It is the latest high-profile relationship to capture the attention of the American public — and for one reason only.
Former New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, 72, has recently stepped out with a new love interest, former cheerleader Jordon Hudson, who is aged just 23, making their age difference a whopping 48 years.
The NFL legend’s new girlfriend is far from the first young woman to take interest in a much older, successful man.
The celebrity world is full of examples of so-called gold diggers — from Al Pacino and Noor Alfalla, 53 years his junior, to Anna Nicole Smith, who was 26 when she married an 89-year-old oil tycoon.
But do some young women really do fall in love with seniors? And if so, why?
Anna Nicole Smith [shown right] married billionaire oil tycoon J Howard Marshall in 1994, despite a 63-year age difference
Al Pacino, 83, has been dating Noor Alfallah, 30, since April 2022. Their relationship blossomed from a friendship during the pandemic
DailyMail.com spoke to psychologists who revealed the inner-workings of a gold digger’s mind, and what makes them pursue such unconventional relationships.
Some women really are just interested in cash — and feel entitled to the lavish lifestyle such a partnership affords, experts say.
Israeli psychologist Dr Sam Vaknin said: ‘These people feel entitled to the good life, entitled to luxury, entitled to glittering company, entitled to not work.
‘They think they are entitled to complete and utter independence, entitled to this entitlement, which is a hallmark of narcissism, is very common among gold diggers.
‘And it drives them to behave in ways which are essentially extortionate.’
However, some choose much older and often wealthier partners due to deep insecurity.
Dr Catherine Nobile, director of Nobile Psychology in New York, told DailyMail.com: ‘From an evolutionary standpoint, women might be inclined to seek partners who can provide stability and resources, traits often associated with older, wealthier men.
Dr Alexandra Solomon, a licensed clinical psychologist at Northwestern University, added: ‘Somebody who grew up in a very emotionally unsafe home may crave somebody who feels like a really safe rock, a really safe anchor and security.’
Belichick, 72, has been dating the cheerleader Jordon Hudson, 24, for over a year
She added that those who grew up ‘deprived of attention and affection’ may feel especially comforted when ‘lavished’ materially and emotionally.
‘It offers a salve to that wound of feeling unseen or unattended to if somebody didn’t feel special in their home,’ she adds.
This rings true in the case of tragic model Anna Nicole Smith, who married 89 year-old billionaire oil tycoon J Howard Marshall in 1994, despite a 63-year age difference.
Years before she became a Playboy centerfold, the former chicken joint worker was exploited by those who said they loved her and was abused as a young adult.
She told Larry King in 2007: ‘ I couldn’t make ends meet. I tried Red Lobster. I tried WalMart. I tried all these places and I couldn’t make it. I couldn’t. So, I tried this gentlemen’s club, and, you know, I worked there, and it was just awful in those places. It was terrible. And he saved me from that.
‘I saw a very sick man. Someone that was just really, really sick and… physically ailing. And I just wanted to just talk with him… there was no physical attraction at all.’
The relationship is transactional, meaning it’s not just the so-called gold digger who benefits. The older partner also gets to live vicariously through the other’s youth and reap the benefits of their beauty and physical attractiveness.
Dr Solomon said: ‘In him choosing her he has access to this sort of like fountain of youth, or this way in which her choosing him, he has his own worth affirmed. Not financial worth, but psychological worth.’
Despite Russell Simmons being 35 and Kimora being 17 and a sophomore in high school when they met, the two struck up a romantic relationship and eventually married. Kimora ended up taking over his lifestyle brand, Phat Farm
Some people choose older, wealthier, accomplished partners for want of being close to power and having influence on that person.
Godfather star Al Pacino’s 30-year-old girlfriend Noor Alfallah was a film student before becoming a film and television producer whose credits only include a handful of short films to date, though she was a producer on the forthcoming film Billy Knight that her boyfriend Pacino is starring in, according to IMDb.
While her motives for pursuing a relationship may be fully honorable, she stands to gain from it.
She told Vogue Arabia: ‘I thought, wow, that’s Al Pacino. I went to film school, so I wasn’t dumb about who he was…he’s a very talented and unique person. But I had no intention of thinking like, oh, he is going to be my son’s father one day.’
The appeal of a wealthy partner can also lie in the sense of stability and ability to afford a lavish lifestyle without having to struggle for it themselves.
Dr Nobile said: ‘Some people might struggle with feelings of inadequacy or doubt their ability to achieve financial stability.
‘For these individuals, a relationship with a wealthier partner is a way to secure a stable and comfortable lifestyle, especially if they have experienced financial difficulties or lack a strong support system.’
Traditional gender roles reinforce this dynamic, she added, telling DailyMail.com that a patriarchal society ‘casts men as providers’, though caveated that by saying, ‘this partner choice may be more rooted in a longing for security, power, and status rather than factors related to specific gender roles.’
Women have long been taught that their ticket to success lies in marrying a wealthy partner. Men have historically maintained—and continue to maintain—disproportionate control over wealth, power, and resources.
Dr Solomon said: ‘It’s a reflection of patriarchy, that we will point to her as the gold digger rather than pointing to him as somehow mooching off of her youth or her beauty or her vitality.’
Centuries of gender-based discrimination have entrenched these disparities, creating a societal framework where men hold positions of privilege and authority.
As a result, women have often had limited opportunities for economic and social advancement, with marriage, for some, serving as a primary means of securing financial stability and social status.
A relationship between a very young person and a very old person could also be deeply rooted in psychology and childhood. A dysfunctional relationship with a parent for instance can shape the person’s preferences for their own partner.
Dr Susan Krauss Whitbourne, a psychology professor at University of Massachusetts Amherst wrote in Psychology Today that our adult relationships mirror how our caregivers treated us. If a woman seeks the security of a father figure in her relationships, it suggests that she may not have received proper care from her own father.
‘Women who need the security of a father figure would, from this point of view, have been poorly cared for by their own fathers, as reflected in later seeking security from an older male.’
