Celebrity Couples With Bigger Age Gaps Than You Thought
Many factors go into having a successful marriage, including commitment, trust, and communication, among other things. Some people may even say that one important metric is age, with couples who have just a few years between each other seemingly having more things in common, such as being in similar phases in their lives. Per Glamour, pairings closer in age may be more likely to grow in their careers and plan out their futures together. However, when it comes to Hollywood, age doesn't seem like much of a factor at all.
As the old adage goes: age is just a number ... and it is especially true for the couples below. We're not just talking celebrity partners with a five-to-10-year age difference, either. Some of these famous couples have over a 20-year — to even an over whopping 40-year — age gap, and they may have lasted a lot longer than most people would have expected. While the following relationships might seem surprising or questionable on the surface, these showbiz romances are truly the real deal. These are the celebrity couples with bigger age gaps than you thought.
Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones
Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones' 25-year age gap was the talk of the town when the actors began dating in the late '90s. However, the two stars proved that their romance was real when they tied the knot in November 2000 and welcomed two children together. While the couple briefly split in 2013, it didn't last long. Surely, this marriage is one of the most successful to come out of Hollywood, with the stars generously sharing their secrets to how they have come out on top.
In 2001, Zeta-Jones told Larry King why choosing to be with a man a quarter-century older than her never bothered her nor her loved ones. "When my mother was telling me about men and telling me the facts of life, she never actually put an age bracket on it. And it's so funny because Michael and my parents are the same age," she said. "So they — my parents, when they see us together, they never question that there was a 25-year age difference."
Talking about her long-lasting marriage to Douglas, Zeta-Jones shared with WSJ Magazine in 2021 that while their large age gap is "not a secret" to anyone, the "constant" in their relationship is "love and respect." The star added, "We've never, ever lost our sense of humor, and we enjoy each other's company. ... We respect each other's space, and our humor is just long-lasting."
Dennis Quaid and Laura Savoie
Actor Dennis Quaid raised eyebrows when he began dating PhD student Laura Savoie, who is 39 years his junior. People reported that the pair began dating in May 2019 after meeting at a business event, and for Quaid, it was kismet that brought them together.
Quaid and Savoie eloped in June 2020 after their Hawaiian wedding was canceled due to the coronavirus. And with all that talk about his much younger wife, Quaid admitted on the "Today" show that the pair don't think about their huge age gap one bit. "There's 30-something years between us, and we just don't even notice it," he said. "We never related to someone in my life better than we do. We have such a great relationship and, you know, love finds a way, wherever it is."
The actor is also confident that his marriage to Savoie is the real deal and his last, following his previous unions with P.J. Soles, Meg Ryan, and Kimberly Buffington, per People. He shared to The Guardian, "I didn't go out looking for an age gap or someone really younger than me. ... You have no control over who you fall in love with. I don't fall in love easy. But I can't let what a few people think control all that. I've been married three times and this is the final one, I know it is. I feel like I have a real partner in life."
Sarah Paulson and Holland Taylor
Sarah Paulson and Holland Taylor kept their relationship under wraps when they began dating in 2015, but the "American Horror Story" actor opened up about their romance just a year later and discussed their 32-year age difference that became highly talked about.
Paulson shared with The New York Times, "My choices in romantic partners have not been conventional, and therefore the idea that it's 'other' makes it compelling ... what I can say absolutely is that I am in love, and that person happens to be Holland Taylor." Speaking about their large age gap, she said, "I think there's a greater appreciation of time and what you have together and what's important, and it can make the little things seem very small."
Since then, both women have gushed about one another in interviews, with Taylor telling Sirius XM's "Sandyland," "[The relationship] has to be part of what is the most wonderful thing in my life ... the whole embrace of this wonderful relationship, which makes everything else make sense." Paulson won't stand for anyone talking negatively about her relationship, either, as she bluntly stated to Harper's Bazaar, "Anybody that says anything about any person I love in a way that is disrespectful or cruel and I want to cut a b****."
Steven Tyler and Aimee Preston
A 39-year age gap didn't deter Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and Aimee Preston from taking their relationship to the next level. Tyler and Preston became exclusive in 2016 after she had worked for the rockstar as a personal assistant, per People. As of this writing, they are still going strong and sharing plenty of PDA moments on social media.
