There is nothing that attract the bitter envy of trollers in the virtual space more than the sight of celebrities’ happiness! When birthday boy Milind Soman took to Instagram to share photographs from the vacation he is currently on with girlfriend, Ankita Konwar, even he might not have been prepared for the hate that poured in! The sight of the 52-year-old actor, marathon runner holidaying in Oslo and Tromso with his partner, who is rumoured to be 18 or 23, was evidently too much for the ‘guardians of morality’ to handle. Reason? The rather large age gap between him and Ankita, who is an air hostess, and also a marathon runner like her beau. Nevermind that the duo look absolutely content with life, as they pose for ‘mirror selfies’ and such cutesy stuff, Soman has been basically adjudged a creep for dating the ‘young enough to be his daughter’ Ankita.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BbJf-u9AFLU/?hl=en&taken-by=milindrunning

https://www.instagram.com/p/BaGuw5GggFK/?hl=en&taken-by=milindrunning

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZ0mQi_glNe/?hl=en&taken-by=milindrunning

Here’s a small sampling of the condemnation that came in…

“Amitabh Bachchan and Tabu were “Ageless Wonders” in Cheeni Kum because she wasn’t a teenager, she was a mature woman. This is disgusting.”

“50 year old man/woman dating someone in their teens is just plain wrong on so many levels. Take Milind Soman out of this and think normally.”

“I’m sorry but he’s a pedo in my eyes.”

“How do good looks offset borderline cradle snatching?”

“When you're an older man, regardless of fame but very much compounded by it, you have more power than a literal teenager.”

“Old dudes with barely legal women is gross no matter how you want to spin it.”

Even as the outraged Twitterati largely took up cudgels on behalf of Ankita – does she want to be defended in the first place? – we seriously doubt this will make one tiny bit of difference to Milind Soman’s scheme of things. You think he isn’t aware of this mammoth age-gap already and all it entails? It’s something he evidently thrives on! Remember Mylene Jampanoi, the French co-star of his film, Valley of Flowers, whom he was married to for three years? Well, she was 15 years his junior. And then came Shahana Goswami, who was a whopping 21 years younger than him.

When the man and his girl are willing, who is anyone to play disapproving priest!