We’ve covered Sam Taylor Johnson (formerly Sam Taylor Wood) and her young husband Aaron Taylor Johnson (formerly Aaron Johnson) before. They were the May-December couple that redefined “art-house cougars” forever. Aaron was 18/19 when he first met Sam and when they first got together. Now he’s 24 and they’ve been married for a while and they have two little girls. He’s also step-father to Sam’s older daughters, who are much closer to his age.
Sam is 47 years old now, and she’s “hip,” you guys! These are photos of Sam and Aaron out and about last night in London. They were going into (or coming out of) the Chiltern Firehouse, which is London’s hotspot of the moment. Nothing says “hip, cool couple” like leather jeggings (thank you Yeezus!) paired with dirty sneakers and a Cosby-esque sweater. The only thing that would make this outfit cooler would be if Sam also had a fanny pack and a Coach purse. SO HIP.
Meanwhile, Sam is probably in post-production on Fifty Shades of Grey – she directed it, if you remember. And when I Googled her, I found this interesting piece of news from a week ago – her house was raided by police!
POLICE were called to the home of artist and film director Sam Taylor-Johnson this weekend after a machine gun was spotted through a window at the London address.
The firearm in question was a deactivated M16 assault rifle that had been given to Taylor-Johnson for an art project that she is working on, reports the BBC. It was left on a desk by a window, which prompted the 999 call by a “concerned passer-by”.
“The firearm was located in Sam Taylor-Johnson’s basement studio and has been confirmed as a certified and fully decommissioned M16 assault rifle that was provided to Mrs Taylor-Johnson by the international charity Peace One Day as part of an art project entitled Peace One Day M16,” a spokesperson for Taylor-Johnson said. “The project, curated by Jake Chapman, consists of new works by some of the most celebrated names in contemporary art, all of whom are transforming fully decommissioned M16 assault rifles.”
Taylor-Johnson – who has most recently directed Fifty Shades of Grey – her husband, the actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and their children were not present at the time of the visit.
Now that is hip. That’s a great story to tell at parties: “Remember the time my house was raided because of an art project? Remember the time that the cops busted through my door because someone gave me a decommissioned M16 as a gift?”
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
I love her sweater, could someone please ID??
PS: It is not too Cosby-esque.
I like it too, but not the price tag…
http://www.net-a-porter.com/product/457705/Stella_McCartney/gary-hume-intarsia-cotton-blend-sweatshirt?cm_mmc=LinkshareUK-_-8/btisdd0hQ-_-Custom-_-LinkBuilder&siteID=8_btisdd0hQ-G5xHSSl3f6SLzwxUza2CzA
Whoa, a Stella McCartney piece of clothing I actually like! Hopefully Zara does a knock-off in 3, 2, 1…..
Dat price tho….. ouch.
I like it. I’m surprised I like it, because Stella McCartney’ s stuff is awful.
But it’s got acrylic and it’s 850 bucks?!
And they look happy, so good on them.
I actually really love it as well!
I would wear the whole shebang, but with leather chucks instead of the white converse. I KNOW it’s a ridiculous outfit, but it’s so fun!
It’s not a flattering outfit on her in these photos. The leather pants make her legs look disproportionately short, especially cut off at the ankles with ironic white tennis shoes. Let’s all be honest ladies, a baggy sweater, no matter how artsy, does nothing for a woman’s figure. I’ll give her that she looks comfortable and happy, but it’s not a “feelin sexy ” get up. If my man was dressed like a Hooty and the Blowfish fan, I guess I wouldn’t feel the effort, so there we are.
Wonder where he got that Reagan hat. That’s my old boat. Full of sailors poisoned by Fukushima.
Man, I SO would with him.
I like him with the USS Reagan baseball cap and scruff….f*cking sexy, even if he is a bit dim….
Did you see Aaron and Chris Evans on stage together at comic com? They looked so hot standing next to each other.
I don’t blame Sam, I would rob that craddle too, rob it like a thief in the night.
No! Must google..
I would love to be a Sam and Chris sandwich. No shame whatsoever.
Haha, he is pretty hot.
V4real:
Ha! I would so too. He’s fiiine…
Seriously though, I love these two together. Their love seems genuine, a rare thing in narcissistic (did I spell that right? looks off) Hollywood. I’m rooting for them, especially since they have kids together now.
Aaron and Chris are both fineee. YUM.
@TOK….here’s some pics with chris and aaron. Enjoy.
http://cdn02.cdn.justjared.com/wp-content/uploads/headlines/2014/07/chris-evans-aaron-taylor-johnson-avengers-comic-con-2014-1.jpg
https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRosklqTDaHJ1vlg3zY6nj8OFjVLsAE19mEwhXVz68-eeWI2976XQ
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTsH8Z5lfLt0nrCvku4HHF9F4TTh2HG25e_5RnMCxnrg-wskUUJ
http://38.media.tumblr.com/68125db2fe803662f229176a8d0cd6f7/tumblr_n9dneesyli1thktcjo1_250.png
Their relationship is creepy. It always has been.
I just don’t get it.
me neither and I am 33, and I dont know if I would ever date an 18 years old even an awsome one, I feel I’d rather go for a 20 something, 20 something going 30.
Daniel Radcliff I am talking to you.
Eleonor, you’re cracking me up! 😉
Thank you! She’s gross!
And whats wrong with him? He’s got issues. because it’s not like she’s a Jennifer Aniston (in her mid 40’s too) or a Sofia Vergara (40’s too). She’s a homely woman with LOTS of baggage. Why would a guy like him go for THAT? They will never last. 6 years together and 2 kids, step kids, divorce, ex husband, all by the time he’s 24?! Sounds like a welfare case until you get to the hollywood actor part!!! He will move on eventually. People rarely ever stay with their highschool sweet heart forever (even though he was in highschool and she wasnt).
