Hollywood boasts no shortage of romances with significant age gaps, but few of these celebrity couples have held on quite as long as Aaron Taylor-Johnson, 35, and Sam Taylor-Johnson, 58, who celebrated their 11-year wedding anniversary in June 2023.
Yes, your math is right. The Kick-Ass actor and James Bond contender met the director on the set of their movie Nowhere Boy in 2008, when he was reportedly 18 years old. Though both claim there was “no funny business at all” during filming, he proposed a year later and jumped right into coparenting Sam’s two daughters from a previous marriage. Before exchanging wedding vows in 2012, Aaron and Sam welcomed two children of their own, for a total of four daughters: Angelica, 28; Jessie Phoenix, 19; Wylda Rae, 15; and Romy Hero, 14.
Over a decade later, despite unsubstantiated cheating rumors that went viral in January 2023, the pair seem happier than ever on social media—though Aaron doesn’t seem to like talking about his marriage in interviews. “I’ve got really nothing to hide, and I’m secure in what we have,” he told Esquire in an interview published in August 2023. “But I’m not going to unlock things that are actually precious to me.”
Here’s a complete timeline of Sam and Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s controversial relationship, with the most recent updates up top.
January 30, 2026: DeuxMoi publishes photos of the pair holding hands while shopping in Paris. As usual, the responses are split between accusations of grooming and comments calling out misogyny and ageism.
January 27, 2026: Aaron does his best Blue Steel while posing with Sam outside the Saint Laurent Menswear fall/winter 2026–2027 at Paris Fashion Week. The pair were dressed in his and hers trench coats to sit front row at the runway show next to Heated Rivalry star Connor Storrie, according to their Instagram posts.
June 24, 2025: The duo sit front-row at the Saint Laurent Menswear spring-summer 2026 show as part of Paris Fashion Week.
June 18, 2026: Sam Taylor-Johnson and Aaron Taylor-Johnson attend the premiere of his film 28 Years Later in London, England.
That same evening the pair are seen holding hands on their way to the after-party.
June 16, 2025: Sam posts a “belated Happy Father’s Day” tribute to “the best Daddy I know” on Instagram, sharing a shirtless photo from Aaron’s Saint Laurant campaign.
March 4, 2025: Aaron posts another PDA-filled birthday tribute to his wife on Instagram, writing, “💕Happy Birthday gorgeous! ❤️ Love spending every moment with you 💚💛.”
December 10, 2024: Aaron and Sam make a very rare red-carpet appearance with two of their daughters at the NYC premiere of Kraven the Hunter. Of course, the internet fixates on the moment, with many TikTok commenters focusing on the age difference between Aaron and his step-daughters Angelica and Jessie Jopling. “Imagine Aaron is your stepdad and he’s only 8 yrs older than u,” one TikTok user replied to the red-carpet video. Others took their criticism in a pretty gross, inappropriate direction.
April 8, 2024: Sam and Aaron Taylor-Johnson attend the Back to Black world premiere in London. Both are wearing, appropriately, all-black outfits.
April 6, 2024: Sam Taylor-Johnson is questioned about the age gap in her marriage while doing press for Back to Black, the Amy Winehouse biopic starring Marisa Abela.
When asked whether the 23-year age difference comes up in everyday life, with cultural references or interests, Sam says the answer is, generally, no. “I mean, it’s coming up now because you’re asking,” she told The Guardian in an interview. “And it comes up on the outside perspective of people who don’t know us, because I guess people will always…we’re a bit of an anomaly, but it’s that thing: After 14 years, you just think, Surely by now it doesn’t really matter?” Noting that she was with her first husband for just nine years, she added, “So, if you think of it in that way, then the age gap doesn’t really make any difference.”
She also reflected on the attention her relationship receives on social media. “[People online are] abusive about anything,” she noted. That said, she doesn't actively avoid social media, like so many celebrities do, “because it’s just there, but it doesn’t mean anything. It is just people upset with their own sadness, with misgivings about their own life.”
Asked whether the couple's children “face prejudice,” Sam said, “Not really. Or, if so, I don’t think they care. They see two loving, happy parents, so it doesn’t really register. They just think people are a bit mean, or mad.”
March 21, 2024: As rumors swirl that Aaron Taylor-Johnson is the front-runner to play the next James Bond, the now 33-year-old sits down with Rolling Stone UK to discuss his latest film, The Fall Guy, in which he costars with Ryan Gosling.
During the interview Aaron opens up about the accelerated pace of his life, and why he says he felt ready to settle down so young. “What you gotta realize is that what most people were doing in their 20s, I was doing when I was 13,” he says.
Regarding critics of his timeline, he says, “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.”
Writer Christina Newland notes that Aaron was forced to mature at a faster rate than other kids his age due to his career. He became an actor at age six, starred in his first film at age 10, and dropped out of school at age 15. He largely grew up on sets, she writes, where he was treated like an adult—a professional—despite his age.
September 6, 2023: Sam shares some shirtless pics of Aaron on Instagram with the caption “Summer romance.”
Instagram content
Though the post has garnered some positive replies, including ones from Jamie Dornan and Garrett Hedlund, comments have been limited.
August 14, 2023: ATJ tells Esquire that he was happy to take a step back from Hollywood blockbusters to raise his children. “I wanted, purely, to be with my babies,” he says. “I didn’t want to be taken away from them.”
According to writer Norman Jean Roy, Aaron “prickles” when Roy suggests ATJ and STJ’s relationship works “because it’s rooted in creative partnership.”
