Some celebrity couples from years gone by had some pretty significant age gaps between them, but some of these relationships likely wouldn’t fly in today’s society.
Frank Sinatra & Mia Farrow
Legendary musician Frank Sinatra married 21-year-old up-and-comer Mia Farrow at the age of 50 in 1966 in a brief wedding in Las Vegas. Their 29-year age difference led to their relationship being fodder for gossip columns. They divorced after two years of marriage, famously with Sinatra having papers served to Farrow on the set of Rosemary’s Baby when she refused to leave the film set to work on his film.
Jerry Seinfeld & Shoshanna Lonstein
Jerry Seinfeld was at the peak of his television fame when he met Shoshanna Lonstein, in 1993. He was 38, and she was a minor, only 17 years old. They met at a park where Seinfeld asked her for her number.
Although reporters made light of it in the 1990s, this scenario of a nearly 40-year-old TV comedian dating a high schooler would mean instant career downfall and Internet riots these days.
Elvis Presley & Priscilla Beaulieu
Elvis Presley was an international rock and roll star when he met Priscilla Beaulieu, who was just 14 years old, in Germany in 1959. The two kept in touch after Elvis returned to the United States, and in 1963 Priscilla moved to Memphis, where she later moved in with Elvis at Graceland. Elvis and Priscilla married in Las Vegas in 1967 when she was 21, and he was 32.
They had a daughter, Lisa Marie, the following year. Unfortunately, the marriage did not last due to problems including Elvis’s gruelling work schedule and prolonged periods of time away from home.
Woody Allen & Soon-Yi Previn
Woody Allen began dating Soon-Yi Previn, who was adopted by Mia Farrow (Allen’s former longtime partner), in 1992, when Allen was age 56, and Previn was around age 21. This meant that Allen had been around Soon-Yi when she was growing up as a parental figure.
When people found out about the relationship in the 1990s, they were shocked by the 35-year age difference and the family relation.
Celine Dion & René Angélil
Music superstar Celine Dion met her late husband and manager René Angélil when she was 12 years old, and he was 38 years old. Angélil was hired by Dion’s parents to manage her career after they sent him a demo tape of her singing. The two would begin a romantic relationship when Celine was 19 years old, and René was 45 years old.
Jerry Lee Lewis & Myra Gale Brown
Rock- and roll musician Jerry Lee Lewis was 22 years old when he married his 13-year-old first cousin once removed, Myra Gale Brown, on December 19, 1957. Lewis’s marriage to Myra became public knowledge and caused a great scandal when British reporters learned of her age during his tour there in 1958. Public outcry forced him to cancel his planned British tour dates and severely impacted his career. Record sales plummeted, and he was banned from some radio stations.
Anthony Quinn & Kathy Benvin
Oscar-winning actor Anthony Quinn met his youngest wife while she worked as his secretary. When Quinn began dating Kathy Benvin, she was his personal secretary. At the time, Quinn was still married to his second wife. The age gap between them was 47 years. At the time, he was 78-years-old. She was in her early 30s. Quinn eventually divorced his wife of 31 years to wed Benvin in 1997. They remained married until his death in 2001.
Pablo Picasso & Marie-Thérèse Walter
Picasso was 45 years old when he met Marie-Thérèse Walter, then aged 17, outside a Paris department store in 1927. Although he was already married to ballet dancer Olga Khokhlova, Picasso struck up a secret relationship with Walter. She became one of his most frequent muses, posing for paintings and sculptures.
The pair eventually had a daughter named Maya in 1935, though Picasso never married Walter. Their relationship slowly declined as he took up with photographer Dora Maar.
Cary Grant & Dyan Cannon
Actor Cary Grant married actress Dyan Cannon in 1965. Their marriage came after a relationship that had already received attention for the age difference between Grant and Cannon.
Grant was 61 when they married, while Cannon was only 28 (a gap of over three decades). They had one daughter together named Jennifer Grant. The marriage was short-lived, however, with Cannon filing for divorce in 1967 and the couple engaging in a messy custody battle.
Clark Gable & Kay Williams
Actor Clark Gable wed socialite/former model Kay Williams in 1955. When they married, Gable was in his mid-50s while Williams was in her late twenties, making them around 27 years apart in age. Williams was his fifth and final wife and was pregnant with their son at the time of his untimely death in 1960.
Charlie Chaplin & Oona O’Neill
Back in 1943, comedian Charlie Chaplin married 18-year-old Oona O’Neill, age 54 at the time. The 36-year age difference between Chaplin and O’Neill created a huge scandal at the time.
Eugene O’Neill, Oona’s father, was appalled that his daughter married a man twice her age and cut her off from his life. The public ridicule and press criticism they faced were significant at the time, but Chaplin and O’Neill were married until his death over 30 years later and had eight kids.
Humphrey Bogart & Lauren Bacall
Legendary screen duo Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall became one of Hollywood’s most iconic couples. Though they were loved, the couple’s ages might garner more gossip these days.
Bacall was 20-years-old when they married in 1945, while Bogart was 45-years-old. Bogart himself was reportedly concerned about their age gap. However, Bacall spoke fondly of it later in life. Bogey and Bacall stayed married until his death in 1957.
Fred Astaire & Robyn Smith
Actor Fred Astaire was 81 years old when he wed 36-year-old Robyn Smith back in 1980. That’s a difference of nearly 45 years. Smith was an established professional jockey at the time, and Astaire was already one of Hollywood’s most famous geriatrics.
Needless to say, their age difference garnered attention when they tied the knot. However, the pair stayed together until Astaire passed away in 1987.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.
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