for a few months,” explained Davidson, who referred to Gerber as “KG.”
“She’s very young, and I’m f—ing going through a lot and it was before I went to rehab,” continued the Saturday Night Live star, who has confirmed that he recently sought treatment at the Sierra Tucson treatment center in Arizona. “It’s just like, she should be having fun,” he said. “She shouldn’t have to worry about some dude that just has issues and s—. She should be enjoying her work. It just wasn’t the right place or the right time at all,” he added, going on to praise her parents Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber. “Her parents were really helpful and stuff, so they’re cool.”
This reminds me a little bit of John Mayer and Taylor Swift, remember that mess? John quietly dated Taylor when she was only 18 or 19, and then he reportedly broke it off because he had some kind of crisis of conscience that she was way too young for his bulls–t. What I don’t get – I mean, I DO “get it” – is why these dudes only realize that their girlfriends are way too young for their real-adult issues after all the seduction and sex and stuff? Why aren’t guys looking at Kaia and various teenage pop stars and saying “yeah, but no, I have no business with a teenager”? Oh, right. Because they want to have sex with teenagers and then the crisis of conscience comes in.
Here’s the interview – Pete also talks about how he’s desperate to become a father. NSFW for language!
Photos courtesy of WENN, Backgrid.
Gross
200%
He’s also planning to leave SNL. Quite likely getting ahead of his contract not being renewed at the end of the season. The producers, staff, and the cast have probably grown weary of dealing with his unreliability and other issues.
That guy really should not be thinking of bringing a child into this world until he has been stable for an extended period of time.
He considers adopting a child with his mother… I don’t think that he would get one, even if his mother would help. At least I hope he doesn’t get to adopt a child. He is in no condition to take care of someone else
Totally true, and yet that’s a desire that’s so common among BPD clients.
Terrible.
Folks, get treatment for your mental health issues. Find a good therapist. Don’t be that person who’s a perfect stereotype, a la Pete.
But he IS getting help. He Literally said he was about to go to rehab. He is very self aware and outspoken about his mental health problems and the fact that hes saying that she is too young to date someone with those issues is a sign that he is exactly not the “bad example” you’re making him out to be
He always looks unwell, but he looks a little bit better here
He usually is pretty self aware? He seems like a nice dude that just has a lot of issues. I do agree that he should have realised she’s too young before they started dating.
His degenerate self knew that when he FIRST started dating and sleeping with her so why did he bother in the first place?
Come on. Kaia is an 18 year old young woman with her own money, career, and apartment, who has been traveling the world for years. She has a supportive family and was, and will be just as successful and stable without Pete as with him. He is a young man with less money than her, with a career, who lives at home. The power balance isn’t super out of whack here. This isn’t like a 30+ year old wealthy banker getting together with a high school girl from a small town who just turned 18, doesn’t have any money or a job, has never left Podunk, Nebraska, and who lives at home with her single mother whom she hates and can’t wait to get away from. The age difference was 9 years, not 25. And the older guy was basically living like a college aged kid who deferred college and lives at home still because he wants to hang out and party with his friends while he tried to become a comedian.
I’m starting to get slightly uncomfortable with how long we feel the need to infantalize young women. The age of being able to date and have sex and be in relationships seems like it keeps being pushed further and further back. 18 is young, but she’s literally an adult, she’s not a 16 year old high school student. I read comments where people are like “25 years old is still a baby! They’re so young!” People we’re suggesting in another article that 24 was too young to be married and have your first child. When are young women supposed to start having sex? Relationships? Choosing their own partners? I got a slight feeling from the article that Taylor swift and Kaia were tainted or ruined a little bit or their innocence was stolen from them because their boyfriends had sex with them before dumping them. A “if only these guys had realized before they had sex with them. Because now….” what? Now what? Are we suggesting that Taylor and Kaia feel like they were abused? Taken advantage of? That they wished they hadn’t had sex in that relationship? That their number of partners could’ve been lowered by one if they didn’t have sex in those relationships? And that’s a good or important thing?
One can feel like they were used at the age of 40. One can feel like someone was going out with them for the wrong reasons and wasn’t serious about the relationship when they’re 18 or 25 or 55. A 30 year old could find another 30 year old to be too immature or emotionally incompatible. An 18 year old could find another 18 year old too naive and lacking in life experience. There’s no guarantee that any relationship is going to work long term or be a forever relationship. You can’t mitigate all the hurt and pain and embarrassment from dating and try to keep pushing it back further and further until women are 20, or 21, or 25, or 29.
