Female Supremacy Articles - Page 18

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"In any relationship, if your developmental stages don't match, there can be difficulties," she says. "If one of you, say, is preparing to be a grandparent and the other is enjoying the height of their career, it can be tricky.

"One may want to wind down sooner than the other, and then there can be competition between priorities.

"The answer, as ever, is to keep communicating, and try to empathise with each other's viewpoint as much as possible.

"In my view, it doesn't really matter whether the man or woman is the older partner, so long as you keep talking and trying to understand."

May to December: Famous women and their younger men

• FRANCESCA ANNIS AND RALPH FIENNES

Age difference: 18 years

Ralph Fiennes met Francesca Annis when she played Gertrude to his Hamlet in a London stage production. Sparks flew, and in 1996 the two left their relationships - he was then married to ER's Alex Kingston and Annis was with photographer Patrick Wiseman - to begin a romance.

"I think if two people have a strong connection and a strong bond, that's what's important," Fiennes says of the age gap. "Certainly in my life, age difference has not been a problem."

• SUSAN SARANDON AND TIM ROBBINS

Age difference: 12 years