According to Yahoo!, before Preston found herself working for the lead singer, she worked as a personal assistant with the Trump Organization and later moved on to working as Victoria Beckham's assistant. With their relationship going public, she and Tyler have walked several red carpets together, even attending events with his adult children. In 2018, Tyler and Preston attended the frontman's Inaugural Janie's Fund Gala & Grammy Viewing Party with his daughter, Chelsea, and her husband, Jon Foster, per AOL. In 2019, the lovebirds made an appearance at Liv Tyler's movie premiere for "Ad Astra." Tyler is also the father to a daughter named Mia and a son Taj, per Daily Mail.
For his part, Steve Tyler doesn't hide his affections for Preston. In 2020, he shared a touching birthday post to his girlfriend on Instagram with a photo of the two sharing a laugh alongside a caption that read, "The only way out is through ... Happy Birthday @theaimeeann My love ... I love you for being by my side all this time ... Such a crazy ride ... through thick and thin."
Dane Cook and Kelsi Taylor
There is no age limit on love when it comes to comedian Dane Cook and Kelsi Taylor, who have a 26-year age gap. While the pair have been going strong since 2017, Cook has had to constantly defend his relationship with his much younger girlfriend.
Cook first introduced fans to Taylor on his Instagram, where he shared a photo of her and told his followers to check out her music. Since then, both Cook and Taylor have posted countless photos on social media, including going to baseball games and celebrating the holidays together, with Taylor sharing in a snapshot of the two smiling big and captioning it, "This definitely sums up our relationship. Lots of laughs + lots of love."
The stand-up comic did address the age gap between himself and Taylor while on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" in 2018. He jokingly told the host, "Here's the thing. I love her, she is the kindest, sweetest, just my favorite — my best friend. And sometimes I actually find myself saying, 'Where has she been all my life?' and then I realize she wasn't alive for the first 26 years of it. ... People are like, 'You're robbing the cradle.' I was like, 'She hasn't slept in the cradle for like nine years, relax.'"
Sir Patrick Stewart and Sunny Ozell
Sir Patrick Stewart once jokingly admitted that his wife Sunny Ozell's father is comfortable calling the "Star Trek" actor his "son" ... even though Stewart is five years older than him. The couple has a whopping 39-year age gap and that doesn't bother them one bit, and it doesn't appear to bother Ozell's dad, either.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Stewart shared that his father-in-law "rings me up and says, 'Hey son, it's your father here.'" Ozell also opened up about meeting Stewart's children from his previous marriage to Sheila Falconer, who are both older than the singer-songwriter. "That was the territory I trod on very lightly," she explained. "I didn't want to force myself on them but they were very welcoming." The legendary actor's wife doesn't believe their large age gap matters, either, saying, "He is so youthful and I guess I'm kind of an old worrywart so we bridge the gap. It doesn't come up much. He's in better shape than me, which infuriates me."
During a joint interview on "The Graham Norton Show," the couple shared how they were keeping busy and staying sane while quarantining together during the coronavirus in 2020. "We're wonderful," Ozell said. "We're super fortunate and, you know, he's doing his puzzles and I'm doing a lot of cooking, and we're reading and we're catching up on television."
Mel Gibson and Rosalind Ross
Mel Gibson probably became a true believer in the saying, "Age ain't nothing but a number," after he began dating his girlfriend, Rosalind Ross, who is 35 years his junior. The "Passion of the Christ" star and Ross have been going strong since 2014, but he has had to defend his relationship with his younger partner to the press.
Speaking to the Mirror, Gibson stated, "Regarding age and relationships, it's just a number. We dig each other. She is an adult and we dig each other." Admitting that "it might cause a problem and one has a trepidation about these things," he added, "It's working out great. She is a really special person. I dig her. So there you go. That's it. What more can one ask?" Gibson and Ross solidified the seriousness of their relationship when they welcomed a son named Lars in 2017. He is the actor's ninth child after having seven children with his ex-wife, Robyn Moore, and a daughter with ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva.
