Kristin Cavallari Considering A Baby With Her Boyfriend

Kristin Cavallari is living her best life, unapologetically embracing a new relationship with a younger man and now saying she’s is open to the idea of having a child with him.

The reality TV star, 37, recently debuted her relationship with 24-year-old model and Montana Boyz  member Mark Estes on social media. On the latest episode of her Apple podcast “Let’s Be Honest,” Kristin reveals a little bit of insight into the relationship, mentioning that she has already contemplated the prospect of having children with Estes.

Describing Estes as accountable, supportive, and affectionate toward her and her children, she expresses her thoughts on the possibility of expanding their family. “I’m not actively thinking about it, but it’s definitely in the back of my mind that he wants to have a kid,” she says with a laugh. “I’m mulling it over.”

Kristin also mentions discussing the idea with her three children from her previous marriage to Jay Cutler—Camden, 11, Jaxon, 9, and Saylor, 8—who she says are supportive of the idea.

“My youngest is 8. The thought of going back and starting all over again, that’s a lot. But my kids are old enough now where they can help, that would be nice.” 

“If he ends up really being the one, I would have a kid. It’s become pretty serious this relationship I would say,” she continues, laughing.

“If I had another kid, obviously it would be last. I wouldn’t want to rob him of that—he should have kids in his life. It’s only been a couple of months, but when you know you know!” she adds. 

Cavallari has faced criticism on social media since debuting their relationship over their age difference. At the end of February, the host and entrepreneur hard-launched their status on Instagram, posting a photo on a date together with the caption, “He makes me happy.” He reciprocated shortly after, with a steamy TikTok video of the two pool-side in Mexico hugging and kissing.

Cavallari seemed to clap back at some of the online haters who have taken issue with their 13-year age difference. She shared a TikTok of herself lip-synching to a voiceover of a woman saying, “So what are you going to do about it? Are you gonna arrest me? Are you gonna give me a ticket?”

The caption on the video read, “When they’re all up in arms that I’m dating a 24 year old. Andddd?”

Her latest podcast conversation about the potential of expanding her family with Estes, part of which was posted on Instagram, garnered more than 1,000 comments.

“YOU GO GIRL!!” writes one positive fan in the comments section, while another echos, “Girl, I’m 30 weeks pregnant at 43… have that baby!!”

Others weren’t so supportive, with one critic writing, “He’s too young. Let him grow up.” 

“He’s young enough to be your son. Give it a break. Dude doesn’t want to be a step-dad to three kids at his age,” scathes another. 

Societal Issues and Gender Double-Standards

That last comment got me. 

Would people be reacting this way if the shoe was on the other foot, and Estes was the older man in this relationship? Many of the negative commenters also seem to forget that both Cavallari and Estes are two consenting adults in a relationship. The idea of them possibly committing long-term and expanding their family is something to celebrate, not criticize. 

Society’s issue with age gap relationships is nothing new, especially when it comes to celebrity couples. However, the stigma and controversy always become louder when a woman is the older partner in the relationship. The hypocrisy of this topic is most recently being explored in the Amazon film The Idea of You, starring Anne Hathaway as a 40-year-old single mom who begins a romance with a 24-year-old boy band singer. 

Actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Director Sam Taylor-Johnson are consistently asked about their 23-year age difference. Priyanka Chopra said in an interview last year with Today that she doesn’t give her 10-year age difference with her husband Nick Jonas as much thought as the public does. Gabrielle Union spoke to USA Today about how she had to deal with doubt from her own mother-in-law early on in her relationship with Dwayne Wade over their 9-year age difference. 

No one batted an eye when George Clooney married Amal Clooney, who is 17 years younger than him. Or that Jay-Z was 32 years old when he began dating then-20-year-old Beyonce. And let’s not get into Leo DiCaprio’s history of dating women who are mostly under the age of 25. 

One explanation for the relationship disparity, according to Mialauni Griggs, ALMFT, a relationship therapist who spoke to Verywell Mind about this topic a few years ago, is that the negativity comes from gender role expectations and evolution. 

“I think the most common stigma is that if the woman is younger then she must be a gold digger and he must be lonely or creepy. [Or that] if the woman is older, she must be trying to recapture her youth and he is probably the gold digger,” she explained.

Several studies have shown that when women are older in the relationship, a power dynamic shifts. One study published in the Journal of Population Economics, even showed that older women paired with younger men are generally more satisfied with their marriages than younger women paired with older men.

It’s not to say that older men aren’t targeted. Questions do arise for men, depending on the length of age between partners, but just not with as much fervor as women. In those cases, women are still often left to defend their role in the relationship.

Take for instance singer Katharine McPhee and her husband David Foster, who have a 35-year age gap between them. In January, she defended her marriage in a TikTok. Text on the video reads, “Why’d you marry David Foster…?” as she lipsynched to a soundbite from The Kardashians saying, “Because it’s iconic. And I love to do iconic s—.”

My dad was 10 years older than my mom. He was previously married with three children before he met my mom and remarried. My mom would often talk about how people doubted they would last because of their age difference. They celebrated 46 years of a loving marriage before he passed away in 2017. 

As Cavallari continues to navigate her relationship with Estes, she serves as a reminder that love knows no age and underscores the importance of not letting societal norms dictate genuine connections. Also, regardless of her public discussions on podcasts or social media about the future of her relationship, whether it involves a second marriage or more children, is quite frankly, none of our business.