Young love. It’s a beautiful thing. Until it's not. Until a few weeks ago, High School Musical's Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens were the poster kids for young love. Together for what counts as forever in Hollywood (3 or 5 years depending on who you believe), they have basically grown up together. Zac is 23 and Vanessa just celebrated her 22nd birthday. As a single woman in Las Vegas.
And we thought it would last.
What about Katie Holmes, before Tom Cruise jumped on Oprah’s couch declaring his love for her? The former Dawson's Creek star dated American Pie's Chris Klein from the age of 20 and got engaged after being together for 5 years. A year later, the two broke off their engagement. Together for 6 years.
But can young love really be true love? In Hollywood and elsewhere?
I think the answer is no for the majority of people. Maybe that's why, when I hear stories of couples whose young love has matured in to a lifetime of love, it makes me feel all warm inside.
One of the reasons why so few young relationships last? Because the years between teenager and young adult are probably one of the biggest times for change; emotionally, physically and intellectually.
I never experienced young love. I guess you could say I was a late bloomer. I didn’t have my first love until I was a junior in college. The relationship didn’t last longer than two years but the love sure felt real to me.
And if I look around at my family, friends and neighbors, only a very small elite group of them married their first loves or even their young loves. The ones that did still seem pretty happy to me 20 plus years later.
Zac and Vanessa made it pretty long. An eternity compared to other young Hollywood stars. I guess they just outgrew each other. I think it’s the rare young couple that is mature enough, that knows themselves well enough, to be a young love that lasts. With so many life changes at that age, you have to be able to change together. But it’s possible.
Do you believe that young love can be true love?
Image via CosmoPolitician/Flickr
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Comments 19
Um... yes. My husband and I started dating at age 16. We have been together since (we're 27 now and going strong).
Some people meet their loves sooner than others. I don't think age makes a difference. Yes, a lot of "young" relationships fail, but so do a lot of relationships that start when people are older.
My story is a sad one.. i met the love of my life at 17.. we dated in high school but my father was very strick and didnt want us together, he moved and i moved too.. we lost contact, but I always thought of him.. I got married, had a son, got divorced and remarried again, this time with a very good man that makes me extremely happy.. and guess who I reconnected with this year? yes. We found each other and we have been talking.. we still feel that love but cant act on it because he is happily married and I am too.. so in my opinion it has to do with the individual and its environment. My advise though is for young people to listen to what their hearts are saying, take your time and dont be scared
yes it can,i was 18 and my husband was just about to turn 18 when we met-and we added the challenge of getting pregnant 2 months after our relationship started-we have gone though hell and heaven together,and grown up together helping eachother through it all. we have been married 3 years and he is an us airmen and i knowif we made it though what we have,we will make it forever
I married my first love and feel so fortunate to have found him young. We started dating right out of high school, married after five years and just celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary. I do consider it a gift though, I know how lucky it is that we have grown together over these years instead of apart. We are more in love and more in sync now that ever before. Out of four siblings (step and full), two are with their high school loves (almost 30 years and 10 years), but our parents married young and neither worked out. I know its a rare thing, but I am living it and my brother and step sister are also living it. So I know it definitely exists!
We've known each other since grade school, hung out with the same group of friends in high school, and started dating our senior year. We dated 3 years, and now have been happily married for 6. Neither of us ever had any other relationships (OK OK I had a "boyfriend" in first grade, but he doesn't count) and we have 2 boys, with a girl on the way.
I married my high school sweetheart, and I am as deeply in love (if not more so) than I was back then! We started dating when I was 15 and he was 16, got married 3 days after I graduated at 18, got pregnant with our first a month later! It wasn't easy but worth every minute of hardship, we're 24 and 25 now, with 3 babies, and are just as happy as ever! It can work, but you have to be willing to work for it and make it a point to grow together! If I had listened to everyone warning against getting married so young, I wouldn't have gotten to marry my best friend :)