You won’t believe that these three celebrity couples all have a 23-year age gap

By Alma Fabiani

Published May 15, 2022 at 09:10 AM

Reading time: 3 minutes

31289

Love presents itself in many ways—at least, that’s what we all like to say nowadays. However, when it comes to considerable age gaps between two people who are in a relationship, more so in high-profile ones, society is often less inclined to be so open-minded and understanding.

And for good reason too. For example, if a 30-year-old woman starts dating a 50-year-old man, chances are, no one will bat an eyelid. Sure, a handful of judgmental people might say something but that’s about it. That can be explained by the simple fact that the woman would be considered an adult—someone able to make her own decisions without being potentially influenced or impressed by an older partner.

But what if we took the same age difference and applied it to a different hypothetical couple? Let’s say one of them is 19 while the other is 39, things might seem slightly more worrying then. In the US, though the legal age is set by state law and can differ from one to another, almost all states set the base legal age at 18 years old. This would mean that, were the two individuals in this relationship from the country, the younger half of this couple would have been considered a teen not so long ago. Meanwhile, the other half would have been deemed an adult for 21 years.

As stated by the BBC, “Our views around age gap relationships are shaped by thousands of years of evolutionary psychology, and generations of social and cultural norms. Within the last hundred years, economic shifts and increased gender equalities have changed what is considered a ‘normal’ age gap, and recent social justice movements have increased scrutiny of power dynamics in mixed-age relationships.”

As women have gained greater economic power, the appeal of a much-older partner or spouse has fallen, making age gap relationships less common—and more often taboo. Rather than blindly assume people are happily together, society has a tendency to worry about possible power imbalances.

Such an approach to age gap relationships can often be seen with celebrities. But as we’ve shown previously, some age differences, even when exactly the same, can carry a greater (and more worrying) weight depending on the ages of both parties. To prove our point, we’ve analysed three power couples you probably didn’t know all have the same age gap: 23 years.

1. Leonardo DiCaprio and Camila Morrone

We’re all painfully aware of Leonardo DiCaprio’s alarming dating history and the fact that the Titanic actor just simply can’t seem to date anyone aged over 25, instead always breaking up with partners before they reach their 26th birthday. Gross and disappointing, we know.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Leonardo DiCaprio (@ilovedicapriooo)

Though the observation is a couple of years old already, it very much still applies to DiCaprio’s latest relationship. The actor is currently dating model Camilla Morrone—who he is rumoured to have met when she was only 12 through her stepdad Al Pacino by the way. Having been with DiCaprio since 2018, Morrone is 24 years old, coming up on her 25th birthday. Meanwhile, her beau is 47.

Despite DiCaprio’s somewhat predatory and ageist behaviour, many continue to commend him for his ability to attract younger women. Whether the two stay together after Morrone turns 26 remains to be seen, but we’re guessing it’ll be up to DiCaprio…

2. Sam Taylor-Johnson and Aaron Taylor-Johnson

Actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson, 31, and director Sam Taylor-Johnson, 55, have been together for more than a decade. The pair met through the 2009 film Nowhere Boy and though their exact ages at the time of their first meeting remain largely unclear, various publications have stated that he was just 19 when he worked on the movie with the then 42-year-old director. Fans online also often speculate that, like DiCaprio, she knew the actor throughout his life because she was a family friend, but the claims are yet to be confirmed.

In an interview with The Telegraph, Sam shared that even though they clicked from the start, they didn’t begin their relationship while filming for the movie. “We were very professional through the entire film,” the couple told Harper’s Bazaar in 2019. “No funny business at all.”

Yet, as soon as the film was wrapped, Aaron proposed to Sam. “We had never been on a date, or even kissed,” she told Harper’s Bazaar. “And a year to the minute after we met, exactly one year to the minute, I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me,” Aaron added, further revealing that “a month later she was pregnant with our first child.”

In July 2010, their first child together, daughter Wylda Rae, was born—Sam was 43 and Aaron 20 at the time. Then, in January 2012, the couple had their second child, daughter Romy Hero. It’s only in June 2012 that Sam and Aaron found time to get married after having announced their engagement in 2009.

Sam wasn’t just older than her now-husband when she met him, she was also wealthier, better connected—her circle of friends includes Elton John and Damien Hirst—and professionally more established. This, to many, shows clear signs of a general power imbalance that was only exacerbated by his age as well as her role as his director and effectively his boss.

3. Sylvester Stallone and Jennifer Flavin

Last but certainly not least, we have American actor, screenwriter, director and producer Sylvester Stallone who was 46 when he met his wife, Jennifer Flavin, just 20 at the time. The pair were introduced at a restaurant in Beverly Hills, California in 1988—at the height of the actor’s career. The couple dated on and off between 1988 and 1994, before taking a break for a year and reuniting in 1995. They then got married in May 1997, making Flavin, Stallone’s third wife.

The actor’s second—and highly publicised—marriage was to model and actress Brigitte Nielsen, who was also 17 years his junior.

Keep On Reading

By Charlie Sawyer

Who is Zohran Mamdani, the staunch socialist primed to become New York’s first Muslim mayor?

By Abby Amoakuh

BLACKPINK’s Lisa faces backlash after wearing civil rights icon Rosa Parks on her crotch at Met Gala

By Charlie Sawyer

President Trump and JD Vance angry over the DNC setting up a taco truck outside RNC headquarters

By Eliza Frost

Black cat boyfriends are in to replace golden retriever boyfriends, but are they just emotionally unavailable men in disguise?

By Eliza Frost

Hailey Bieber’s new hands-free lip tint holder has everyone divided 

By Eliza Frost

How fans manifested Elle Fanning as Effie Trinket in The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping

By Eliza Frost

The Summer I Turned Pretty’s Chris Briney is at the centre of a new love triangle, but this time for an audio erotica story 

By Eliza Frost

Netflix is predicting your next favourite show based on your zodiac sign 

By Charlie Sawyer

Mexican beauty influencer Valeria Marquez killed during TikTok livestream in alleged femicide

By Eliza Frost

Louis Tomlinson opens up about Liam Payne’s death and reflects on One Direction’s 15th anniversary

By Charlie Sawyer

UK women who miscarry could face home and phone searches following new anti-abortion police guidance

By Charlie Sawyer

Chris Brown is facing over 10 years in prison. Here’s how his violent past has led him here

By Eliza Frost

Is the princess treatment TikTok trend the bare minimum or a relationship red flag?

By Eliza Frost

Skibidi, tradwife, and delulu are among new words added to Cambridge Dictionary for 2025

By Charlie Sawyer

Everything you need to know about toxic gossip site Tattle Life and how its founder finally got revealed

By Abby Amoakuh

I sat down with two professional matchmakers to solve Gen Z’s dating fatigue

By Eliza Frost

Bad timing? Gavin Casalegno’s Dunkin’ ad sparks backlash over actor’s alleged conservative views

By Eliza Frost

Cruz Beckham’s girlfriend Jackie Apostel defends the couple’s age gap relationship 

By Eliza Frost

Hailey Bieber just listed all the beauty treatments she swears by

By Abby Amoakuh

Campaigners call for gamers who carry out virtual rape in the metaverse to be charged as real-life sex offenders