Much has been made recently of the trend for Hollywood A-Listers to go for geeks.
It appears that our favorite members of Tinseltown are abandoning the bright lights of Beverly Hills, packing their Louis Vuitton luggage and heading to Silicon Valley – first class, of course – to seek out nerds to cohabit with.
The social status of geeks has changed. Here come the TWAGs (Tech Wives and Girlfriends), we are warned. Being a co-founder is this decade’s equivalent to fronting a band, we are informed.
But this overlooks the fact that geeks have always been in and they have always made better boyfriends than rowdy rock stars or egotistical actors. Silicon Valley has simply opened up a new pond for the supermodels to fish in.
And boy are they casting their nets wide.
Take Miranda Kerr, one of the world’s highest-earning models. Her former boyfriends include actors Orlando Bloom and Leonardo DiCaprio. But last month she announced her engagement to Snapchat founder Evan Spiegel. A spokesman for the couple revealed – insightfully – that ‘they are very happy.’
Emma Watson, the 26-year-old Harry Potter actress, is dating William “Mack” Knight, a software company manager. Another actress, Talulah Riley, was married to Elon Musk, product architect of Tesla Motors Inc. Teslas are the hottest cars in the world right now, and Musk has the arm candy to prove it. Like any good geek, following his divorce, he wasn’t single for long. Rumor has it he has recently hooked up with actress Amber Heard, following her acrimonious divorce from actor Johnny Depp.
Then there’s one of the UK’s most beloved supermodels, Lily Cole. Cole, 28, has sourced her partners from Silicon Valley for years. Not only did she reportedly trip the light fantastic with Twitter founder Jack Dorsey back in 2013, but more recently she has had a baby with Kwame Ferreira, founder of digital agency Kwamecorp. No wonder she’s been labeled a “founder-hounder.”
And don’t forget Uber co-founder Travis Cordell Kalanick, who has been linked to actress and health guru Gwyneth Paltrow. Supermodel Karlie Kloss, currently dating Joshua Kushna, co-founder of Oscar Insurance and Managing Partner of investment firm Thrive Capital, shed light on why geeks are sexy. “I love to meet entrepreneurs,” Kloss told The Sunday Times.
“They’re creators in a similar sort of way to fashion designers, but the fabric and thread of their creations are built in code. It’s using technology to create — but the power is democratized because the currency is ideas. It’s amazing.”
But geeks have always made better boyfriends. Marilyn Monroe knew it – she was married to the devilishly handsome and remarkably clever playwright Arthur Miller in 1956. Apple co-founder, chairman and chief executive Steve Jobs married beauty Laurene Powell in 1991. Similarly, supermodel Claudia Schiffer knew that geeks were great: she dated nerdy illusionist David Copperfield, cutting loose from red-carpet regulars.
Silicon Valley, along with the rise in dominance of tech and, more specifically, apps, has merely opened up new hunting ground for geeks-lovers.
But why are geeks hotter property than ever before at the moment? The saying goes that men want to be loved for their bodies and women want to be loved for their brains. Take Monroe – sold as a product, a commodity, used by Hollywood to promote sex.
In settling with Miller, she was rebelling against the fickle nature of Hollywood. She wanted to be seen as more than a body and strove to be recognized for her intellect.
We see the same thing happening today. In Hollywood – a world in which calories are counted, Botox is injected, and the glare of the camera is never far away – it is increasingly difficult to differentiate oneself. Going geek is a great way of doing so.
Furthermore, mystery – or the Unknown – is timelessly sexy. Silicon Valley, and the men that dwell there, represent the Unknown to the superdupermodels. Coding and catwalks are light years apart.
In the 1980s and 1990s superstars dated rock stars (Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Helena Christensen and Vanessa Paradis being serial offenders). But now we (and alas I speak for womankind rather than supermodel-kind) don’t really want boyfriends that throw televisions out of windows, or fill the bed with other women. Geeks are great: they work hard, and they come home at night.
I have good news for any ladies reading this who want their own geek. Unlike rock stars, you are within reach of your very own cash-rich nerd – and you don’t have to shell out on a ticket to Silicon Valley either. More and more dating sites, specifically for entrepreneurs and founders, are cropping up, such as Founderdating.com and Entrepreneurdate.com.
Failing that, there’s always the tech department at work that is sure to supply a certain smorgasbord of potential partners.
Of course, we all want a happy ending. The lights of Tinseltown are fading as the horizons of Silicon Valley are increasingly beckoning. Geeks will always be in, just like mystery will always be sexy. Let’s hope there will be some of them left over for us mere mortals.