Florence Pugh and Zach Braff
Florence Pugh was forced to defend her relationship with Zach Braff after online trolls criticized the couple's 21-year age difference. In April 2020, the "Hawkeye" star shared a touching 45th birthday tribute for her boyfriend on Instagram, but her comments section was anything but sweet, leading Pugh to return to Instagram to share a video about bullying a few days later.
She explained that she disabled the comments section on the specific post after about "70% of the comments" were "hurling abuse and being horrid." The actor believed she also had to defend her relationship with Braff when she stated, "I am 24 years old. I do not need you to tell me who I should and should not love." In July 2021, Pugh yet again spoke out about the criticisms she's received over their romance, telling The Times, "I think it bugs people that it's not who they expected. But it's my life and I'm not doing anything to please people or to make it a better headline or story. I want to also be a person!"
Despite all the negative attention their relationship has unfortunately gotten, this celeb pairing has continued to show support one another's careers on social media. In July 2021, for example, Braff shared a drawing of Pugh in her "Black Widow" role and urged fans to watch the film, while Pugh cheered on his Emmy nomination for directing "Ted Lasso" on her Instagram Stories, per Us Weekly.
Mick Jagger and Melanie Hamrick
The Rolling Stone's lead vocalist Mick Jagger has been linked to many women over the years, with his most profound relationships being with famous women like Marianne Faithfull, Marsha Hunt, and Jerry Hall. It's even been written in the rockstar's biography, "Mick," by author Christopher Andersen that Jagger has had as many as 4,000 sexual encounters with women "over the course of his life," per Extra.
However, Jagger seemed to have settled down in 2014, when it was reported that he was in a relationship with ballet dancer Melanie Hamrick. When the two began dating, the "Paint It Black" singer was 71 years old, while Hamrick was 27. The couple's over 40-year age gap didn't seem to play a factor in their blossoming romance, as they cemented their relationship by welcoming a son named Deveraux Octavian Basil Jagger in December 2016, according to CNN. That makes baby number eight for the iconic musician.
While these two have been relatively private about their romance, Hamrick does post photos of their little boy on Instagram. In December 2021, for example, she shared two pics of Deveraux celebrating his fifth birthday. Her social media photos alongside Jagger may be slim, but the dancer did post a touching snapshot of the pair embracing their son in July 2021, which she sweetly captioned alongside a heart emoji, "Feeling all the love today."
David Hasselhoff and Hayley Roberts
David Hasselhoff once had some reservations before getting serious with his now-wife, model Hayley Roberts, because of their 28-year age difference. But ultimately, 2018 saw the two wed in an intimate Puglia, Italy ceremony.
According to The Sun, Hasselhoff shed more light on why he previously contemplated letting Roberts go. "To be honest, the reason I haven't got married yet is because I know it's not going to be a perfect relationship. We're not going to grow old together, let's face it," the "Baywatch" alum shared, adding, "Sometimes I think I have enough to say, 'Go and find a man of your age and have a life. We had a great time and we love each other but ... that would be horrible and it would probably take years to get over.'"
However, during the same year of their nuptials, he revealed why he didn't let their nearly three-decade age difference get in the way, telling Metro, "We've been together for about seven years and we've had such a great time. I realized how much I love Hayley and how much we've become part of each other's life." The couple's wedding made the front page of Ok! magazine, where Hasselhoff shared that his two daughters from a previous relationship, Taylor and Haley, were accepting of their marriage: "They know Hayley and they know she makes me happy and they know that I need her as much as she needs me — I actually need her more. All they want is for me to be happy — I'm blessed."
Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson
Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson were first romantically linked when the reality star hosted "Saturday Night Live" in 2021, where the pair shared a kiss after they performed an "Aladdin" skit. Soon after, rumors spread that the two, who have a 13-year age gap, were an item.
One of their first public outings came a couple weeks later, when they enjoyed a day at an amusement park with Kourtney Kardashian and her beau, Travis Barker. However, People confirmed that they were "just friends" at the time. The next month, the pair were spotted holding hands near Kim's momager Kris Jenner's house, which appeared to confirm their relationship, per the Daily Mail. Since then, Kardashian has been seen visiting Davidson's hometown in Staten Island, New York, where they enjoyed a movie night in December and were later spotted dining at a nearby restaurant with Scott Disick. The owner later shared a selfie with the stars on Instagram.
