Celeb Cougar Relationships That Work

We’ve all heard about the breakup of Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, not to mention Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins. But have faith! These couples are making the older woman/younger man thing work very well for them. Here they are:

Katie Couric, 54, and Brooks Perlin, 37

Couric’s career may have foundered at CBS News, but she’s doing more than OK in her love life. Boyfriend Brooks Perlin, the chief financial officer at a “green” building company, is seventeen years younger than Couric. The two have been going strong since their first date in 2007. After her friends Googled Perlin before the date, Couric was shocked to learn that Perlin was still in college while she was hosting the “Today Show. “ “I knew he was younger,” she’s said, “but not that much younger!”

Hugh Jackman, 43, and Deborra Lee-Furness, 56 Jackman, one of the world’s sexiest men, has undoubtedly had a lot of women put the moves on him. But he’s always been faithful to his wife of 15 years, actress Deborra Lee-Furness. The couple met on the set of an Australian TV show, and they’ve remained together throughout Jackman’s rise to global fame. That’s not surprising, given what Jackman has said about their relationship: “I have a terrific marriage, but unlike a lot of relationships where they ebb and flow, no matter what happens you fall deeper and deeper in love every day…It’s thrilling.”

Tina Turner, 71, and Erwin Bach, 56 Turner, an iconic R&B/rock performer, turned her life around after leaving an abusive relationship with her then husband, Ike, in 1978. Eight years later, she got serious with German record executive Erwin Bach, who’s sixteen years younger. The publicity-shy couple live in Switzerland, and sightings are rare: the last one was earlier this year in Milan. Asked, years ago, why she and Bach have such a strong relationship, Turner answered simply, “We are one.”

Mary Tyler Moore, 74, and Robert Levine, 57 Moore has for the most part projected a sunny image over the years, but she’s had her share of off-screen problems and tragedies: She’s a diabetic and a former alcoholic, and her son Richie accidentally killed himself with a shotgun. But throughout those traumas, her husband, cardiologist Robert Levine, has stood by her. Seventeen years her junior, Levine married Moore in 1983 and encouraged her to go into rehab for her drinking problem. The couple just celebrated their 28th anniversary. “They said it would never last,” Moore said in an interview a few years back. Looks like “they” were wrong.

Joan Collins, 78, and Percy Gibson, 46 Like her character Alexis in “Dynasty,” Collins doesn’t hesitate to go for what she wants. In 2001, she met theatrical producer Percy Gibson, and a year later the two were married. Collins – who admittedly faced very big odds in marrying someone so much younger – says Percy is her “soulmate.” Maybe that’s why Collins, a multimillionaire, didn’t ask for a prenup, insisting, “Percy is the most honorable man I’ve ever met.” Well, we can’t see Alexis being so trusting, but so far, the marriage is doing just fine.