RHONY’s Carole Radziwill Says ‘Sex Is a Great Leveler,’ Shares Why She Dates Younger Men (Exclusive)

Carole Radziwill was an “original” Bridget Jones’s Diary fan — and she is totally on board with the new film’s premise of dating a younger man.

“I hated dating in my 20s. It was awkward. I wasn’t confident,” Radziwill, 61, exclusively told Us Weekly while attending the Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy premiere in New York City on Wednesday, February 12. “Then I met my husband, I was 25. We were together for 10 years.”

The Real Housewives of New York City alum recalled that after her husband Anthony Radziwill’s death, she had to start dating again in her mid-30s. (Anthony died in August 1999 at the age of 40. He was one of former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy’s nephews.)

“It was fun, but it just got better and better and better,” Carole explained. “And now it’s, like, rocking! It’s just so fun.”

She said finding love is “better in your 50s” and beyond, confessing people “don’t tell you how great it gets when you get older.” Carole teased, “I always say I grew up, I just didn’t get old.”

The former reality star — who documented her romance with younger man Adam Kenworthy on RHONY — noted that one of her secrets to having fun at this phase of her dating life is going younger.

“I don’t want to say to only date younger guys, but there’s something that [is different],” Carole told Us, sharing that after dating younger men and guys her own age she learned a thing or two.

She explained, “I feel like sex is the great leveler, so there needs to be something to level. So when you come and you’re matched perfectly, I call it Cabbage Patch love, it’s not as interesting.”

Carole said that age is oftentimes the key to finding your edge in a romance. “When you find something — sometimes it’s age, sometimes it’s experience — it’s more dynamic,” she continued. “And younger men, they just still know how to pursue and flirt.”

She teased that with younger suitors there’s “a little bit” more excitement.

“I can tell you from my own experience, it’s the confidence,” Carole told Us of her approach to being the elder in a relationship. “When you’ve done it — you’ve been through it, you’ve had marriages, and heartache, and joy, and triumphs, and success, and experience — you bring all that to the table and it’s fantastic.”

Carole, who appeared on RHONY from 2012 to 2018, pointed out that women dating younger has become less taboo thanks to movies like Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, which hits theaters on Friday, February 14. (In the new rom-com, Renée Zellweger’s Bridget Jones navigates life as widower and single mom while being pursued by a younger man.)

In the past, men dating younger women appeared to be more widely accepted, but Carole said the double standard seems to be dying down.

“Now you’re seeing a lot of the other way around. You’re seeing a lot of movies come out. There was one with Anne Hathaway [2024’s The Idea of You], there was one with Nicole Kidman [2024’s Babygirl]. And now in Mad About the Boy, the boy is younger,” she revealed. “Because it’s not unusual. It shouldn’t be unusual.”

Carole concluded that after “push back” for relationship age differences, society seems to be “tolerating that a little less and tolerating older women with younger men a little more.”

The journalist noted that a woman’s sex life “gets better” as they grow older, adding, “Age is really irrelevant.”

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy hits theaters on Friday, February 14.

With reporting by Antonio Ferme