The musician started dating Australian model Helena Vestergaard in 2013, and they split after being together for approximately two years.
Before that, Kiedis, now 63, had a relationship with Heather Christie, who was 22 years his junior. When the pair welcomed their son, Everly Bear, in 2007, Kiedis was 44 and his partner was 21.
In the latest episode of My Therapist Ghosted Me, Williams and her co-host Joanne McNally discussed age-gap relationships, with the former I’m a Celebrity campmate saying: “Do you know who else I find really disappointing, because I really like the Red Hot Chili Peppers? Anthony Kiedis.”
Seemingly referring to his romance with Vestergaard, Williams continued: “He is like 54 or something, and he is going out with a 19-year-old. And it is like, ‘Dude, what are you talking about?’”
McNally replied: “I’ve seen this. I just accept now that most men, all men, are drawn to – I’m going to be very careful how I say this – significantly younger women. That’s all I’m going to say. It is what it is and I don’t think there’s any getting away from it. We judge it but it’s not going to change.”
“I would have to say that it is not all men,” Williams continued. “Because I do think it is a very specific thing.”
Addressing why younger women might decide to date older men, McNally added: “And of course, people like him [Anthony Kiedis] and rockstars like him can get away with it because no 19-year-old girl wants to be going out with some old lad who is driving a Toyota Corolla around town.
I partially disagree that we shouldn’t judge him for this. However, I also recognize that saying she can’t do this is removing her liberties, and treating her as a child. If the genders were reversed, I bet we’d never hear about this story, but we treat women as something to be protected instead of individuals.
We can judge him some, for taking advantage of the situation (and the much worse things in his past). To say it’s absolutely wrong is absurd though. I can’t go that far. Adults are allowed to have relationships with whoever they want, and honestly, people should keep their disgust to themselves unless the person doesn’t want it. Many people would have the same disgust for homosexual relationships, and say people need to be protected from that, and fuck that nonsense. Do what you want, as long as it isn’t coerced.
We don’t have to agree with what happened to agree that she’s allowed to make decisions for herself. Doing otherwise is stealing her freedom from her.