AFTER THE HUNT (2025): Alma's (Julia Roberts) Affair with Father's Best Friend

Here’s IMDb’s synopsis for After the Hunt (2025):

A [Yale] college professor (Alma Imhoff [Julia Roberts]) finds herself at a personal and professional crossroads when a star pupil (Maggie [Ayo Edebiri]) levels an accusation against one of her colleagues (Hank [Andrew Garfield]) and a dark secret from her own past threatens to come to light.

To elaborate a bit, Maggie, a PhD student, accused Frank, a Yale professor, of sexual assault. Frank confessed that he flirted with students, but he claimed that he never had sex with a student. Alma was apprehensive about supporting Maggie, but not because Alma supported Frank. Alma didn’t support Maggie due to a “dark secret”, which was that when Alma was 15-years-old, she falsely accused her father’s best friend and co-worker of statutory rape. 

In addition to confessing to her husband that she lied about being sexually assaulted by her father’s best friend, Alma shared that she and her father’s best friend were actually in love. 

Alma, “I wanna share something with you.I told you when I was a child that my father's best friend sexually assaulted me, abused me. None of that is true. We were in love.”

Alma described her father’s best friend as kind and handsome. So much so that she would stare at him and stalk him. And he was the center of her attention and her reality.

Alma, “He was so kind, he was so handsome, I could just stare at him from across rooms. I would go to work sometimes with my father, just so I could see him. I couldn't focus in class, school, my friends, just everything felt so pedestrian, except for him. He was the only thing that felt real to me."

Shortly after her 15th birthday, Alma was kissed by her father’s best friend, and six months later, at Alma’s insistence, they had age-gap sex, which resulted in that time period being the “happiest time” in Alma’s life. 

Alma, “He kissed me for the first time the day after my 15th birthday [...] Six months later, maybe. He said I was too young, but I had insisted. It was the happiest time of my life."

However, her father’s best friend suddenly ended their age-gap affair and started openly dating someone “more appropriate”, which Alma referred to as “cruel”, because she was crushed. Consequently, to get revenge, she reported him for (statutory) rape. Although she eventually retracted her accusation, he committed suicide. 

Alma, “Then out of nowhere, he said that he met someone else and someone that was more appropriate. He started bringing her to my parents' parties and throwing her in my face like he was trying to prove how little he cared. It was so cruel. So I made up a story that I knew would hurt him the most. And three years later, he committed suicide. I had already retracted the story by then, but it didn't matter. I'd wanted to hurt him the way I thought he'd hurt me, and I did.”

In an attempt to console Alma, Frederik, Alma’s husband, reminded her that she was very young. Very interestingly, Frank said that “all young girls” have adult-like desires, but that it was the responsibility of adults to resist satisfying those innocent desires. 

Frederik, “Alma, you were very young. All young girls want adult things to happen to them. Sooner than they're ready for them all the time, but it's always the adult's job to protect the innocence of a child."

Alma responded to her husband by reminding him that, initially, her father’s best friend rejected and refused her sexual advances but that she didn’t give him a choice and insisted that they have an age-gap affair.

Alma, “No, I didn't give him a choice.”

Frederik, “There's always a choice. It doesn't matter if you wanted him. It doesn't matter if you threw yourself at him. He should have rejected you outright.”

Alma, “No, he did. He did. He refused me.”

Alma confessed that she destroyed a good man with a lie, but her husband replied that it was not a lie, because the truth was that she was underage, but Alma retorted that the truth was that she’s (still) in love with her father’s best friend. 

Alma, “He was a good man, and I destroyed him with a lie.”

Frederik, Alma, it wasn't a lie. You keep thinking he did nothing wrong. You keep blaming yourself. Do you think you can allow yourself to see the truth in that?

Alma, “The truth is that I love him.” 

Interestingly, Frederik put all the blame on the best friend for the illicit affair, and Alma blamed herself, but, some would argue that, in reality, the best friend and Alma were to blame.  

Lastly, per Justin Change and the New Yorker: “After the Hunt” Is a Pleasurably Ludicrous House of Cards (October 3, 2025)

Jerry Fuller's "Young Girl": A Sweet Spot Song Between Romance and Out of Line Desire?