Double standard much? She’s a homely woman?! Just because she doesn’t fit your beauty prototype doesn’t mean that he’s not attracted to her physically (as well as mentally).
At least be consistent.
Christ, I am mid 40s and could imagine being with someone much younger if there are common interests. Why not? There is more to life than just looking hot – thank god. She is a successful artist and probably quite an interesting person. She isn’t that bad looking either. There are plenty of women in their 20s that don’t look as good as she is in her 40s.
Furthermore, the divorce rate is high nowadays anyway, whether u marry someone close in age to you or not. Age is no guarantee of anything.
Stacey,
ever heard of inner beauty? You seriously think love is based on looks? Instant attraction maybe, but love in a long-term relationship – no. This I know for a fact after being very happily married to a hot guy waaaay out of my league for over ten years now. He definitely saw more than just my (lack of) looks when he fell for and married me…
I watched a couple (friends of my parents) a lot like this one fall in love and get married when I was growing up. The woman was 13 years her husband’s senior and they were madly in love despite the fact the outside world had a hard time understanding the attraction on his part. She was a lovely person but he was way out of her league looks-wise, and he was popular with the ladies his age and younger. He still fell hard for her and pursued her until she gave in. And they truly were soul mates. So being the hopeless and incurable romantic that I am I’ll go with the hope that this is the case for the Taylor-Johnsons too. 🙂
@Stacey, I found your post absolutely horrible and immature. “Why would a guy like him go for THAT?” – my god, you sound like Aaron married outside the human race. Have you ever heard of people falling in love for reasons other than looks?? Sam may not have the physical beauty of a Sophia Vergara or Jennifer Aniston but she isn’t homely. She is also an accomplished artist and director. Ever think Aaron fell for the whole package and not just what was on the outside?
I’m not saying I don’t think the way their relationship started (with Aaron being a teenager or barely out of his teens) was appropriate, but, six years later, you never know, they may be in for the long haul, regardless if you think she is “gross” or he has “issues”.
He’s got an ex-husband?
@Finger Binger
If their relationship is creepy, any relationship with such a age gap (younger or older) would be inappropriate, right?
Therefore we must assume, following your reasoning, that half of HW couples are creepy.
@Stacey
Wow, your comment is a lot of unfair, judgemental sentences, I wouldn’t know where to start to debunk that. And in Hollywood being married for 6 years is already a success, therefore you’re wrong on many counts.
Jeez, I think Sam T-W is a fascinating ( and apparently never-ageing) woman.
Baggage? Well it’s all hand-crafted, and filled with accomplishments and thrills, triumphs and terrors. To me she’s a very cool and interesting woman…..and she’s produced some great art, lest we forget. Creativity’s a strong attraction I think, for both these two.
(I don’t see this relationship as even in the same universe as Madge’s succession of speechless dancers, if the problem is the age gap……these two actually relate in ways other than physical.)
+1 to Lady Macbeth, Chris, and Lucy.
I too can’t imagine ever dating someone that much younger than me, but who knows?
I really do think they’re the real deal.
@Tok
I wouldn’t have imagined either. But given that my husband is the only man who made me feel very happy and he is a lot younger than me and he is happy too… Now I refrain from being too judgemental towards other couples with a big age gap, one way or another. Usually, when the couple creeps me out is because one of the two partners creeps me out already (see Sean Penn/Charlize Theron creeps me out only because Hamface creeps me out on his own….)
@Lady Macbeth
I wouldn’t have imagined either that I could like a 19 year old… but here I am. Oops (I’m 26). Turns out he’s more intelligent and mature than my 30-year-old ex. Hah.
I also have a couple of friends who have had the same thing happen to them, haha. I guess it’s becoming more commonplace and acceptable, despite the fact that for most people it is still a cringy issue. Hell, it is for me. But if both sides are happy, who is anyone to judge? Live and let live.
It’s creepy because she started dating him when she was still married and apparently to get back at her husband who was having an affair. He was a teenager and she was essentially his boss. If a 40 year old man did the same thing you would call him a predator and you know it. I’m the product of a May/December relationship so I find nothing wrong with them in general,but this this one is creepy.
@FingerBinger, I get what you’re saying. Woody Allen is said to have based Manhattan on his relationship with a seventeen year old actress. He was her director, and in his early forties. The only difference between that situation and this – he didn’t marry her and have children.
@FingerBinger
Sorry but you don’t know anything about what others could think, that is not very polite.
I call a predator someone who always prefers younger women to exploit. A 40yr old falling in love with a 17 yr old girl might not seem normal to you but I have seen quite a few examples of those couples in my life. And not necessarily they split up, no sooner than same age couples anyway.
We don’t know how things went between the director-lady and Aron (not concerning the age, but the dynamics of their relationship, how it started and so on) so the best thing to do would be NOT to judge them. To be honest, they still seem happy so why being so negative and dismiss their relationship as non-valid?
@ Lady Macbeth So you’re saying that people can judge the dynamics of the George Clooney/Amal Alamuddin relationship and the Jennifer Lawrence/Chris Martin relationship but we shouldn’t judge this one? Got it.
@FingerBinger
If you want to keep ignoring that other relationship can be criticised for other reasons than age gap, it is your business. Sorry but you don’t seem very open minded there. And MartinLawrence seems just a weird coupling and we don’t even know if they are a item, and Clooney news are annoying to me only for overexposure, I like Amal, tbh.
I don’t understand it and I can’t imagine the dynamics of it, but they do seem happy together.
He was just SO young when they got together.