I think it’s important to look at the power balance. Not all relationships will be 100% balanced, but if the only imbalance is the guy is the guy is 27 while the woman is 18 or 19, and they’re other wise matched for money, career, social status, stable home life, world travel/life experience etc, then I don’t find it to be inappropriate. I’m not going to say that it’s the ideal relationship that will definitely work out or that one or both of the partners won’t regret it later… but that’s life and dating.
I don’t have a problem with an 18-year old girl (or a 17 or 16 or whenever said girl is ready) having sex. It is part of growing up and learning and exploring that part of your humanity. I do not really respect a guy well into his 20’s having a romantic relationship with a girl that young because even if she has money and he doesn’t and she has powerful parents or whatever, there is still an emotional and experiential imbalance. She is only very recently an “adult” – whatever that means – while he has been dealing sexually and emotionally with girls exponentially longer than she has been with guys. I don’t see the young girl as being tainted or ruined or impure AT ALL, I just question/side-eye the emotional intelligence and maturity of a man well into adulthood choosing a teenager to be a romantic partner. Here is where I insert my disclaimer that I’m sure exceptions exist.
Kate, but if he’s emotionally immature enough to want to date an 18 year old, then is there really a huge disparity in their emotional intelligence? You sort of contradicted yourself there when you said that the problem was that he would be more emotionally mature than her because he’s older but then that he must be emotionally immature to want to date her.
I would think that if a guy who is 27 is dating a woman who is 18, and their other indications of power (career, status, opportunity, education, money, independence, stability, etc) are matched, then the fact that he’s dating an 18 year old is probably an indication that he is emotionally immature and not an indication that he is looking for a partner he can manipulate and/or coerce. Because if he were looking for a partner he could manipulate and/or coerce, he would likely choose someone with much less power than him. I think the main reason why people are grossed out by age differences is because a large age difference usually does mean that there is a power imbalance around career, status, opportunities, money, education, stability, etc. The large age difference becomes short-hand for all those other issues that create a power imbalance.
But in the case of smaller age differences, 10 years or less, when a woman is a legal adult, I think it’s important to look at the actual specifics. And the specifics in this case don’t show a power imbalance, they only show an age difference. Without a power imbalance, I think what’s being shown in the age difference is that the older partner is immature for their age, or the younger partner is mature for their age, or a combination of both.
In this case, any bad feelings I would get about Pete are more like “he must be really emotionally immature to date an 18 year old,” and not “he’s a perv for dating an 18 year old.”
I’d also like to point out that, independent of this specific case, an 18 year old and a 27 year old may actually have the same amount of previous dating and sexual experience. We don’t know that a 27 year old person has been dating and having sex for 10 years while an 18 year old has been dating and having sex for 0 years.
It’s an impossible battle to try & manage your mental health, while still actively feeding an addiction. The part of the interview that stuck out to me most was when he explained that he went to rehab & needed to be sober, so they could find out what was “really” going on. Then he explained that he got about 2 weeks sober. Dude, if you use on the regular, then not using for two weeks is not mentally or physically like you don’t use, you’ll still be going through withdrawals & not be in a clear headed place. It reminds me of someone trying to prove that they don’t have an issue with substances cuz they can go 2 weeks without using…in rehab.
I hear that he has serious mental health issues, and my worry is that his substance use is another, co-existing unhealthy behavior, and they probably exasperate each other.
Is he trying to be “bad boy Pete”?
He should be a “big brother” if he wants kids. He can do short basically supervised visits and make some kids day.
I’m kind of surprised at how mean spirited a lot of these comments are. He’s doing all the right things you’re supposed to do when your mental health and substance use spiral out of control and you end up having a break down where your bad behavior affects other people. He went to a serious rehab (not just like he got counseling and did some outpatient program one hour a week), he ended his relationship with an unsuitable partner and admits why it was unsuitable and he has no animosity towards her about it, he admits his own faults and problems (he’s not in denial about his substance abuse or mental health), he admits that his behavior and instability are responsible for the bad things that have happened to him and those around him. That’s what you’re supposed to do! He’s doing it. Good job, Pete.