Alex Traub posted on the New York Times “Jerry Fuller, Songwriter of ‘Young Girl’ and ‘Travelin’ Man,’ Is Dead at 85” (Aug. 16, 2024). Interestingly, the subtitle of the post related that Fuller: “[...] found a musical sweet spot between romance and “out of line” desire [...]”

In the piece, Traub wrote that Fuller wrote songs “about lustful desire”, which provided a soundtrack for the sexual revolution of the 1960s. Traub wrote:

Jerry Fuller, [was] a songwriter who helped give the sexual revolution a Top 40 soundtrack [...]

He specialized in love songs, and in songs about lustful desire that sounded like love songs.

Traub related that while working as a music producer at Columbia Records, Fuller saw Gary Puckett perform at a bowling alley. Consequently, Fuller signed Gary Puckett and the Union Gap to Columbia Records. Subsequently, Fuller produced four singles for the American pop rock band, which had a combined sales of over a million copies; however, unsurprisingly, the single that had the most “staying power” was “Young Girl”. Fuller not only produced “Young Girl”, but he wrote the song as well. Traub wrote:

[Fuller] he oversaw the rise to fame of Gary Puckett and the Union Gap.

[...] as a producer for Columbia Records, Mr. Fuller was charged with finding new talent, and he succeeded with Mr. Puckett, whom he came across performing in a San Diego bowling alley [...] he offered to sign Mr. Puckett to Columbia that night.

From the end of 1967 to the end of 1968, Mr. Fuller produced four singles that sold a million or more copies for the band: “Woman, Woman” and three songs he himself wrote — “Young Girl,” “Lady Willpower” and “Over You.”

But none of those songs had the staying power of “Young Girl.”

The “out of line” desire related in the subtitle must be in reference to “Young Girl” (1968). Here’s Traub’s synopsis of the “Young Girl” 

The song tells the story of an older man realizing, in the midst of an intensifying flirtation, that he is with an underage girl. She is “a baby in disguise” — with “perfume and makeup,” she pretends to be “old enough to give me love.” He admonishes her, “Better run, girl,” worried that he will give in to an attraction that is “way out of line.”

In the chorus, the man sings that his love is “way out of line”, because the girl is “much too young”; therefore, he urges her to leave. 

[Chorus]

Young girl, get out of my mind

My love for you is way out of line

Better run, girl

You're much too young, girl

Listeners learned in verse 1 that the girl intentionally misled the man by strategically using the “charms of a woman” to keep her (under) age a secret. Consequently, after learning the truth, the older man was crushed. 

[Verse 1]

With all the charms of a woman

You've kept the secret of your youth

You led me to believe you're old enough

To give me love

And now it hurts to know the truth

Verse 2 revealed that the girl used “perfume and make-up” to keep the secret of her youth. And despite the fact that she knew that it was wrong to be alone with the man, she beckoned him with her young eyes. 

[Verse 2]

Beneath your perfume and make-up

You're just a baby in disguise

And though you know that it's wrong to be

Alone with me

That come-on look is in your eyes

One can infer from verse 3 why the young girl was attracted to the man. The man was powerful. In other words, the man possessed self-control (i.e., power over himself), which, no matter the age, is attractive; however, in the end, he confessed that the allure of a nymphet is powerful as well.

[Verse 3]

So hurry home to your mama

I'm sure she wonders where you are

Get out of here before I have the time

To change my mind

'Cause I'm afraid we'll go too far

Per Genius, Fuller shared that “Young Girl” is based on interactions he had with “14-year-olds [whom] look[ed] like 20-year-olds”. 

The song’s Wikipedia page shows that “Young Girl” “is a RIAA million-selling Gold-certified single” that “hit No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks”. Interestingly, CBS Records re-released the song in 1974 in the UK. Thereby, inducting the “Young Girl” into the "Hall of Fame Hits". 

However, Traub reported that years after its release “Young Girl” and Fuller “drew scorn for its upbeat treatment of a potentially criminal situation.” Consequently, the song “appeared on lists like “10 Songs That Just Aren’t OK Anymore” and [Paste magazine’s] “Secretly Horrifying Song Lyrics”. 