I’m just so thrilled to see a mother and son with such a warm and cozy relationship. I wish more parents could be that way with their kids 🙂
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/harold_and_maude/
I love, love, love that movie.
They do seem very stable and very much in love, but it still seems odd.
And to clarify that Double Standard talk. I have felt equally grossed out by any young/old pairing that has the younger very close in age to the older party’s current children.
He’s all that’s keeping this afloat. The way he conducts himself and addresses their relationship in interviews is amazing. Her however… Something is off. And i’ve felt that way pre-kick@$s.
I think they are the real deal and are madly in love. That being said, I age difference is a real concern although not an insurmountable one.
It does disturb me that he was so young when they got together because he seemed immature and the way he speaks about himself, it seems like he didn’t really have a sense of himself at all when they got together. She seems to have the bulk of the power in their dynamic. He has adopted her friends, her opinions, etc. I think that might not be the best recipe for the long term.
That being said, I think she is lovely, fascinating and smart. And I find him hot although he is really not a good actor.
+1
Love them together. Don’t care what anyone says.
I love them together too, even though I would love him with me more.
She looks fine.
He’s hot. That’s all I’ve got. I also just realized I sound like The Cat in the Hat. Oh, well.
He is hot. I’d climb that like a tree.
Is this Chiltern place the only spot in London?
No but it seems to be the place to be at the moment.
You’d think so. I mean the food is fantastic but.. I don’t think it would work in say NYC too much competition. There is a 2 month waiting list for normal people and god forbid you want to wait by the bar ( oh must check we might need to move someone there for dessert – 2 hr limit) too pretentious.
There is nothing cute about them together. Also wasn’t he actually 17 when they first met and they only came out publicly as a couple when he was 19? I could have sworn that was how this all went down. How Franco of her.
And why isn’t he seen as an opportunist? Here a young, up and coming, struggling actor and he just so happens to fall madly in love with a director twice his age, who just so happens to have connections in the field he works in. I’m sure her connections and how he can use them to further his career never entered his mind when she was pursuing him. Of course not, this is not gold digging or like every other May-Dec relationship that involves an older man and younger woman, no this is true love.
I have tried to be supportive of them, I find him hot and I’m around her age. But I just can’t. She looks like a soccer mom out with her teenage son.
If this were an older man and a younger woman every comment would be how gross he is and how she must have daddy issues. Sam and Aaron get “cute” and “love them together”.
Yup and how it’s impossible for her to actually love the older guy. People would be saying how she’s just too beautiful for him and freely talking smack about his age, but god forbid anyone point out that physically Aaron’s waaaaaay out of his wife’s league. But of course this is a love for the ages and there’s definitely nothing shady about them being together. Nope, not at all.
PLEASE see the Duvall thread from a few days ago. Dude is 41 years older than his wife and I saw NOTHING, not one negative comment about it.
Why? Because this is expected of men. The only reason why there’s so much pearl-clutching with these two is because the roles are reversed and it’s a woman dating a man half her age for once.
@TOK
totally agree with you!
Well, if you say they’re not cute together the double standard line gets tossed out.
If you say they are cute together someone askes if you’d feel the same if he were older… So, double standard again.
There’s something to be said on certain threads that it’s better to stay positive or get others yelling about “double standards”. You can’t win no matter which side you take. Even with Goldblum’s latest marriage. People spoke out against his young wife being both too old and too young (or rather how she looked too old or too young). How odd.
Aaron is hot and can do better. He’s spoken about being a devoted dad and family man. Sam hasn’t come out super creepy, pawing Aaron’s super hot body on a yacht (like an older man would his young female piece). This seems like a solid couple for how they’ve been perceived.
Totally. I can’t help but to see an oportunist and gold digger in him. As a person his age, I simply don’t get how you could feel attracted to someone like that. Twice your age, divorced, with sons your age and not particularly attractive? Okay the last point is very subjective, but you get my point. Add the fact he’s an actor and she’s a director and there’s more than a few things to be skeptical about.
There are many people who make negative comments about their relationship, but you’re so right – if the genders were reversed, the younger woman would be called an opportunist for being with an older director.
Yes he was 17 when they first started dating, which is what bothers me about them as a couple, not their age difference.
Me to. If they got together when he was in his twenties I would never side eye them. But she got with him when he was a teenager, so I don’t get why she doesn’t get the same treatment as men who pursue teenage girls.
I don’t have a problem with May-Dec relationship whether they are this arrangement or the other. I just wonder why people automatically see younger women with older men as golddigers, users, and having Daddy complexes but this guy get called more mature for his age and other positive attributes just because he got with a woman old enough to be his mom.
Sometimes I think the reason why this relationship is seen as cute and not as creepy is because there are mostly women here and a lot of people find Aaron hot and therefore can understand Sam (see the “I would totally rob that cradle” comment at the beginning).
Take a 18yo girl/40+ yo man couple and see the comments on a male-dominated board and most people wouldn’t call it creepy but great and “good for him” and stuff like that.
It always depends on the audience.
I just don’t like the double standard. I don’t judge, but isn’t this situation similar to the Woody Alen and Soon Yi one (minus the family business)? How come it is gross on that but not on this? Eh, I don’t care that much but I loathe double standars.
Woody Allen is a pervert anyway, that has nothing to do he is with, sorry. He would creep me on his own, regardless who’s married with.
I am not creeped out by Bening/Beatty or P. Stewart and his wife.
Sadly, it is impossible to minus the family business when it comes to woody allen. Very different situations.
Woody isn’t a good example to bring up on this. I do find this relationship to be very bizarre – but Woody Allen is on a whole new level of creep.
He WAS 17 when they first met. Sorry, I don’t have an issue with age gaps between couples (my first husband was quite a bit older than I was) but it’s the fact that he was 17.
