Fire Country Star Diane Farr opens up about ‘age-gap romance’ in Hollywood

Fire Country star Diane Farr is speaking out about an overlooked issue in Hollywood and opens up about the ‘age-gap romance’. The actress, 54, wrote an op-ed published in Entertainment Weekly on Thursday about the importance of casting middle age women. She further talked about casting them in roles their own age and opposite male costars of the same age. The performer, who portrays Sharon Leone on the hit CBS series, notes that much of the popularity of the show has been attributed to her chemistry with Billy Burke, who plays her partner Vince Leone on the show. She reasons that Burke, 57, is also a rare costar she’s worked with who has been close in age to her.Farr says, “This the norm on American TV, and even less when you consider we are both over 50. Age parity — hiring women who are the age a character is written, and within the same decade as their male costar — has yet to become a standard in film and TV, or even a consideration despite movement toward racial, gender, sexual orientation, and pay parity.”She further talks about pay parity and mentions, “On the other eight shows, my love interests were 10 years older; 20 years older; and, twice, older than my father at 25 years my senior,” she writes. “And none achieved the same success.” In the piece, Farr also recounts an experience in which she was struggling to find work after she left Numb3rs to stay home with her children. At the time, she had become pregnant with twins shortly after the birth of her firstborn at 41.