Culture & Entertainment
There's nothing new under the sun, and that goes double for some of this year's biggest dating trends, which have caused romantic tropes of the days before to have a 2024 resurgence. One of them is the May-December relationships of the past, receiving the modern-day rebrand of age-gap dating. Age-gap relationships have been a common occurrence in Hollywood since the very beginning, and some of our favorite celebrity couples even have some of the biggest age differences.
From 9 years to 40 years, the following celeb couples are proving a prominent age difference doesn't always have to be a deterrent in thriving long-time love:
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Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade first met in 2007. At the time, Gabrielle was recently divorced, and Dwyane was still in his first marriage. It wouldn't be until around two years later when rumors of a romance between the two would begin to swirl. About their meeting and what would eventually make things take a turn, Gabrielle told Glamour in 2014, "When I met Dwyane, his résumé looked like crap: athlete, going through a divorce, nine years younger than me. None of that screamed, ‘Let’s have a lasting relationship.’ Then, after I had a heart-crushing breakup with yet another immature jerk, I thought, it can’t be any worse if I date a fetus. Let’s just see what happens. Turned out he’d been on his own since he was 15. He had wisdom that comes with facing an insane amount of adversity. He’s sweet, funny, honest about his shortcomings. When I put my preconceived notions to the side, I found someone cool."
With the exception of a year break, Gabrielle and Dwyane have remained relatively solid as a couple, marrying in August 2014. The couple share a daughter together, Kaavia James, and Gabrielle is a stepmom to Dwyane's children from previous relationships, Zaire, Zaya, Xavier, and Dahveon.
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Beyoncé and Jay-Z met around the year 2000, but according to her, they didn't start dating until she was 19. "We were friends first for a year and a half before we went on any dates," she has shared about their relationship. The notoriously private pair wouldn't confirm the rumors surrounding their relationship until 2004 at the MTV Video Music Awards.
Four years later, they secretly wed on April 4, as "4" is a sacred number for the couple. They welcomed their first child together, daughter Blue Ivy in 2012, and in 2017 completed their family of five with the arrival of twins, Sir and Rumi Carter.
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Nick Cannon and former model Bre Tiesi have an 11-year age difference between them. The comedian and his real estate girlfriend of Selling Sunset fame say they are in a nonmonogamous relationship that works for them. "I love Nick. I’m happy with my relationship, however that is, and like, if I date, I date," Bre stated on a 2023 episode of her hit Netflix show. "I mean, I do what I want to do, but I still would never disrespect Nick. I just wouldn’t. And even his situations and stuff, I’ve always been nothing but respectful of that. I know people don’t get it, and I don’t care that people don’t get it," she added.
Nick and Bre share a son together, Legendary Love Cannon. Bre was previously married to NFL player Johnny Manziel, and Nick was previously married to Mariah Carey. Nick is the father of 12 kids, including the son he has with Bre.
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Eddie Murphy has been in a relationship with Australian model Paige Butcher since 2012 and has been engaged to her since 2018. The father of 10 shares two children with Paige, daughter Izzy Iona and son Max Charles.
The prolific actor and comedian has been married once before to Nicole Mitchell Murphy.
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Actress Viola Davis and her husband, Julius Tennon, are living a love that is an answered prayer. "I was the loneliest woman in the world, and someone said, ‘You should just pray for a husband.’ I said I wanted a big Black man from the South who looked like a football player, who already had children, who maybe had been married before... Three-and-a-half weeks later, I met my husband."
The couple who have a 12-year age difference, married in 2003. Together, they share an adopted daughter, Genesis, and Julius also has two children from a previous marriage.
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New Zealand actor and filmmaker Taika Waititi and British singer Rita Ora's relationship began as "just friends" for years before they decided to 'complicate' the friendship after falling for each other. "It was very causal. And then we stayed friends for like, four or five years. ... It was just a natural thing," Rita explained to Vogue. "We were both in Australia doing two separate jobs ... and we kind of hung out and that was it. We went to a friend's birthday party, and it all clicked."
It ended up working out for the better because the pair got hitched on August 4, 2022. "She proposed to me, and I said yes instantly," Taika said in an interview with Vogue.
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Actor Idris Elba was convinced he'd never get married again after being married twice before. At least, that's what he told ESSENCE magazine in 2017. That same year though, he encountered the woman who would one day become his wife, Canadian model and former Miss Vancouver Sabrina Dhowre. When their eyes met at a jazz club one night, it was "love at first sight." In a 2019 interview, the musician told The View, "It was love at first sight. I went out on my only day off, true story, it was a Sunday night, I went to this party, and there she was. The rest is history."
Idris and Sabrina married in 2019 in Morrocco after dating for two years. Idris has a daughter, Isan, and a son, Winston, from two previous relationships.
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R&B singer and Sister, Sister alum Marques Houston sparked a lot of backlash when he made his relationship with the much younger Miya Houston public. The pair met in April 2018 when Miya was only 17, but according to both, their romantic relationship did not begin until after she turned 18 in October 2018. Notably, the couple bonded over their shared faith as Jehovah's Witnesses. By March 2019, they were engaged, a mere five months into their relationship, and tied the knot in August 2020.
In a June 2020 Instagram post, Marques further clarified that they "didn't start dating until she was an adult" and insisted that what they share is "true love."
"Miya and I didn't start dating until she was an adult. We fell in love and got engaged in March of 2019. My dad Michael loves her, and the people I am closest to all love her as well. Most importantly we have Jehovahs blessing," he wrote in his caption. "There is so much more to be concerned about in the world, than creating rumors about me. No twists, no turns, no scandals, just true love. There is nothing that can come to light, because there's no darkness in my life. You wanted the truth. I don't have anything to hide."
The couple share a daughter, Zara Denise, and a son Greyson Houston whom they welcomed in 2021 and 2023 respectively.
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Talent manager and business executive Corey Gamble has been linked romantically to businesswoman and media personality Kris Jenner since 2014. The pair have a whopping 25-year age difference. Following two high-profile divorces, the 68-year-old "momager" revealed in 2018 her stance on ever marrying again while on the Divorce Sucks With Laura Wasser podcast, saying:
"You know, you never say never, but I often say it’s just not what I think I need to do again based on my past. I’m in a really great relationship right now, and I’m happy, and I don’t want to mess that up. I don’t have the need to put on a long, white dress and walk down an aisle. I’ve done that. I’ve had the big wedding, I’ve had the babies and the kids—six of them, by the way. It’s not like we need to do that again; my body wouldn’t cooperate if I wanted it to. I think that I just feel really grateful and blessed for my past experiences, and I’m looking forward to my future, and I just don’t think that I want to go there."
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Lionel Richie, 74, has been dating Swiss modelpreneur Lisa Parigi, 34, since 2014 after meeting at a dinner party. A decade later, the pair are still going on strong. Of his relationship with Lisa, the "All Night Long" singer told PEOPLE in a 2019 interview, "She's extremely beautiful, but most importantly she's smart and helps me deal with my crazy world."
Lionel has been married twice previously and has three kids, Nicole Richie, Sofia Richie, and Miles.
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Following a relationship with Amber Rose, music producer Alexander "A.E." Edwards became romantically linked to music legend Cher, who is 40 years his senior. The pair met "for about 15 minutes" in 2022 while attending Paris Fashion Week. Fast forward a year later, they debuted as a couple at the same fashion week. They've reportedly been an item ever since.
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