Yet, Traub related that the song drew praise from other listeners. For example, the song has over 19 million views on YouTube, accompanied by a number of “heartfelt tributes” in the comments section, like:

Met a guy in 1971 when I was 17, he was 26. This was our song. Married the guy in 1982. In two weeks we will celebrate our 34th anniversary.

Lastly, Traub shared that in 2018, Puckett and Fuller performed “Young Girl” at a venue near L.A., while the “crowd sang along with them, word for word, during their duet of “Young Girl,” and then gave them a standing ovation.” 

HBO Max's I LOVE LA: An 8th Grader's 28-Year-Old Married Boyfriend!

Here’s HBO Max’s synopsis for I Love LA:

A codependent, ambitious friend group navigates life and love in Los Angeles [...]

One of the members of the friend group is Alani Marcus (True Whitaker). Alani’s dad owns Darcy Avenue Productions, a television production company, where Alani is the VP of Creative Projects; however, Alani confessed that the title was fake and was given to her by her dad. 

On season 01 episode 02 (2025), while visiting her dad's production company, Alani accidentally walked into a meeting, where ideas for a new TV show, “kinda like a Gen Z Clueless” “about growing up in LA [...] set in a private school”, were being discussed. 

Alani stated that she went to Crossroads, a private school in LA, and that she had, “[...] so many amazing stories.” 

Alani was asked to share, “Any specific stories you have about [...] your first kiss in a convertible.” Consequently, Alani shared that when she was an (approximately 13-year-old) 8th-grade private school student, she had a 28-year-old boyfriend named Ryan. Apparently, Alani’s classmates knew about Ryan, because they were jealous of Alani, because Ryan was “so cute”. Not only did Ryan possess jealously inducing good looks, he had a wife and an exhausting child. However, to Alani’s dismay, her age-gap affair ended after Ryan’s wife discovered Alani’s texts, but to console Alani, her father gifted her a convertible. 

Alanis said, “I had my first boyfriend in eighth grade. His name was Ryan. He was so cute. Everyone was, like, so jealous. Yeah, so for our first date, we went to Katsuya Brentwood and got the Omakase [...] Ryan drove us. He was 28. He was a really good driver, but he was always so exhausted ‘cause of his newborn [...] but then his wife, like, found our texts and, like, made him move back to the east coast with her family. That was so sad, because he had to go. My dad got me a convertible! So that's, that's our convertible story, right there.”

Alani reminded me of Joshua Gaylor's Hummingbirds. In the novel, Mrs. Landry, the headmistress at Carmine-Casey, a prep school in Manhattan on Fifth Avenue and Central Park, shared with Mr. Binhammer, an English teacher, that she: “[...] got a call from a parent just two weeks ago giving her ninth-grade daughter permission to leave school when her boyfriend, who is a freshman in college, came to pick her up in his car.”

And the photo in the HBO Max app for I Love LA reminded me of the photo that was posted in the app for Pretty Little Liars: Summer School.

Lastly, critics gave I Love LA an 84% average Tomatometer score. And Nicholas Quah, a Vulture, opined in his post "I Love LA Is Young, Dumb, and Full of Fun" (Nov. 2, 2025) that the series is: "[...] a comedy that’s both precise and unhinged, absurdly funny yet emotionally true [...]" And per Rick Porter of the Hollywood Reporter (Nov. 20, 2025), I Love LA scored a renewal at HBO.

Famous Age-Gap Relationships: Brad Pitt (24) and Shalane McCall (15) | Pitt (26) and Juliette Lewis (16)

Here's IMDb's plot summary for Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood (2019):

A faded television actor [Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio)] and his stunt double [Cliff Booth] strive to achieve fame and success in the film industry during the final years of Hollywood's Golden Age in 1969 Los Angeles.

In the film, the infamous Manson Family played a bloody role. In one scene, Cliff, who was played by 56-year-old Brad Pitt, gave Pussycat (Margaret Qualley), an underage teen member of the Manson Family, a ride to the Spahn Ranch, which was where the Manson Family resided. 

During the ride, possibly as a means of paying her fare, Pussycat asked Cliff , “Want me to suck your cock while driving?” However, Cliff refused Pussycat’s offer, because he didn’t believe that she was, at least, 18. Thereby, Cliff implied that if Pussycat were, at least, 18, he would have allowed her to perform oral while he drove. Interestingly, Pussycat implied that, in general, men didn’t bother to inquire about her age. Here's the dialogue:

Pussycat, “Want me to suck your cock while driving?”

