It’s a real-life “May December.”
Director Sam Taylor-Johnson, 57, made a rare comment about her marriage to actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson, 33 – who is reportedly in talks to be the next James Bond.
“There are times where it’s uncomfortable,” Sam told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview published Wednesday, referring to the attention that she and Aaron get for their 24-year age gap.
“Most of the time we zone it out and stay pretty private. We tend to retreat. Kids and school runs keep you pretty grounded.”
Sam, who directed “Fifty Shades of Grey” and is also directing the Amy Winehouse biopic “Back to Black,” met Aaron (then Aaron Johnson) on the set of the movie “Nowhere Boy” which he starred in and she directed. He was 18 years old, and Sam was 42.
In a rare joint interview with Harper’s Bazaar in 2019, the couple claimed that there was “no funny business at all” during filming.
“As soon as we finished [filming], he told me he was going to marry me. We had never been on a date, or even kissed,” Sam told the publication, with Aaron adding that he proposed in 2009, “exactly one year to the minute” after they met.
They tied the knot in 2012, combining their last names (Johnson was Aaron’s original last name, while Taylor was Sam’s).
Residing in England, the couple raised Angelica and Jessie, Sam’s two daughters from her first marriage (now 26 and 17 – so, her oldest daughter is just seven years younger than Aaron), along with the two daughters they had together, Wylda and Romy, now 12 and 13.
Sam told The Guardian on Wednesday that their kids are unfazed by their age gap.
When asked if their kids face backlash, she 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.”
In August, Aaron told Esquire that by the time he was 10 or 11, he already knew he’d have children at a young age.
“I was going to have a big family,” Aaron recalled thinking. “I knew I was going to be a young father. I knew I was going to have many kids.”
In another interview with Rolling Stone UK In March, Aaron clapped back at naysayers by claiming that he’s an older soul thanks to his child acting days.
“What you gotta realize is that what most people were doing in their 20s, I was doing when I was 13,” Aaron said, referring to starting his professional career at 6 years old.
Slamming critics of his age gap relationship, Aaron said, “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.”