He was 19. As I said below, there’s a lot of conflicting info out there but he was born in 1990 and they met on the set of Nowhere Boy in 2009.
The film came out in 2009, It was shot in 2008 when he was 17. Lainey also confirmed on her blog they started seeing eachother when he was 17.
The age difference is no problem with me, and they do seem genuinely happy and content, it’s just thinking about how young HE was when they got together that makes me uncomfortable.
So he would be ALMOST-18 right? He was born in June.
I mean, everything that google same up with says he was 19, but I also take that with a grain of salt in the sense that his PR people are probably pushing the narrative that he was 19.
The thing is-he’s never confirmed that anything ever happened between them on the set, he’s only insinuated that they were probably falling in love during filming.
Sure, 17 seems way too young to me, but it doesn’t change the fact that I think these two are really in love and people overreact about it simply because it makes them uncomfortable. It’s not something most of can relate to, so we abhor it. Just my opinion.
No, you’re right, and make a good point with your last two sentences. I’m 27 now and can’t phathom dating someone 18/19, but in 10 or 20 years? Who knows.
I guess the point is he’s 24 now and it seems to be in a loving and stable marriage, which is what matters.
Him making babies with her is hardly the strategy of a professional ladder climber. I find their relationship a bit disturbing in part because of the baby making when he was still so young, but I think there is definitely mutual chemistry there between them that could implode in an ugly fashion in the future- and kids will be in that equation in terms of the aftermath.
If he was such a golddigger, don’t you think he would have dumped her by now? Afterall he’s already getting roles in blockbusters now.
I’m curious how he’ll do in Avengers. He was a charisma-free block of wood in Godzilla. Terrible. He’s been decent in smaller films but some actors don’t work well in blockbusters.
Not to derail the thread, but for some reason I’m really concerned Age of Ultron is going to suck. Idk why.
To totally not continue the derailment, I have to agree. I think they added too many characters for one film.
Edit: Also, I don’t know why, but I’m really mad about Paul Bettany being cast in this one. He’s already JARVIS. Why cast him in another role in the same movie franchise?
Because Vision and Jarvis are both created by Tony Stark, therefore it makes sense for Vision to have the same voice as Jarvis.
Keep in mind that in AOU Stark is also the creator of Ultron, instead of Hank Pym. Without giving too much away Stark’s intentions were to create Ultron to fight their battles so The Avengers can do less fighting but it backfires horribly.
I meant to add that Stark created Vision in the clone form of Jarvis to help The Avengers fight Ultron, that’s why Bellamy is both Jarvis and Vision
I am an idiot. Not sure what I was thinking, but I forgot that Vision was JARVIS’ clone tihngy. I knew there was a physical version of JARVIS but it didn’t click that it was named Vision. How coincindental! That’s PB’s character’s name too! lol I should do somemore reading, right?
I have really enjoyed his performances before but he was awful in Godzilla, just terrible.
I don’t find him very talented. He was pretty awful in Anna Karenina, too. Kiera could’ve had more connection with a bottle of ketchup than him. He’s another one I could add to the nonhappening club, he’s simply uninteresting to watch.
Oh God, I forgot about Anna Karenina! He was so bad that it was actually funny! Huh…Now that I think about it he’s even less impressive then I thought. Cute though.
The whole time I was watching I kept think how much a young Jude Law would have been prefect as Count Vronsky. He was great as Karenin though.
They’re content,that’s all that matter.
What i find creepy is that someone was peeking into their home.
Having lived in London, I can say from experience that basement windows – and what’s directly inside them – are extremely visible from the sidewalk in many properties, particularly the older townhouses.
Sounds to me like the gun was extremely visible. I’d report seeing something like that too.
I like her work as a director, and God knows she’s been through the health wringer. If it was just the two of them, or just parenting the two they have together, I think the odds would be much higher for contentment long-term. But the older two girls are hitting puberty, and Whoo boy that can present issues most 26 yrs olds don’t have the perspective to deal with-good luck to them!
Liked in in Nowhere Boy- not so much in AK- he has no business in blond curls!!
THIS: can present issues most 26 yrs olds don’t have the perspective to deal with.
yes!!!
That is a field of landmines I would not want to witness going off. Yikes.
If they weren’t cuddling in these photos, I’d think it was a mother/son duo. Their age difference creeps me out.
It’s their relationship, not yours or anyone else’s. if it works for them and they’re happy then good! We need more love in this world and a whole lot less judgement. It’s like the previous generation’s hysteria over homosexual couples and their wish to marry…It doesn’t personally affect you so leave consenting adults alone. I love this couple.
+…. not enough pluses for this comment! <3
I have a son so when society starts embracing a powerful grown woman who started dating a boy at 16/17…it does kind of affect me.
A thousand kisses to you, Sirsnarksalot. I’m 44 and not usually a cougar. Yet I’m currently domestic partners with a wonderful, sweet, smart 25 year old. (Note: We were both of legal age and single when we met.) Believe me, I said, “No, no, no, I’m sure you’d rather be with a girl your own age, this is crazy.” But he wouldn’t budge! All I know is he lights up when I walk in the room and I light up when he does.
Love is a GIFT from the universe and it doesn’t always come in the form you were expecting. Or the form society was expecting. If that idea is delusional or creepy or icky, so be it.
People who says Sam Taylor Johnson is ugly… pffft. Not a classic beauty, sure, but quite luminous, IMO. Plus there is more to attraction than looks.
