Sally Jessy Raphael on Dating at 90: ‘I’ve Settled on Somebody’

While Sally Jessy Raphael has been alive for nine decades, she isn’t slowing down her love life.

In an interview published in People on Tuesday, May 13, the 90-year-old retired talk show host told the outlet she’s “settled on somebody” in terms of dating and still craves intimacy.

“When you’re 90, [people] don’t think that you have sex. I guess most people don’t think that a person 90 would have sex, but they believe that,” she remarked. “It’s like I saw that ‘Doctor Odyssey’ thing on cougars. Cougars are always 50- to a 30-year-old, 50 woman, 30 man. When you’re a 90 woman to a 70 man, then you’re not a cougar. You’re a lion, I guess.”

Raphael shared her thoughts on the notion that older women prefer to be alone.

“But there are a lot of men out there. The women who say they aren’t interested in a man as they get older, they like their freedom. I think they’re lying,” she stated. “I think it’s because they don’t want to make the effort. It does take an effort to find someone.”

In February, Raphael reached a milestone birthday, turning 90 years old. One of her celebrations included jetting off to Paris with friends. However, she told the outlet she wished she could experience the city of love with a man.

“We had a very good time. We went to two or three museums and not much shopping. I was with two women,” she explained. “Actually, I should have gone with a man because it’s romantic, but I went with two women. So it was good.”

The famed journalist was married twice. First, she wed Andrew Vladimir in 1956, but the pair eventually divorced. She tied the knot with Karl Soderlund in 1963 and was with him until he passed in 2020.

Regardless of who she is romantically involved with, the TV personality made it clear that at her age, she has “no one to please.”

“You don’t care what you wear. You can wear anything. You don’t care what you say. You can say anything,” she told People. “Not caring about people and what they think is the best thing for getting older.”