Maygan Sensenberger poses with her husband, Rod Zimmer, in this undated Facebook photo.HO/The Canadian Press
If you hadn't heard of Maygan Sensenberger before, surely you have now.
The 23-year-old wife of Liberal Senator Rod Zimmer, 69, has been in the media spotlight ever since an apparent quarrel between the couple turned disruptive during a flight from Ottawa to Saskatoon last week. Ms. Sensenberger was arrested. She was released on Monday on the condition that she avoid contact with her husband.
There are differing accounts about what happened on board. As the Globe reports, police believe alcohol may have been involved, and they said Ms. Sensenberger threatened to kill her husband and "take the plane down." Her brother-in-law Wayne Zimmer, who met her for the first time in court, said the incident was a misunderstanding; any threats were made in jest. A passenger aboard the flight told The Canadian Press that Ms. Sensenberger had been upset because Sen. Zimmer wasn't feeling well, but she hadn't been threatening.
But let's face it. Whatever happened on that flight, arguably the most arresting part of the story lies in their rather staggering age gap. A 23-year-old coupled with a 69-year-old: What were they thinking?
Ms. Sensenberger's grandmother Rita, who is a year shy of Sen. Zimmer's age, told reporters the couple met on a blind date. "They've been together for years," she said. "They waited until after she had her 21st birthday to announce that they were together."
Um. If you're doing the math in your head right now, you're probably marvelling at how she reached the legal drinking age in time to celebrate his eligibility to receive seniors' discounts.
Of course, that's not to say May-December (or February-December) romances don't work. Actor Doug Hutchison, 52, and his teen bride Courtney Alexis Stodden married last year, when she was 16. They seem happy-ish. And the late Anna Nicole Smith and her husband J. Howard Marshall had a whopping 63-year age difference.
But it's hard not to wonder what the dynamics of Ms. Sensenberger and Sen. Zimmer's relationship are like. Wayne Zimmer's comments to the press after escorting his young sister-in-law from court may offer a hint.
"She was crying, she was this and she was that," he said. "She's only 23, for God's sake. What did you expect?"
Wency Leung