To further fuel their romance status, Kardashian did playfully admit that Davidson was her "favorite 'SNL' cast member" when she appeared on the "Honestly with Bari Weiss" podcast. As of this writing, Kardashian has moved forward with her divorce from Ye (formally known as Kanye) West after almost seven years of marriage, per TMZ. As for Davidson's past relationships, he's been linked to the likes of Kate Beckinsale (who's 20 years his senior) and famously shared a whirlwind engagement with Ariana Grande.
Lorenzo Lamas and Kenna Nicole Smith
Lorenzo Lamas has had five short-lived marriages throughout his life, but his engagement to Kenna Nicole Smith seems to prove that he wasn't giving up on love. The actor proposed to Smith, who's 27 years his junior, in Las Vegas in February 2021, and his heartfelt message on Instagram showed just how much the couple is the real deal.
Utilizing the "how it started" and "how it's going" meme structure, Lamas shared side-by-side photos of the couple enjoying a drink together and then lying in bed as Smith showed off her huge engagement ring. His caption read in part, "Since our first embrace, she's held me captive. She fills my heart with feelings I've never felt, dreams I've never had and wishes I've never thought of." According to People, they only dated for 10 months before Lamas popped the question. The actor also changed his Facebook status to engaged and wrote (via CNN), "It is a love like no other and we look forward to the day we become husband and wife. Sometimes love waits for the stars to align and two soul paths to intersect. We are ecstatic!"
Showing just how much Lamas had found "the one," the couple also got matching tattoos after celebrating their engagement. A photo on his Instagram features the duo showing off their finger tattoos, with the actor having "KL" tattooed with a heart, while Smith tattooed the initials "LL" with a heart on her finger.
David Foster and Katharine McPhee Foster
David Foster and Katharine McPhee Foster first met when the singer was on "American Idol" in 2006. Katharine was the runner-up for her season, and the legendary music producer helped coach the aspiring singer. Though the two were initially with other people — with David even attending Katharine's wedding to Nick Cokas in 2008 — they found themselves reuniting and becoming more than friends shortly after McPhee's divorce from Cokas and Foster's divorce from Yolanda Hadid.
But it might have been a shock to fans to see these two stars romantically involved because of their 35-year age difference. Katharine openly discussed how people may have perceived their relationship at first, sharing on "Dr. Berlin's Informed Pregnancy" podcast, "We all have the ability to label things and to look at something for the way that it looks or face value and make a judgment. So I totally get the judgment initially, but ... things are never exactly as they appear, and I'm in love with our story, and that's all that matters."
David has also addressed the couple's large age gap with USA Today, stating, "Look, we have haters on social media, and there's not a person around that's not going to make some comment about the age difference. But there are so many things that can bring a marriage down ... and one of them is age difference, but that's our only problem. Everything else is in line, so it's not going to bring us down." The couple eventually got married in 2019 and welcomed a son in February 2021.
Sam and Aaron Taylor-Johnson
Sam and Aaron Taylor-Johnson have been married since 2012, which almost seems like a milestone in Hollywood — and while fans would love for the couple to share their secrets to a successful marriage, most people have talked about their 23-year age difference instead.
According to The Guardian, the actor and director first met when Aaron was 19 years old and Sam was 42 on the set of her film, "Nowhere Boy." There appeared to be an instant spark between the stars because they tied the knot just a few years later and have since welcomed two daughters. Speaking about her newfound love in 2015, Sam shared, "It was so amazing to fall crazily in love and get married and have kids. I didn't really think about it. I was so not interested in my career. Being in an amazing relationship, having come out of a difficult one, it felt so good." The filmmaker also has two other daughters from her previous marriage to Jay Jopling.
The couple has addressed their age difference before, with Sam once telling The Hollywood Reporter, "If I gave a second thought to other people, I would be the unhappiest person, probably still in a miserable marriage. People like to talk about it I'm like, 'Yeah, but it works better than my last marriage.' It's lasted longer than a lot of my friends' marriages." In June 2021, the longtime couple further let their haters know just how dedicated they were to one another with matching tattoos.