Dear Ball and Chain,
I have been dating a woman for about a year, and the relationship is going great and entering the serious stage. We are both very happy, but I recently discovered from talking to a mutual friend that my girlfriend makes almost twice as much money as I do.
Is she keeping this a secret so as not to hurt my feelings, or does she just assume I am in the same financial ballpark? And will she think less of me if she realizes I am a few tax brackets away? I don't know whether to wait for it to come up or broach the subject myself.
Any advice?
Dear Get Over It Lover,
You have nothing to worry about. We've researched many famous and historical couple love affairs and marriages and have come up a list of “Wow!” couples who had the same non-problem as you. You and your beauty can add yourselves to the successful lives of the following names: Brad Pitt: He only made $20 million for his last picture while hubba-hubba Angelina made a whooping $50 million. They're still together and madly in love for six years (for now).
Our icon of beauty and the cinema, Liz Taylor, had gazillions of $$$ when Richard Burton was a poor ensemble Broadway cast member making a couple of bucks weekly. Liz may have had eight marriages, but she married Burton twice!
The real and original Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, had mountains of gold and jewels, but Marc Anthony, Roman general, only had a cruise ship that sailed from Rome to Alexandria with Italian tourists. Okay, so she had that serpent finish her off when Anthony fell over board and drowned (he couldn't swim. . . go figure)!
Then there is Romeo and Juliet – the ultimate love affair. Julie owned the town bingo hall “La Funna Familia” where she made tons of lire and great pizza too! He was simply the town hunk who wanted to be her gigolo. She was hooked. Tragically they both died young, but look at the story they left behind, thanks to Shakespeare.
Oh, and Queen Victoria ruled half the world during her reign and Prince Albert, whom she madly loved, was a lowly German beer and sausage maker from Heidelberg. Victoria had a hankerin' for both Albert and his sausages and brew.
We could go on and on, but you get our message: keep loving your GF and go for it!!
