We’re well aware of the tired trend of men in Hollywood trading in their first wives for women twenty years their junior but these guys aren’t the only ones pursuing younger partners!
As it turns out, many more of our favorite celebrity couples actually feature an age gap in the less-often-discussed direction, à la Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes, and Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade are just a few examples of star pairings in which celebrities have married or are dating older women, and in this industry, that is certainly something worth celebrating.
We’re focusing on couples who are still together but we have to give an honorable mention to Hugh Jackman’s 27-year marriage to Deborra-Lee Furness who is 13 years older than him, the couple split in 2023.
No offense to Brad Pitt or Leonardo DiCaprio (or Dennis Quaid or Sean Penn, for that matter), but something simply does not sit right with me about the idea of dating the same-age person all your life as you get older. Time and time again, you’ll hear these couples say that the age difference doesn’t matter, and that age is just a number. But clearly, age does matter to some celebrities — or their entire dating history wouldn’t be women under 30 years old.
Like it or not, stars like Portia de Rossi and Aaron Taylor-Johnson went against the Hollywood grain with their interest in older women. And for what it’s worth, these celebrities also happen to have some of the most rock-solid marriages and relationships in entertainment. Let’s take a look.
A version of this story was originally published in January 2021.
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Van Hunt
Image Credit: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic via Getty Images With just three years between them, Van Hunt and Halle Berry don’t have the biggest age gap on this list but we’re still saying they count!
The singer-songwriter began dating the Oscar-winning actress in 2020 and have been going strong ever since.
“It was the first time I was madly in love before I had sex,” Berry opened up in an interview with Marie Claire in September 2024. “That has never happened to me, ever,” she says. “Talk about one of those life-changing, beautiful experiences. It was magical, just magical.”
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Russell Thomas
Image Credit: Dave Benett/ Getty Images for Harper’s Bazaar Kim Cattrall’s non-famous beau is 14 years younger than her. The couple started dating in 2016.
In 2023, Cattrall said in an interview that she had a “late-blooming sexuality” and only came into her own in her 40s before she started dating Thomas.
“It’s asking for what you want,” she said in the Modern Love podcast. “It’s showing what you want. Most men don’t have a clue — not the anatomy. They know that. But what in particular works for you? And most women, they’re too nervous, too anxious, or they haven’t done their homework to find out what feels good.”
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Benji Madden
Image Credit: Donato Sardella/Getty Images for REVOLVE The 7-year age gap between Cameron Diaz and her husband Benji Madden almost never comes up — but that’s just because we barely see these two out and about together since their marriage in 2015. They welcomed a baby girl named Raddix in 2020 and a son, Cardinal in 2024.
“Getting married to him was the best thing that ever happened to me,” Diaz told InStyle about her musical husband, per E! News. “My husband’s the best. He’s the greatest human being, and he’s my great partner. Marriage is certainly hard, and it’s a lot of work. You need somebody who’s willing to do the work with you, because there’s no 60-40 in marriage. It’s 50-50, period. All the time.”
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Sandro Kopp
Image Credit: Penske Media via Getty Images Artist Sandro Kopp is 18 years younger than his longtime partner, Tilda Swinton, who he met back in 2004 when he was 26 years old. Kopp is a stepdad to Swinton’s two children from a previous relationship.
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Cole Tucker
Image Credit: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic via Getty Images MLB star Cole Tucker is eight years younger than his new wife Vanessa Hudgens who he wed in December 2023 after two years of dating. The couple welcomed their first baby in July 2024.
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Alexander Edwards
Image Credit: Swan Gallet/WWD via Getty Images Music executive Alexander Edwards shocked the world when he and singer Cher went official despite their 40-year age difference. “On paper, it’s kind of ridiculous,” Cher said about their relationship on The Kelly Clarkson Show. “But in real life, we get along great. He’s fabulous. And I don’t give men qualities that they don’t deserve.”
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Nick Jonas
Image Credit: Brian Feinzimer/Variety via Getty Images Priyanka Chopra and the 10-years younger Nick Jonas first met when he sent a flirty DM in 2016 but Chopra says she initially didn’t take the bait due to their age gap.
“I didn’t give it much of a chance because I was like, ‘He’s 25 years old, he’s a rockstar. I want to get married, I want to settle down, I want to have a baby.’ I was 35 at the time,” she told Today in 2023.
That changed after their first date in 2018, seven months before their wedding. “I wanted stability, and I didn’t give Nick enough credit until I went out with him on our first date. We spent the whole evening together, and I realized my husband is just like an old soul. He’s stability in human form,” she said. The couple are parents to their daughter, Malti.
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Corey Gamble
Image Credit: Swan Gallet/WWD via Getty Images Kardashian momager Kris Jenner and Corey Gamble have been dating for years since 2014. The pair have a 25-year age difference.