He doesn’t strike me as abusive, just the smothering annoying clingy insecure boyfriend type when he is using. Im sure his mental health can be overwhelming for his partner as well when he isnt taking care of myself. He did the right thing with Kaia.
That being said- it really bothers me when people who hurt other people during active addiction, magically decide they want to “change” and want to make amends with those they have hurt and act as if they should be automatically given that opportunity. They almost get on their pedastal and think because they have become so enlightened and WANT to change that they are ENTITLED to the opportunity to make it up to those they have hurt. Sometimes you screw up, hurt others, lose your job etc and you don’t get a do-over. You made your bed and have to lay in it.
Trust and forgiveness are an honor that is earned, not given. Addicts usually dont understand that in my experience.
I agree with that Sparkle, but it doesn’t sound like that’s what Pete is demanding if Kaia in this instance.
He does seem to be trying. It might just be a bit of fatigue – we keep seeing the same kind of stories about him over and over, and it doesn’t seem like he’s progressing.
If he’s now saying he’s not going to date for a while and focus on himself, good. That is progress. Good luck to him.
I agree, although I didn’t take from the interview that he has come to terms with his substance abuse. I do think he’s on the road, which is awesome, and I applaud him as he travels.
Man, people throwing around the term “addicts” & prescribing to “them” very common, human characteristics, while labeling them different from the rest of the population with these same characteristics, sucks. These labels & judgements are a huge barrier to people seeking help & being willing to label themselves “addicts”, so they can find tools to recover. Unfortunately, most humans in our culture feel entitled & really suck at making amends or giving apologies & need to come to accept that they don’t get do-overs after they severely hurt people in life. The fact is that addicts can change, it can happen magically, and it’s great when anyone attempts to change their negative behaviors. The reality is that they may still suck at apologies, even after they have changed somewhat, or that people may not want them in their lives or to forgive them, but this is a different issue.
I seriously applaud anyone who is in active addiction & even attempts to change.
Except he wants a baby, and he is in absolutely no place to have one. I’m frankly horrified at the thought.
I’m bipolar and I had 9 years of intensive therapy before I got pregnant so I wouldn’t be a shitty parent.
He’s using and can’t keep a relationship longer than 6 month, and he wants a baby?? I guarantee it’s because he wants someone to love him.
I will judge the shit out of him for that
I watched a lot of the interview and he is very self-aware how he comes across. He admits to crying a lot when he’s in a relationship and wanting to meet a girlfriend’s family right away–basically it’s too much too fast for most women who aren’t prepared for his extensive mental health issues. He knows he’s a lot so at least he isn’t narcissistic and blaming everyone else for his issues and continually playing the victim.
However he admits to doing acid and other drugs (I’m assuming stronger than just weed) and how he’s combined that with medication he takes for anxiety/depression (which is probably what triggers his psychotic breaks). Also he says he doesn’t see rehab as a big deal and how he needs to go every once in awhile to deal with his issues. I don’t think anyone should ever be embarrassed to go to rehab but I also don’t think it should be seen as “not a big deal…” Going to rehab all the time means you’re a liability, it shouldn’t be used as a bandaid.
As for him becoming a dad… I really don’t think he has any place bringing a child into the world or adopting right now and I think any woman with a shred of intelligence would avoid being knocked by him (same goes for any adoption agency!). He is not stable enough to parent if he can’t take care of himself properly. I hope he gets to be a dad someday but he really needs to get to a better place.
I really like Pete and I like this interview. A lot of people struggle with depression and other disorders. My ex husband struggles with depression and suicidal thoughts. I used to think I was normal by being so naturally happy. Now I realize that not everyone feels a baseline level of happiness like I do. You guys should watch the whole interview. It was so sad near the end where Pete says he doesn’t have mirrors because he doesn’t like to look at himself as a result of being picked on as a kid, even though they knew his dad had just died. He mentions cutting, says he has borderline/bipolar disorder and has to go into rehab periodically to get his meds adjusted. It was an interview worth watching.
I like Pete and certainly have sympathy for him, he has a lot of stuff to work on, but he seems to be trying to get help, which is a good thing.
Man, SNL has lost so many cast members to drugs over the years.
Pete might do better in his personal life without SNL.
Was he originally hired as a writer?
I can easily believe he was bullied by others on SNL, he seems so open about his life, and SNL is notorious for having a kill or be killed mentality because everyone is in s fierce cmpetition to break out and get air time for themselves.