ATJ’s response: “I don’t know. I don’t think that’s accurate. Yeah, we worked—I met Sam as actor and director. I think we’re really great at collaborating. But that’s not why I fell in love with her.”
June 13, 2023: Sam returns the favor on her husband’s 33rd birthday, writing, “Happy Birthday dear heart ♥️ You’re the sweetest husband and incredible Father to all our girls. We love you.”
March 4, 2023: Aaron celebrates Sam’s 56th birthday on Instagram.
Instagram content
January 2023: Rumors that Aaron cheated on Sam with his Bullet Train costar Joey King go viral thanks to an unsubstantiated “blind item” on TikTok shared by user @thekylemarisa. “I don’t know if they hooked up while filming, but this married, A-list actor is hooking up with this A-list tween actress turned A-, B+ list adult actress during their press trip for the movie they shot,” the TikTok user reads in the video. “The blind item alleges that it happened during their Paris promotional trip for Bullet Train.”
Many people on social media accuse Sam of “grooming” her husband when he was a teenager and celebrate the cheating rumor, despite the lack of evidence that anything romantic occurred between ATJ and King.
X content
Julia Fox also weighs in, replying to one TikTok, “The ageism and misogyny in this comment section smh.”
“This isn’t about her age. ITS ABOUT his age,” another user replies with their own TikTok video, calling out Fox for defending a “child groomer.” However, some other users agree with Fox, suggesting that you can criticize the Taylor-Johnsons’ relationship without calling Sam “old hag” or “granny.”
July 18, 2022: Sam joins Aaron on the red carpet at the Paris premiere of his film Bullet Train.
June 21, 2022: The pair renew their wedding vows. “Yesterday was the most beautiful day, summer solstice, our 10th anniversary,” Aaron writes on Instagram the following day. “We renewed our vows to one another and confessed our love in front of our nearest and dearest friends and family it was a celebration of love and joy! A decade of marriage. It was a magical unforgettable day and the sun did not stop shining on us both.. we are blessed beyond belief. ❤️ Sammy you are my love, my life, my soulmate, my wife, my world! ❤️”
Sam also shared some photos on Instagram, writing, “10 glorious years. My incredible husband, father to all 4 girls. I love you, I love you, I love you. Love conquers all.”
June 1, 2021: Sam gets Aaron’s name tattooed on her collarbone, while tattoo artist Dr. Woo shares a photo of a “healed hummingbird” that he added to the actor’s preexisting “Sam” chest tattoo.
Instagram content
December 5, 2019: Sam says she “doesn’t worry” about the age-gap discourse. “We’ve been together for over a decade now, so I feel like it is less of a conversation for people,” she tells The Daily Beast. “It doesn’t worry me, and it’s not something that is difficult to talk about because it’s such a positive story, that we’re a decade later together and working together and raising a strong family together. That may be a positive message for people out there.”
January 25, 2018: The pair begin production on their film A Million Little Pieces, based on the famous James Frey book. “It was the best thing we’ve ever done,” Sam tells Harper’s Bazaar in 2019, with Aaron adding, “Even better because we did it together.”
June 11, 2017: Sam says Aaron has an “old soul” in an interview with the Sunday Times.“We spend every minute of the day together,” she says. “My friends call him Benjamin Button because he has—on the outside—such youth, and on the inside, he is so wise and settled. He doesn’t like parties. He likes being at home and cooking for the family. He likes walking the dogs. He loves his chickens—he collects the eggs and makes breakfast for everyone.”
January 8, 2017: Aaron calls Sam his soulmate in his Golden Globes acceptance speech after taking home the award for best performance by an actor in a supporting role for Nocturnal Animals. “I want to thank my wife for being there with me and supporting me through this,” he says. “Thank you for putting up with me. Jesus, that was not very pleasant in this role, so you’re my soulmate and I love you very much. I’m blessed. I have four beautiful daughters: Angelica, Phoenix, Wylda, and Romy, I love you all very much.”
January 31, 2015: Sam tells The Guardian that the “great thing about Aaron is that he’s happy not working and being at home with the kids while I work.”
September 5, 2012: Of their dual name change to Taylor-Johnson, Aaron tells the Evening Standard, “I just don’t see why women need to take the man’s name. I wanted to be a part of her just as much as she wanted to be part of me.”
June 21, 2012: ATJ and STJ get married in Somerset, England.
January 18, 2012: They welcome their second daughter, Romy Hero.
July 8, 2010: Sam and Aaron welcome their first child together, a daughter named Wylda Rae.
December 26, 2009: Aaron addresses the 24-year age gap, saying, “I’m an old soul and she’s a young soul. We don’t see an age gap; we just see each other.”
October 29, 2009: They make their red-carpet debut at the BFI London Film Festival premiere of Nowhere Boy.
May 17, 2009: The pair attend a Cannes Film Festival party for Nowhere Boy.
2009: Aaron proposes to Sam “exactly one year to the minute” after they met. “As soon as we finished [filming], he told me he was going to marry me,” Sam told Harper’s Bazaar. “We had never been on a date, or even kissed.”
2008: Eighteen-year-old Aaron Johnson meets 42-year-old Sam Taylor-Wood when he sits down with the director to discuss his interest in playing young John Lennon in her pre-Beatles film Nowhere Boy. The pair would later claim, in a rare joint interview with Harper’s Bazaar in 2019, that there was “no funny business at all” during filming.
In September 2008, Taylor-Wood (now Taylor-Johnson) also announces her split from her then husband Jay Jopling after 11 years of marriage. They share two daughters, Angelica and Jessie.
This post may be updated.
