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-oft-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, the 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 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.
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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.
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Benji Madden
Image Credit: Donato Sardella/Getty Images for REVOLVE The 7-year age gap between Cameron Diaz and husband Benji Madden almost never comes up — but that’s just because we barely see these two out and about together. They welcomed baby girl Raddix in 2020 and a son, Cardinal in 2024.
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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 step-dad 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 are expection their first child in 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 a daughter named Malti.
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Corey Gamble
Image Credit: Swan Gallet/WWD via Getty Images Kris Jenner, 65, and Corey Gamble have been dating for years and first started dating in 2014. The pair have a 25-year age difference.
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Joshua Popper
Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy Madonna and her new boyfriend, boxing coach Joshua Popper, have a 35-year age gap between them. Regardless of the difference, the two seem to be going strong. Most recently, the “Like a Virgin” singer attended one of Popper’s boxing games and even posted a picture of the two together on Instagram Stories.
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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.
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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.
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Danny Fujikawa
Image Credit: Christopher Polk/Variety via Getty Images Musician Danny Fujikawa is living our rom-com dreams dating the one and only Kate Hudson. The two, who share 4-year-old daughter Rani Fujikawa, have been together since 2017 and have a 7-year age gap.
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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.
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Ben Affleck
Image Credit: John Salangsang/Variety via Getty Images Ok, we’ll level with you. We’re really splitting hairs here, but we had to include the one and only Bennifer. Jennifer Lopez is just 3 years older than Ben Affleck, but honestly, that’s really nothing.
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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 2000 when she was 27 and DeGeneres was 42. They tied the knot in 2008, and they’re more in love than ever.
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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.
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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. 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 of 19 years, Bart Freundlich, has been in her life even longer. Since tying the knot, the couple – who met in 1996 – welcomed a son and daughter. Freundlich also happens to be nine years younger than the Oscar winner.
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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.
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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.
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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!
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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!
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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 for the past 24 years.
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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.
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Johnny McDaid
Image Credit: JC Olivera/Getty Images for BMI Snow Patrol band member Johnny McDaid is 12 year younger than Courtney Cox. The couple have been dating since 2013 despite calling off their brief engagement in 2014.
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