May it go well between you guys! Pearl clutching over age difference is just unnecessary since it does not effect anyone in a bad way. But in this particular case, Aaron and Sam met when he was 17. That is why I find it a bit iffy but I am not gonna judge. Who knows maybe I’ll end up falling in love with an 19 year old when I am in my late 30’s. And calling Sam ugly and therefore not worthy of dating Aaron is just rude and sexist. Beauty is in the eyes of beholder after all.
Can I ask a question? No snark or judgement, it’s a sincere one. What did you talk about at first? I mean now you’re an established couple so obviously you have no trouble finding topics but since you were not at the same point in your life, did not have the same life experience, not the same aspirations, was it hard at first or all very natural ?
Mmerain: Very natural. When I first met him, I thought he would be a typical kid: bland, not many well thought-out opinions. (I don’t mean there are no smart young people. There are! But there aren’t that many intelligent PEOPLE, period.) But his mind was an amazing surprise!
We talked about art. Music. Math. Science. Films. He wanted to show me Soylent Green because I’d never seen it. Yesterday morning he called me out to watch the moon set and explained why it looked so bright: refraction, etc.
I always say, “Someday you’ll want kids and then you’ll move on,” but he laughs and says, “NO. I will NEVER want kids.” Maybe he will; maybe he won’t. We’re very happy today.
For someone with your handle on a website of this name… hmm.. I get your logic and agree.
Although, we’re not here to wish happy thoughts on all no matter their choices of love and work. We snark here SirSnark. But you’re allowed your opinion to not snark as i’m allowed mine to snark in place of you. Although, i’m barely snarking on this couple. Don’t shame me for snarking on a snarky snark website.
Because you won’t snark here on this story doesn’t mean I can’t. And your argument would put this site and sites like it out of business.
I like them. It’s a little weird, but they’re solid.
He’s a young, ambitious actor. She cast him in her movie and “made him a star.” Classic story, genders reversed. Caution: May-December usually has an expiration date, unless you’re Celine Dion.
Judgemental. Several couples with a big age difference that I met in life stayed married for years and I think those couples has an incredible rate of success compared to same age ones.
Sorry if you think I’m being unfair, Lady M. My problem is not about the gender or the age gap, per se. It’s that one was a teenager. I have a teenage son, so I’m not entirely neutral on the subject.
@Santolina
If you are a good mother, you should be happy for your son if he is happy, regardless of the age or looks of his girlfriend. I can understand your concern at the start of their relationship (if he’s being lured into the relationship by an older woman or manipulated), however once you’ve cleared that up, just wish him well. You never know, it could be a lot worse with someone who’s younger than him.
Reminds me of the Taylor Swift and Conor Kennedy dating posts, except Taylor was only 4 years older than Conor and every post talked about how horrible she was for dating him; even tho they too were always happy in photographs
That is one unattractive woman
Isn’t there some sort of history of family problems on his end? I seem to remember reading somewhere that he was estranged from his family. Maybe she was there for him and helped him through his troubles and they wound up falling in love… Maybe?
Bruce Willis & Emma Henning—23 year age gap
Hilaria & Alec Baldwin — 26 year age gap
Robert Duvall & Luciana Pedraza—- 41 year age gap
David Cross & Amber Tamblyn —-19 year age gap
Kelsey Grammar & Kayte Walsh —–26 year age gap
Clint Eastwood & Dina Ruiz—-35 year age gap
Catherine Zeta Jones & Michael Douglas— 25 year age gap
Harrison Ford & Calista Flockhart—-22 year age gap
Donald & Melania Trump— 24 year age gap
Annette Bening & Warren Beatty—21 year age gap
Billy Joel & Katie Lee—23 year age gap
Nic Cage & Alice Kim—20 year age gap
Do I really need to keep going? The thing that gets me is NO ONE bats an eye at these relationships. If it’s a post about Harrison Ford or Bruce Willis or Clint Eastwood, we talk about their movies or their personalities, never about their relationship and the fact that they’re with someone half their age (or more!). Sure, someone might make a passing comment, but none of the pearl-clutching and concern-trolling that this couple gets. If anything, there’s a passive acceptance, a collective resignation from the public, dismissing the age difference with a “well, that’s Hollywood for ya!”
I just wish people would get real about it. The reason why Sam and Aaron bother so many is because the older person in the relationship is a woman and women “aren’t supposed to do that.” Add to that the fact that she’s not exactly a bomb shell, well “what could he possibly see in her” and “she’s stealing the best years of his life”, right?
Look, I get it. I’m just saying that we really need to examine our prejudices here.
It’s his age when they got together. He was 17. That’s the creepy part. She was in a power-position, he was still a child. Reverse the genders and very few would find them cute or hot with that starting point.
Except Aaron HAD a career before he met her. He’s been acting since he was 6 years old. It’s not like she pulled him out of some local stage play and straight to the casting couch saying “boy, I’m gonna make you a star!” It wasn’t like she was Spielberg casting him as Indiana Jones. She gave the guy a part in a small indie movie that nobody saw.
Feel free to argue–I welcome it–but I’m not changing my mind on this. I think their relationship makes people so uncomfortable because it’s not anything we’ve seen before. For once, it’s an older woman and a younger man
@Gwen
He wasn’t 17, please see my post below.
@Kitten
OT, but…
I am now going to think of my mom as the ULTIMATE cougar. How she pulled that one off, I’ll never know. Must be because she’s hot. Funny thing–I asked my dad how his parents/family reacted, and he said he couldn’t really remember, but that they weren’t happy (since he was only 21)……and so I asked him what would he think if I called him one day and said that I was marrying a 34 year old who had 3 kids (in a year), and he said he wouldn’t be happy. I’m totally saving that one for a good April fool’s day….