“I used to say to Corey all the time when I first started dating him, ‘Why do you want to date somebody who is older than you?’” Jenner said in an episode of The Kardashians. “I didn’t get the age gap, and then he taught me that age is just a number. It’s a f— big number, but it’s a number!”
“Listen, I can’t explain someone’s chemistry or why people fall in love but it’s been an amazing almost 10 years, and we have a great time,” she added.
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Akeem Morris
Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy Looking at her dating history, it’s safe to say Madonna’s no stranger to an age-gap relationship. In 2024, she was rumored to be dating Jamaican soccer player Akeem Morris. Rumors started when the “Like a Virgin” singer posted some suggestive pictures of them on Instagram celebrating July 4th. Morris is 38 years younger.
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Miranda Kerr
Image Credit: Vincent Collyer/Variety via Getty Images After separating from Orlando Bloom, who was six years older than her, Miranda Kerr flipped the script by dating and marrying Snapchat founder Evan Spiegel, who is nine years younger than her. Kerr and Spiegel are parents to three sons, Hart, Myles and Pierre, in addition to Bloom and Kerr’s son Flynn.
“I never even thought that this kind of love was possible,” the former Victoria’s Secret Angel told Vogue. “To meet someone I connected with so well, and who is continually working on themselves every day like I’m working on myself to be the best partner, the best mother, to constantly want to grow and evolve, that is something both of us are really committed to. And it’s really incredible to have a partner who wants to grow with you in the same direction.”
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Blake Shelton
Image Credit: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani shocked the world when they announced they were together back in 2015. The two, who got married in June 2021, have a 7-year age gap.
“When I met Blake, that’s when I felt home, like, ‘Oh, this is where I’m supposed to be, with this guy,” she told People. “It was true and so automatic and such an amazing gift to be able to experience love like that for the first time it was like ‘Ugh this is it!’”
Shelton is now a stepdad to Stefani’s three sons Kingston, Zuma and Apollo.
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Danny Fujikawa
Image Credit: Christopher Polk/Variety via Getty Images Musician Danny Fujikawa is living our rom-com dreams of dating the one and only Kate Hudson. The two, who share their daughter, Rani Fujikawa, have been together since 2017 and have a 7-year age gap. The two got engaged in September 2021.
“I’ve got the best man,” Hudson told Women’s Health about her fiancé. “It’s the first time I feel like I have a real teammate in this. We’re able to pick up where the other one has to leave off.”
“If I have to go to a dinner meeting, he can be home,” she added. “His number one priority is family. And when we have our disputes, I feel the thing that allows us to get through them is having the same ultimate goal, and that includes being in each other’s life. It just feels so nice.”
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Tom Kaulitz
Image Credit: Michael Buckner/Variety. Heidi Klum and Tokio Hotel guitarist Tom Kaulitz have been together since 2018, marrying a year later in Aug. 2019. They have around a 16-year age difference.
“He is the most amazing person,” Klum gushed about her husband to SheKnows in 2022. “A lot of people were, you know, not giving us the positive vibes when we first started dating because I’m 16 years older than him. But I feel like, there too, if it feels right when you close your door at home and you know what you have together, I think that is the most important thing.”
“You have to cut out all the noise around you. Not everyone is always cheering you on in all things that you do,” she added. “But I feel like you’ve got to do what makes you happy. And he made me happy. And we’re still happy and having a great time together.”
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Ellen DeGeneres
Image Credit: Rob Latour/Variety/Penske Media via Getty Images Portia de Rossi met her now-wife Ellen DeGeneres in 2004 when she was 31 and DeGeneres was 46. They tied the knot in 2008, and they’re more in love than ever.
“She took my breath away,” de Rossi told The Advocate in 2005. “That had never happened to me in my life, where I saw somebody and [experienced] all of those things you hear about in songs and read about in poetry. My knees were weak. It was amazing. And it was very hard for me to get her out of my mind after that.”
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Kurt Russell
Image Credit: Michael Buckner/Variety/Penske Media via Getty Images Kurt Russell is six years younger than longtime partner Goldie Hawn. The couple, who share their son Wyatt Russell, have been happily together since 1983.
In September 2024, Hawn got spicy explaining the secret to their longtime bond. “You have to have good sex,” she told E! News. “Because sex is something that connects you and creates more belonging. People who have healthy sexual relationships usually last a lot longer. But it’s not just because of the act, it’s because of the warmth and the intimacy that it creates.”
“I just love the fact that we met and we still doing it,” Russell added. “We still like being together.”
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Prince Harry
Image Credit: Chris Jackson/Getty Images for the Invictus Games Foundation Meghan Markle may be just four years older than Prince Harry, but she still tells him to keep the age comments in check from time to time. In 2020, when Harry joked that he was “way too old” to make a big difference online, Meghan sternly kept him in check.
“You’ve got to stop!” she told him, per People. “We’re not old!”
