Move Over Hulk Hogan: Linda Hogan’s Cougarmania Runs Wild!
By Jesse Castleman
In Hulkamania’s aftermath, Hulk Hogan (Terry Bollea) and his ex-wife Linda are officially moving on from their, according to Hogan, “toxic and very negative marriage,” as both are officially engaged to younger, albeit creepily similar-looking versions of each other.
Terry Bollea married Linda Claridge on December 18, 1983. They have a daughter named Brooke (born May 5, 1988) and a son named Nick (born July 27, 1990). After 24 years of marriage, Linda filed for divorce, allegedly because Terry cheated on her with their daughter Brooke’s friend.
It was revealed that Terry had an affair with 33 year-old Christiane Plante in 2007 while his family was in the process of shooting a season of VH1’s Hogan Knows Best.
Plante, who worked with Brooke on her debut album in 2006, acknowledged her affair with Terry in an interview with The National Enquirer. She claimed that, “Terry and Linda privately knew that their marriage was ending” at the time of the affair, and that “Linda had left [Terry] already, although no [divorce] papers had been filed yet.” (Elly, 2008) Linda officially filed for divorce on November 20, 2007. A year later, Linda revealed that Terry’s affair was the ultimate cause of the divorce.
Considering their marriage was apparently already on the rocks, something must have happened for Linda to leave Terry prior to his affair. Terry has reported that Linda had been using drugs in the waning years of their marriage.
Could Linda’s immature desire to get high or drunk take its toll on Terry’s patience with her?
Immediately after filing for divorce, Linda began a relationship with 19 year-old Charlie Hill, who was a student at Brooke and Nick’s high school. Brooke and Nick were both disgusted at the thought of their mother dating one of their classmates.
Terry was not too pleased seeing a 20 year-old driving his former cars around town or living in his old house, either.
Linda was 48 at this relationship’s bloom. To put this into perspective, the Urban Dictionary defines a cougar as, “a 35+ year old female who is on the “hunt” for a much younger, energetic, willing-to-do-anything male” (as described by cougargeiger).
Linda, now 50, most definitely would fall under this category.
Considering Linda has a solid decade-plus on the standard 35 year-old age range of most cougars, its fair game to introduce an advanced concept to the discussion at hand. My girlfriend enjoys analyzing the “cougar movement” and delves into the subject’s complexities as if she was the author of “Cougars for Dummies.” She classifies cougars based on age range, desires, and relationship aspects for sport.
My girlfriend would classify this woman as a “puma.”
As a puma pounces on a young lion cub in domination, Linda has pounced on and pinned young Charlie, trapping him inside her lion’s den. In non-metaphoric language, Linda Claridge is an attractive older woman on the rebound from an unhappy marriage to America’s most beloved sport entertainer. As crazy as it sounds that a 50 year-old woman is dating a young man 30 years younger than she is, Linda is now reported to be engaged to the now 21 year-old Hill.
According to The National Enquirer, Linda will marry Charlie next summer aboard her new yacht, appropriately named “Alimoney.”
And why shouldn’t Linda act on her pumability? Relationships and age gaps have strutted in stride throughout history. Henry VIII had six wives in the sixteenth century. More recently, Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones linked up with a gap of 25 years between them. Hell, if Hugh Hefner can date 20 year-olds, why can’t Linda?
But let me tell you something, brother, the Hulkster has found a new partner to run wild on too.
In late 2009, Terry proposed to platinum blonde Jennifer McDaniel, a northern Kentucky-born, divorced former Cincinnati Airport-based Delta ticketing agent and Ft. Lauderdale stripper. Terry praises his new fiancée for her free spirit and religious disposition. Jennifer, who is defended as a “real nice girl” by multiple sources on right pundits, is 36 years of age.
Even if their new squeezes resemble their former other halves, the important thing is that Linda and Terry are moving on and, presumably, happy.