Ha! Good for your mom, VC. That’s a great story to throw in Dad’s face later..lol
Ha, my current boyfriend is 11 years younger than me. We’ve been friends for almost four years before we recently started dating after I broke up with my ex. Doesn’t hurt that he thought I was around his age when we first met. He actually was in the same grade as my baby brother in HS and they knew each other
BTW TOK I agree with everything you posted on this. Oh and just because they met when Aaron was almost 18 doesn’t mean that’s the time they started dating. Unless you hear it from them it’s all hearsay
@Virgilia Coriolanus: 17, 18, 19 – little difference IMO. He was still a teenager and she was in a powerposition. Again – reverse the genders and everyone would find it icky.
@TOK: For me it’s not about it being an older woman and a younger man. It’s his age, the younger persons age, that makes it gross. It’s not the age difference in itself, it’s not that it’s an older woman and a younger man. It is the age of the younger person when they got together. You feel sure that it’s the genders that makes people feel it’s gross, I’d prefer not to have that tagged on me. That is not my issue with this couple.
@Gwen
Sorry Gwen but the more you speak and the more it seems you are concerned by the age gap. I know a lot of 18yr olds who got married and had kids with other teenagers (I live in UK, teenage pregnancies are rampant in some areas). How is that different from Aron’s situation? Maybe everybody thinks he is a thick idiot who was not able to decide which woman to choose to be with and he was lured and conned by an older woman.
Sorry, you can look at that from any direction but it still seems a prejudice.
@Lady Macbeth Sincerely I can say that what creeps me out is the age they got together. I work in a school in the UK and I see children everyday, I know they’re not all the same and that some of them are mature but… ick, still children. And what definitely bothers me is the children right away part even if I can understand why (I don’t think it was to trap him or any of that stuff, just kind of a now or never because she was already 40). But when I see this pictures, i’m just like “They’re cute together but meh, I don’t care about them” , the only reason we get to see those pictures is because of the age gap, they are NOT interesting (well I don’t think they are lol) I do hope they’re the real deal, I love stories when the first one is the right one.
@Lady Macbeth:
It’s somewhat annoying to be told it’s the age gap I have a problem with, when it’s not and I keep writing that? I don’t see how you can read that into my posts when I don’t feel that way at all? Again: my issue is HIS AGE when they got together. Had he been say – 22, 25 I would not have an issue with them. He wasn’t. He was a teenager. It’s creepy.
Because Alice Kim, Katie Lee, Kayte Walsh, Dina Ruiz, Emma Henning, Hilaria Baldwin, Melania Trump and even CZJ have never ever been called social-climbing gold-diggers who were solely with their partners for fame, power and cold, hard cash, right? The ONLY reason we know their names – unlike older actors with more anonymous spouses – is because of the age gaps.
The only two on your list who were spared criticism for their choice of partner were Ally McBeal and Annette Bening and they were both established actors in their thirties.
Let’s not forget that ATW was a couple of years younger when he got together with Sam than Soon-Yi was with Woody Allen!
Was Aaron living in Sam’s house as her adopted child? I missed that part…
No, they met on the set of Nowhere Boy in 2009, when she was directing him and he was 19 years old, not 17 years old. I know there’s conflicting info about that, but everything I’ve read said that he was 19.
I don’t use the term “gold-digger”–ever–but you bring up a good point. I guess Aaron’s never been called a gold-digger because again, he’s a man going after an older woman.
Gender stereotypes people–time to get over them.
In the UK he’d already been in a few things he wasn’t famous but you could recognise his face. He was already acting and wellish known over here before he did nowhere boy he was in Angus thongs and perfect snogging.
I do think that if Sam Taylor-Johnson was a hot ‘older’ woman, that people wouldn’t even be batting an eye. The fact that she’s an average looking woman who’s married to a hot, younger man is what boggles a lot of people.
And I don’t think he’s a golddigger. Aaron is hot. He’s real pretty. If he wanted to get with someone for their money, trust me, he would not go for someone who had KIDS, and wanted him to play an active role in their lives. And on top of all that, he’s a talented actor. He isn’t the male version of Kate Bosworth, who can’t act, and has been doing hot girl roles and bit parts for years…..I don’t think he’ll ever be a movie star, but I do think that he will have longevity. And he doesn’t seem like the fameho type–you never see any gossip written about him, etc.
So I tend to think they’re for real. I see shades of my mom and dad in this. My dad was 21 when he married my mom, and she had three kids. He knew that before they started dating. And they’ve been together for 15 years……
Exactly. If he wanted to advance his career, he’d be dating Jennifer Lawrence.
I’m not sure that their marriage will last but I think they truly love each other.
… Talented? Okay, I haven’t seen his indie work, but he was positively atrocious in Godzilla and Anna Karenina. He was completely unbelievable and wooden. Total “male model” actor.
@Kitten
I think that they have the same chance as any other couple. I guess I see it differently, because of who my parents are.
It just depends on if Aaron has a reasonable expectation of her (from the age point of view). Obviously she’s older than he is–so he should adjust his expectations accordingly. Decide what’s really important. If he really wants to be with her, have that kind of family life–then he will stay with her.
I think that a ton of age difference relationships go wrong, because your expectation level is as if that older person is your age. If I’m dating a 40 year old, I’m not going to expect that he likes going out every night. So if I want to go out every night, and he doesn’t–then I’ll either cut my partying down or date someone who likes going out every night. Stuff like that.
I think they have a good chance, because they both seem to be really invested in their work, and their family. You have to want it, to make it.
Bleh, you sound wiser than me.
GTFO here 😉
@Kitten
It’s just something that I noticed with my own dad. When he married my mom–some ways he was ready for it, some ways he wasn’t. But the one thing he didn’t do was lay it all on my mom. He was still a kid–but that meant that we got to do fun things with him. Like he taught us how to play chess, and he’s the one who taught us how to play video games (to my mother’s chagrin, haha).
