Over-40s It Girls and Their Toyboys: Cringe Alert!

As a columnist with strong opinions, I get called many things. Some are kind. Most are not.

But isn't it my job to ruffle a few feathers?

Case in point: might not be the elixir of life that embalmed-looking influencers make them out to be. 'Celebrity' personal trainer  - the king of triggered gym bros - hopped on his usual high horse, trying to say how wrong I was.

Still, I make no apologies or retractions. 

But whatever you feel about me, one thing you can never, ever call me is a hypocrite.

That's why I'm starting this column with a confession: at 50, I've graduated from a garden-variety MILF into a fully paid-up cougar - and, frankly, I'm delighted. 

You see, I love younger men. I make no secret about it. Hand on heart, all of my boyfriends, lovers, and flirtations are with men ten years younger. Sometimes more. 

Maybe it's their back muscles or that so-called 'Golden Retriever' energy. Maybe it's the fact they still have abs and a hairline. Whatever it is, I find them sexy, affectionate and refreshingly open-minded. 

And unlike many men my age, life hasn't chewed them up and spat them out yet.

So yes, I'm all for this joyous cultural shift of older women dating younger men. And I don't have time for the pearl-clutchers who declare that age-gap relationships are 'problematic'. A woman my age romancing a man in his early 30s is nothing like the ageing bankrupts chasing girls in Phuket.

But - and there's always a 'but' with me - here's where I draw a line: I keep my private life private. You will never, ever see me do a hard-launch on social media these days, or run my fingers down my new boyfriend's abs for a mirror selfie.

And if I ever make him wear a T-shirt with my ugly mug printed on it, please - and this is a serious request - can you call in a welfare check?

If you haven't realised yet, my inspiration this week is partly Dina Broadhurst, who is in the throes of a love affair with German toyboy Danny Tchalaby, as well as MCoBeauty entrepreneur Shelley Sullivan, who also has a younger squeeze, mindfulness coach Justin Green.

Oh, and it also hasn't escaped me that Double Bay headline magnet Kristin Fisher, has unveiled her latest lover, 28-year-old JP Morgan finance bro Shannon Sykes. (Kristin is 41, by the way, though she could pass for a decade younger.)