Please understand that I am not saying that Mr. Thompson is right or wrong. Heck, who cares what age any married couple is as long as they love each other.
I did point out in an earlier post that if a man is substantially older than the wife, she does stand a greater chance of being a widow. Of course, it's not guaranteed to turn out that way. With luck both will live to be very, very old and die within a short period of each other. Life has so many twists and turns, one can never predict anything with reliability.
I saw your correction- after posting, dagnabbit.
I do appreciate what you are saying- my first wife, who was three years older than I, died 25 years ago-- you just never know what fate will hold.
There was an awful lot of tongue-clucking on that Island of 3,500 people where grew up about my Mom and Dad, but to me, the other kids parents seemed, well, like children themselves!
Mine were steady and unflappable.
And really, not until the very end of their lives, the last few years when age finally weighed in did it seem to matter much at all.