Aaron probably had a steep learning curve, and he’s STILL learning. He’s gotta negotiate how to have a meaningful relationship with his stepdaughters (who, like my older sister completely ignored my dad for a few years–they have a nine year age difference), and how to be a father figure to them. And then he’s got his biological children.
I do hope that they last….I think they are cute together. I think that so often it’s women who are the ones who are supposed to be interested in kids, but then we look at men oddly (especially when they are young) who are interested kids.
+1. The misogyny in some of these comments is amazing to me and it comes off as being solely due to the fact that she looks like a normal woman.
Nice one Kitten
Haven’t the will to locate an example, but to anyone really concerned re STW’s qualifying beauty or glamour: she can turn it on like a tap.
Check put old photos in Vogue, or of various art events at the Whitechapel Gallery, Serpentine, Tate, White Cube; loads more. She’s no soccer mom, that’s for sure! When she wishes, she can outshine any Red Carpet-darling.
And seriously…..as with Tilda Swinton, she’s someone whose skincare routine I’d pay to learn about…..she doesn’t age at all!
I think she looks great-very natural, and it doesn’t hurt that she’s in great shape–but she obviously takes care of herself.
When I see pics of these two, I see two people in love. And I’m the biggest a-hole cynic on the planet when it comes to Hollywood romances, but that’s what I see.
If it doesn’t work out, then it doesn’t work out, but I’m not gonna shame these two for embracing something that at least from the outside, appears to be true love.
@TOK
Great post! I completely agree with you, people (and especially women..) are bothered by the fact she seems a normal woman who’s older than her hot husband and they all go mad trying to justify their prejudice. Comments under a Tilda Swinton thread where she was together with her younger part were similar, the only difference was that TW is considered an icon therefore commenters don’t say ‘she is a soccer mom’.
who and who???
Just did a little investigating…..
Nowhere boy came out December 26, 2009. Aaron Taylor-Johnson was born June 13, 1990 (so he was 19 when the movie was released).
Kristen Scott Thomas (who plays as Aaron’s aunt/adoptive mother) joined the cast of the movie January 9, 2009.
http://variety.com/2009/film/news/kristin-scott-thomas-joins-nowhere-1117998257/
And here is an article from the dailymail, with pics of both Kristen Scott Thomas AND Aaron Taylor-Johnson in costume, filming (the movie was filmed in England, primarily in Liverpool)–on March 12, 2009–four months before Aaron turned 19.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1161316/Pictured-Kristin-Scott-Thomas-transforms-John-Lennons-Aunt-Mimi-latest-role.html
So…..he was 18 when they started filming i.e. when they got together. I haven’t seen anything that suggests that the movie had started filming in June 2008. They were still trying to fund the movie in July 2008.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7513589.stm
So while some people may have an objection over how young he was (because she was older and the director), he wasn’t underage.
That’s what I’m saying. If he was actually 17, he must have been just-about-to-turn 18 right when they first started filming, and I assume that the relationship didn’t develop until, at the earliest, several months into filming.
I hate to get so hung up on numbers, but because the “I wouldn’t have a problem if he hadn’t been 17” thing comes up on every Taylor-Johnson thread, it’s important to note…
Wow. I totally thought he was 17. Thanks for the info VC.
My issue is that she was in her 40’s and he was still a teenager. Whether he was 17 or 18 doesn’t matter. How she looks doesn’t matter. Back in the day, Jerry Seinfeld,who was 39 or 40 at the time, started dating a 17 year old and it was just as creepy when he did it. A person in their 30’s and 40’s and 50’s shouldn’t date and or marry a teenager. I’m sorry if that opinion offends people.
My sentiments, exactly. It’s not about the gender or the age gap. It’s that one of them was a teenager.
Steven Bauer and his girlfriend give me pause as well. He’s 57 and she’s 18. Again, it’ not the age gap – my beloved Ciarán was 16 years older than me and we had a wonderful marriage – it’s the fact that one of the partners was barely a legal adult when the relationship started.
Also even if he was 17 the legal age of consent is 16 in the UK so regardless it was completely legal. Also thats some impressive digging, just found out i share the same birthday with him.
Isn’t the age of consent 16 in England? I can’t see what a woman of that age would have in common with a man/ boy in their teens, but I suppose that’s up to them. Doesn’t give me a warm and fuzzy feeling but hey…
I have no issue with the age difference, or the fact that he was 18. He’s 18, and had been working on films for a while now. He was certainly not an average 18 year old.
The only time I find it creepy is when it’s someone like Leo–has a history of dating barely legal women, before dumping them two or three years later. And they get younger every year. She’s not a predator.
@Virgilia
Exactly.
It is appalling to read so many prejudiced comments about age gaps. I can now understand why my mum wants to keep my husband’s age a secret and she doesn’t tell the truth to her neighbours. Imagine the reactions. Pfft it’s still a bigoted world and the worst part is that much of this prejudice is spouted by women who should be supportive towards each other instead……
I’m impressed that England cares about weapons. In the US, you can be armed to the hilt and no one cares until you have enough to be an arms dealer, and the ATF gets involved.
The M16 project having involved Jake Chapman reminds me of an installation I helped work on in a gallery…..heavily influenced by the Chapman brothers, instead of tiny soldiers, it used real morphine pills. (Funny….that was a *very* mellow and good-humoured project for all of us, even though , ‘unaccountably’, we ran put of pills ( * 😉 *) and had to make do with blue antihistamines…….. What larks!)
Mayamae
Here owning a weapon is not much encouraged, only few people do own one.
To see an assault rifle in a window, well I would be alarmed too, especially since the general terrorism alert has been raised to ‘severe’.