Cliff Booth, “How old are you?”

Pussycat, “What?”

Cliff Booth, “How old are you?”

Pussycat, “Wow, man. First time anybody asked that in a long time.”

Cliff Booth, “What's the answer?”

Pussycat, “Okay, we gonna play kiddie games? Eighteen. Feel better?”

Cliff Booth, “You got some I.D., you know, like, a driver's license or something?”

Pussycat, “Are you joking?”

Cliff Booth, “No, I'm not. I need to see something official that verifies that you're eighteen, which you don't have because you're not.”

Subsequently, in response to having her oral offered refused, Pussycat stated that she was not “too young to fuck” Cliff but that Cliff was “too old to fuck” her. 

Pussycat, “Obviously. I’m not too young to fuck you. But you’re too old to fuck me.”

Shalane McCall and Brad Pitt

In a double bit of art imitating life, back in 1987, 24-year-old Brad Pitt played Randy and 15-year-old Shalane McCall played Charlotte on the prime time soap opera Dallas, where Randy and Charlotte had an age-gap relationship in which they shared an age-gap kiss and love scene. 

In terms of the kiss, Charlotte had Randy over to her house while her parents were away, but to Charlotte’s dismay, her mother and Ray, her step-father, returned home a day early and, consequently, witnessed Charlotte and Randy kissing passionately.

Later, a furious Ray caught Charlotte and Randy making out on the floor of the barn, but Charlotte didn’t understand why Ray was furious, because, as she opined, they were just “fooling around”. 

Reportedly, McCall shared with People magazine (1988) that filming romantic scenes with Pitt (i.e., a much older man) wasn’t awkward. McCall reportedly shared:

“I met him an hour before shooting. But it wasn't awkward. We were laughing and kidding around.”

However, Cherie Holton, McCall’s mother, reportedly related to People that her daughter felt some “anxiety” about kissing Pitt, because McCall was inexperienced. Cherie Holton shared:

“I can tell you there was anxiety on Chellain's part. It's not cool at her age to admit how inexperienced you are. She's only kissed about three boys in her life.”

In the W Magazine piece “Brad Pitt Tries to Find the Music in Each Day” (Jan. 9, 2023), Pitt reminisced over his age-gap love scene with McCall, which he referred to as “frolicking” “in the hay in a barn”.

W Magazine: What was your first love scene?

Pitt: It would have been in the show Dallas. I had to roll around in the hay in a barn. I don’t think I had a line. I was just rolling and frolicking.

Juliette Lewis and Brad Pitt

Brad Pitt and Shalane McCall had an age-gap affair off-screen as well. They openly dated for about a year until, at the age of 17, McCall married the musician Trent Valladares. And in 1989, 26-year-old Pitt started dating 16-year-old Juliette Lewis. 

Amanda (Juliette Lewis) "Too Young to Die?"

Pitt and Lewis met on the set of Too Young to Die?. In the film, Lewis played Amanda, a 15-year-old sex worker, who had an age-gap relationship with her pimp Billy (Pitt) and with Mike (≈ 34-year-old Michael O'Keefe). 

Rain (Juliette Lewis) "Husbands and Wives"

Interestingly, a year before Lewis and Pitt ended their age-gap affair, Lewis played Rain in Woody Allen's Husbands and Wives (1992). In the film, Rain had an age-gap affair with Gabe Roth (Woody Allen), her Columbia College literature professor. And she had age-gap affairs with her friend’s father, her father's business partner, and with her analyst. 

Claudia (Kirsten Dunst) and Louis (Pitt) "Interview with the Vampire"

Lastly, a year after Pitt and Lewis broke up, Pitt played Louis in Interview with the Vampire (1994) In the film, Louis and Lestat (Tom Cruise) conspired to turn Claudia (Kirsten Dunst) into a vampire. While Lestat and Claudia’s relationship was platonic, Louis and Claudia's relationship was physical. So much so that in a scene, which is controversial to this day, Claudia (i.e., 11-year-old Dunst) passionately kissed Louis (i.e., ≈ 30-year-old Pitt).