Birds in gilded cages

When I was about five years old, my grandma used to sing a song to me that went: 
"She's only a bird in a gilded cage, 
 A beautiful sight to see. 
 You may think she's happy and free from care,
She's not, though she seems to  be.”
Of course, in my naivety (& youth) I assumed it was a song about a little bird who didn’t wish to live in a cage. 
As the years went by I forgot the song but it has reappeared in my mind lately. 
There has been a newspaper story (scandal?) concerning a pretty young girl who was bashed by her “fiancé”, who just so happened to be a big name in the sporting world. He was 49, she 24. He, a rather unpleasant looking man, with a down-turned mouth and thinning (dyed) hair and a string of ex-wives and partners. She an attractive blonde (possibly, “of course”) with a pretty face, that was shown on the television news in all its bruised  state.
 Why do girls and women pair up with these men? Is it  the money? The “power” of celebrity? Or simply the need to be noticed as someone “important”? Do many young people think that their life matters only if they are considered to be of “celebrity”status?
 Part of the little song  goes:
A girl to her lover then softly sighed,
"There's riches at her command."
"But she married for wealth, not for love," he cried!
"Though she lives in a mansion grand."
 There are examples of such women on the arms of billionaires; women who are (perhaps obviously) there because of the money.
Sports “stars” often have “trophy women”as their WAGs (wives and girlfriends)  and many of them appear somewhat mismatched to the average eye.
But, this is not a new phenomenon.
The little song I quoted at the beginning of this blog was written in 1899 and became (in 1900) the most popular song of that
year.
I quote one more line from the song:
“And her beauty was sold for an old man's gold…”, 
Is that sad – or  stupid?
Just  wondering.