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Singer Billy Corgan believes his 26-year age gap with his wife, Chloe Mendel, has been a huge “advantage” to their relationship.
The Smashing Pumpkins frontman explained on Thursday’s New York Times’ “Popcast” episode that he struggles to relate to “broken” women of his generation.
“I think a lot of women born in the ‘90s [like Mendel], given the societal changes, [saw the] proper rise of feminism as a way to balance properly a lot of things,” Corgan told listeners.
He continued, “Because so many women of our generation were going through that without a lot of help and coming out of a lot of abuse, it was harder to put those pieces together if you’re broken and they’re broken.”
The guitarist, 59, said he met a “lot of broken women along the way” before his romance with Mendel, 34, began in 2012.
“When I met my wife and having that gap, she just wasn’t affected by those same politics,” he recalled. “She just had a different version.”
Corgan added, “She had a different sense of self-confidence, and then, you know, her youth was an advantage because she hadn’t been wounded like so many people are because you just go through life and you get wounded.
“I had the advantage of somebody who was really open to love and the possibility, and for whatever reason, [she] just decided not to judge me for who I was, particularly, in that moment,” he said.
The couple, notably, were introduced by a mutual friend when Mendel was 19 and Corgan was 44.
They got engaged in 2022 and wed the following September at their home in Highland Park, Illinois.
The couple share three children — son Augustus Juppiter, 10, and daughters Philomena Clementine, 8, and Juno Delphine, 1.
The duo documented their nuptials in their 2024 reality show, “Billy Corgan’s Adventures in Carnyland.”
When the show was released, Corgan said he believes viewers got an authentic look into their relationship.
“It is interesting, for the first time after a 12-year relationship, to open the doors and … show our actual dynamic,” he gushed to ScreenRant in 2024.
“People have often speculated — particularly given our age difference — what that dynamic is like, and I think the show really shows that we’re partners in life,” he said at the time. “We really are a 50/50 endeavor here.”
He also praised Mendel as an “amazing mother,” as well as a fantastic designer and businessperson.