She looks great, who are we to judge? And they look very very happy together which is more than you could say for so many people, including all those out there everyone comments on who are faking it for publicity.
So Aaron had 2 children with Sam? He’s like the world’s worst gold digger. Doesn’t he know he’s supposed to spend all his time lounging around, drinking beer, and spending her money?
Btw, my dad was 15 years older than my mom, but so fit and vital, you would have thought he was the younger partner (she even died first). What you DO with your body means more than how many years are on it!
Of course he fathered her children. She´s now 47 years old! Her clock was ticking and she had a young stallion. Aaron had to satisfy her needs…
These two never fail to gross me out. You will never be able to convince me old men/women who bang kids that young are alright. And yes I know eighteen is “legal” but if you still have “teen” at the end of your age I’m still gonna side eye a 42 year old sleeping with them.
Don’t care for her as a director, but the fact she had the desire to turn that awful, cheesy porn rag the try to pass off as literature into a film, well there goes any respect I have for her in the business.
I sound really judgemental and bitchy, but these two just bring it out in me. Nothing has ever felt ok when I read about them. #sorrynotsorry
Thank you! I feel like everyone here has lost their mind lol I tried posting something earlier but every time I post something negative about this couple my post always disappears.
How in the blue hell is this couple cute but Bradley Cooper and his chick are the creepiest couple ever according to the same people who like this couple?! He was a freaking TEENAGER when they met. Doesn’t matter if he was 17, 18, or 19 he was still a teenager. Which I think he was 17 btw. And she was in a position of power. Most people would call her a predator had the genders been reversed. I absolutely cannot stand double standards and hypocrisy.
I think you are the one with double standards here, not to speak about hypocrisy. Pot calling kettle black?
Tell me you don’t know any couples where the woman was a lot younger than the man.
Last year I met a lady at a field trip who had married her husband when she was 15 and he was 41. Well they had been happily together for more than 30 years.
Predator is someone who does that as a habit. Sorry but that has nothing to do with this couple or the whole notion of falling in love.
How am I the one with double standards? Where did I say it was ok for a 40 year old man to date a teenager and and a woman can’t? And no, I don’t know any couple where one of the SO was a teenager and the other 40 years old when they started dating. In fact I don’t know any couple with a big age difference. But to be honest big age differences don’t bother me if one of them isn’t a teenager.
I think they’re cute together. -shrugs;
I like these two. They are happy and that is what matters. She has had such a tough time with health issues, why can’t she have this happiness? He also looks like he has won the jackpot around her and they have created a beautiful family. He is super hot though – she is very lucky.
No matter how liberal-minded I am about relationships and accepting about people’s sexuality and sexual needs in general, 17 is just way too young. Way too young. And getting pregnant from him? Twice? It is so desperate and unbecoming. He is way too young to be a father, and this woman looks as if she has cornered, manipulated and used him. She could even be his ‘first and only’ given the circumstances! Gross.
I suppose I would be less merciless if they did not have kids. But children makes this all seem tawdry and indecent somehow. This sneaky premeditated move for the entrapment of a very young person into a prematurely grown-up life.
btw, I hate myself for saying this because I know I should be above it, but is she were the man and he were the woman, I would be far more accepting toward this situation. Not the 17 year old part, because that is reprehensible in every way, but the age difference. I know I come off as a sexist pig, but that is how I feel for some reason.
I will go and take the Silkwood shower now.
“btw, I hate myself for saying this because I know I should be above it, but is she were the man and he were the woman, I would be far more accepting toward this situation. ”
Yeah, we kind of knew that already, it’s quite transparent actually since no one usually comments when it’s the man who is the older one…it usually ends up being about how the woman looks older anyway so no biggie or “at least she’s not a teenager”.
Listen, I am Aarons age and I see nothing wrong with this. I do hate the sexist double standards though because you are essentially normalizing old man/young woman and making the lines blurred between what is socially acceptable and you are furthering very dangerous notions of how girls are more “mature than boys” when that is not true.
Also, I wonder if you will hate yourself even more when younger and younger actresses replace older ones in films, tv, commercials etc and when you one day get to be an “old invisible woman past her prime” when you are only 30. Yeah. Like I said, we get what you are about but I feel sorry for you because no one stays young forever and I wonder if you will look back on your ignorant words and realize what how wrong and brainwashed you were.
By the way, men usually die earlier than women so this combination makes more sense than the other way around.
I think people seriously overestimate the innocence of Aaron Taylor Johnson at age 18/19. From interviews it sounds like he worked a lot growing up, wasn’t overly attentive to his secondary education and spent the ages of 15-18 partying like a college freshman (except he had his own income, not living off loans or mom and dad’s money). I don’t think he had the extended protected adolescence that we associate with the average 18 year old. And it seems ridiculously unlikely that he was a virgin when they hooked up. (Actually having had his share of sexual partners his own age would make him more, not less, likely to appreciate a more experienced partner. )
I really hate sinking to making such comments, but I can’t really comment on this guy’s acting skills.
I did a quick Google search though, and I find him kinda hot.
When you are 17 you are still a kid.
Your brain is still developing.
That disconnect between what you do and how it affects the world is still there.
I do think he was too young.
And, the responses here about Sam are unbelievable. If she looked like Angelina, Rita Ora, or any other hot celebrity, the responses would be completely different.
She looks the way she looks, normal, cute and energetic. It is gross to me that some of the comment here are: “she is ugly.” period. Like, that is all that matters.
He is just sexy. His wife is lucky.
At first I was grossed when I found out her age difference to his but I realized I was being a bit unreasonable.
If he loves her so be it.
At least he’s not shallow. Or it doesn’t seem that way.