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Ryan Gosling
Image Credit: Sonia Recchia/Getty Images Eva Mendes is six years older than Ryan Gosling, who she met in 2011 and has been with ever since.
“I wasn’t thinking about kids before I met her, but after I met Eva, I realized that I just didn’t want to have kids without her, Gosling so sweetly remembered to GQ. “And there were moments on The Place Beyond the Pines where we were pretending to be a family, and I didn’t really want it to be pretend anymore. I realized that this would be a life I would be really lucky to have.”
The beautiful couple, who later revealed they’re married, share two daughters, Esmeralda and Amada.
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Bart Freundlich
Image Credit: Nina Westervelt/WWD via Getty Images Julianne Moore‘s husband since 2003, Bart Freundlich, has been in her life even longer. Since tying the knot, the couple – who met in 1996 – welcomed a son, Caleb, and a daughter, Liv. Freundlich also happens to be nine years younger than the Oscar winner.
“I feel grateful I have a relationship that’s as rewarding as it is, because it’s something I really wanted to have,” Moore told Harpers Bazaar in January 2024.
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Aaron Taylor-Johnson
Image Credit: Michael Buckner/Variety/Penske Media via Getty Images Aaron Taylor-Johnson and director Sam Taylor-Wood’s relationship raised eyebrows from the start, first meeting when he was 18 and she was 42. The couple has been married since 2012 and have two daughters.
Over the years, they haven’t shied away from defending their relationship. “What you gotta realize … is that what most people were doing in their 20s, I was doing when I was 13,” Taylor-Johnson told Rolling Stone UK in March 2024. “You’re doing something too quickly for someone else? I don’t understand that. What speed are you supposed to enjoy life at? It’s bizarre to me.”
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John Molner
Image Credit: Chelsea Lauren/WWD/Penske Media via Getty Images John Molner married TV anchor Katie Couric in 2014 after a two-year whirlwind romance she describes as “love at first sight.” They have a seven-year age difference.
In her birthday tribute to Molner in 2024, Couric even proudly signed off as “your older woman.” “Happy Birthday @johnmolner !!!! What a year! What a guy!” Couric wrote on Instagram. “I’m the lucky girl who married you almost (gulp!) 10 years ago. Here’s to more adventures, more laughs and even more fun…remember what you tell me? “We’re never going to be any younger!” Here’s to making the most of every day! Love, your older woman ❤️.”
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Dwyane Wade
Image Credit: Roger Kisby/WWD via Getty Images Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade first started dating in 2008 and went on to marry in 2014. They welcomed their daughter, Kaavia, in 2018 via surrogacy. They don’t let their nine-year age gap bother them!
In 2024, they celebrated their 10-year anniversary. “10 years of having a very long, very fun, very loving, never-ending sleepover with my homie, lover, partner, and best friend,” they wrote in a joint post. “Through sickness and health, crisis and celebrations, through bad golf days and flubbed lines and new adventures… We stand united and we thrive. 10 toes down, 10 years in, forever to go.”
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Sarah Paulson
Image Credit: Alberto Rodriguez/Variety via Getty Images Sarah Paulson and Holland Taylor have been dating since 2015 but met much earlier, with Paulson telling the New York Times that when she first saw Taylor in 2005, she thought she was “probably the most exquisitely beautiful woman” she’d ever seen. They have a 32-year age difference, making them one of Hollywood’s biggest age gap couples!
“If my life choices had to be predicated based on what was expected of me from a community on either side, that’s going to make me feel really straitjacketed, and I don’t want to feel that,” Paulson said about the criticisms to The New York Times. “What I can say absolutely is that I am in love, and that person happens to be Holland Taylor.”
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Nick Offerman
Image Credit: Chelsea Lauren/Variety. Nick Offerman and his wife Megan Mullaly may have a 12-year age difference, but they’ve been oh-so in love since 2003.
“We just got lucky,” Offerman told People. “We adore each other. We’re two human beings so it’s a relationship that requires work and patience and maintenance.”
“I’m sure I drive her up a tree sometimes and that’s when I go and sleep out in the backyard,” he joked. “Then I write her a letter and she lets me back in the house.”
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Alexandra Hedison
Image Credit: Michael Buckner/WWD Alexandra Hedison and Jodie Foster have been happily in love since they met in 2013, marrying a year later. They have a nine-year age difference. When accepting her first Emmy Award on Sept. 15, Foster even dedicated it “to the love of my life, Alexandra Hedison, my wife.”
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Johnny McDaid
Image Credit: JC Olivera/Getty Images for BMI Snow Patrol band member Johnny McDaid is 12 years younger than Courtney Cox. The couple have been dating since 2013 despite calling off their brief engagement in 2014.
“We have one every morning when we look at each other. My thoughts are never without Court,” McDaid once said, per Closer Weekly. “She’s my best friend. She’s my partner, in everything.”
