Why we're obsessed with the Taylor-Johnsons
Here at GLAMOUR.com, we're just a little bit obsessed with the Taylor-Johnsons. Thanks in no small part to their 23-year age gap, their romance and subsequent marriage has come under a considerable amount of media scrutiny. That aside, they are our favourite Brit power couple on the block. We've always loved her and we definitely love him. So here's a little ode to our favourite twosome.
Although maybe better known for her BAFTA-nominated film work now, Sam Taylor-Wood (as she was known pre-2012) was one of a group of artists known in the 1990s as the YBAs (Young British Artists).
Rex FeaturesIn the early 90s, Sam dated her artistic collaborator Henry Bond – a fellow YBA, and the two came to the artistic fore in 1993 with their recreation of Yoko Ono and John Lennon’s famous photo-portrait, entitled 26 October 1993.
PA PhotosAfter a series of well-received exhibitions, Sam won the Illy Café Prize for Most Promising Young Artist at the 1997 Venice Biennale. No small thing.
PA PhotosThe art world’s high profile union became official in 1997 when Sam married British art dealer Jay Jopling. However, later that year, Sam was diagnosed with colon cancer and three years, overcame another bout of cancer as well. However, Jay and Sam welcomed two daughters together before divorcing in 2008 after eleven years of marriage.
WennOver to Aaron now: Originally from High Wycombe, Taylor-Johnson might look like some young buck but he’s been in TV and film since the tender age of six, kicking off his career in an adaptation of Macbeth and Hollywood flick The Illusionist. Casual.
Rex FeaturesBefore he became such a high-kicking superhero, tweens may remember Aaron as dashing Robbie in the 2008 film adaptation of Louise Renninson’s Angus, Thongs & Full-Frontal Snogging, though.
Rex FeaturesBut it was on the 2009 set of Nowhere Boy (his first lead role and her first feature), that Sam and Aaron’s worlds were to collide.
Rex FeaturesAnd the rest as they say, is history. (But in case you don’t know the full story, let us break it down. We’re a sucker for a great romance…)
WennBy October 2009 – and despite a much-publicized 23-year age gap – Sam and Aaron announced their engagement.
Rex FeaturesSpeaking about their romance, Aaron said at the time: "There is an understanding between us that is just so intimate. Being older than me is no big deal. It's different to how old you are in soul years.”
PA PhotosAnd just a few months later in January 2010, the happy couple announced that they were expecting their first child together and welcomed a girl, Wylda Rae, that summer.
PA PhotosAaron’s star was quickly on the ascent that year as well, after the release of cult superhero hit, Kick Ass.
big picturesBut the couple that collaborates together, stays together and so the soon-to-be Taylor-Johnsons hooked up professionally once again as Sam directed her beau in the 2011 music video for R.E.M.’s Überlin.
Rex FeaturesBut lo, the stork was to visit the Taylor-Wood-Johnson household again in 2011 and after confirming that they were expecting their second child together, the two welcomed another daughter – Romy Hero – in January 2012.
PA PhotosJust six months later, Sam and Aaron made it official, tying the knot in Somerset. She wore an Alexander McQueen gown, while Johnson went for a bespoke suit by Tom Ford. The pair also announced that they would now be known by the surname Taylor-Johnson. Gah! As if we couldn’t have loved them anymore.
Rex FeaturesAfter a much-anticipated return to the big screen in Kick Ass 2, Sam had some news of her own in the summer of 2013, when she was announced as the director for the movie adaptation of Fifty Shades Of Grey. On his wife’s new job, a proud Aaron was quoted as saying at the time: "I am thrilled she is doing it. She got the job and overnight it went crazy. But Sam is incredible…She is totally the right person to take it to a whole other level of class."
Rex FeaturesHowever, despite his glowing appraisal of his wife’s abilities behind the lens, it remains to be seen if Aaron will take on the role of Christian Grey. In a 2013 interview appeared to rule himself out, saying: "I am not Christian Grey… I mean, he is supposed to be the most gorgeous man on the f***ing planet! And I am not old enough." Meh.
FlynetWith production on the Fifty Shades of Grey movie well underway by December 2013, Aaron was seen visiting his missus on the flick's Vancouver set.
FlynetThe famously private pair were seen cosying up against the chilly Canadian weather, as Sam helms the much-anticipated film adaptation of E.L. James' erotic novel.
