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, 33, and Sam Taylor-Johnson, 56, who celebrated their 11-year wedding anniversary in June 2023.
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, 25, Jessie Phoenix, 16, Wylda Rae, 13, and Romy Hero, 11.
Over a decade later, despite unsubstantiated cheating rumours 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 relationship.
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.
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.”
May 17, 2009: The pair attend a Cannes Film Festival party for Nowhere Boy.
October 29, 2009: They make their red-carpet debut at the BFI London Film Festival premiere of Nowhere Boy.
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.”
July 8, 2010: Sam and Aaron welcome their first child together, a daughter named Wylda Rae.
January 18, 2012: They welcome their second daughter, Romy Hero.
June 21, 2012: ATJ and STJ get married in Somerset, England.
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.”
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.”
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.”
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 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.”
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.”
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.
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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! ❤️”
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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.”
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July 18, 2022: Sam joins Aaron on the red carpet at the Paris premiere of his film Bullet Train.
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 rumour, despite the lack of evidence that anything romantic occurred between ATJ and King.
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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 criticise the Taylor-Johnsons’ relationship without calling Sam “old hag” or “granny.”
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March 4, 2023: Aaron celebrates Sam’s 56th birthday on Instagram.
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June 13, 2023: Sam returns the favour 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.”
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 he suggests ATJ and STJ’s relationship works “because it’s rooted in creative partnership.”
His 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.”
September 6, 2023: Sam shares some shirtless pics of Aaron on Instagram with the caption “Summer romance.”
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Though the post has garnered some positive replies, including ones from Jamie Dornan and Garrett Hedlund, comments have been limited.
March 21, 2024: As rumours 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 realise 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.
Aaron also praised his wife’s filmmaking career which includes the upcoming Amy Winehouswe biopic Back to Black. “Sam is actually a great filmmaker and a wonderful storyteller,” Taylor-Johnson said. “People will think there’s sort of a bias to me saying it, but I think when they see Back to Black, everyone’s going to realise how fantastic a filmmaker she is.”
This article originally appeared on GLAMOUR US.
