This Celeb Couple Had One Of The Most Sizeable Age Gaps In Old Hollywood

Age-gap relationships are nothing new in Hollywood, but some stars' age differences have certainly been more yikes-worthy than others. Case in point: Charlie Chaplin, who married Oona O'Neill in 1943. She was only a teenager and he was in his 50s. 

Some may know Charlie married several times, each time to a woman young enough to be his daughter. Only his third was in her early 20s at the time they wed. Oona was his fourth (and final) wife. She was 17 when she met Charlie, who was in his early 50s. Granted, when they first met, it'd been strictly professional. Oona's agent called Charlie to set up a dinner, hoping she'd score a role in the Hollywood legend's film, "Shadow and Substance." After initial hesitation, Charlie gave Oona the part, and though the movie was never made, they got to know one another and fell in love. 

Of course, the fact that Charlie and Oona had such a massive age gap did present a problem, and the movie star wrote in "My Autobiography," "At first I was afraid of the discrepancy in our ages" (via Internet Archive). Ultimately, the couple decided it wasn't enough of a problem for them to end things (and more specifically, Oona was said to be "resolute"), but not everyone was so nonchalant when the actor announced his plans to marry 18-year-old Oona. Her playwright father, Eugene O'Neill, wrote a letter to a friend saying he believed it was all nothing more than a stunt. Per "Oona: Living in the Shadows," he referred to Oona as a "cheap publicity grabber," lamenting the fact that he was the same age as Charlie, but musing the star was "probably older, for what actor gives out his real age[?]" (via Internet Archive). Yikes.

There are age-gap marriages, and there are marriages where one party is younger than the other's kids and we guess we have to give Oona O'Neill and Charlie Chaplin some credit here. After all, Oona wasn't younger than his oldest son, Charlie Chaplin Jr. She was the same age. To make matters worse, both Charlie Jr. and his brother Sydney became friendly with Oona when she began taking acting lessons with their dad... and both developed a crush on her. 

Per "Oona: Living in the Shadows," Charlie Jr. wrote of his future stepmother, "Her name sounds like a spring breeze — as ethereal, as lovely as the girl herself" (via Internet Archive). Charlie Jr. also penned, "There was a calm about her, a native sweetness that drew Syd and me to her." But Sydney knew better than to get his hopes up, and in a note to Charlie Jr., pointed out, "We might as well lay off. Oona has eyes for dad."

Despite their massive age gap, it certainly does seem as though Charlie and Oona were ideally suited to one another. After all, they went on to have a whopping eight kids together, including a son when Charlie was in his 70s. Perhaps unsurprisingly given how big their brood was, Charlie and Oona also welcomed several grandchildren, including granddaughter Oona Chaplin (of "Game of Thrones" fame). Charlie also dedicated his 1964 autobiography to his wife, writing in one passage, "I have the good fortune to be married to a wonderful wife. I wish I could write more about this, but it involves love, and perfect love is the most beautiful frustrations because it is more than one can express." Maybe age really is just a number.