Sam Taylor-Johnson and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Stephane Cardinale – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images
Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Sam Taylor-Johnson’s love is ageless.
The Fall Guy actor met Sam when she directed him in the 2009 John Lennon biopic Nowhere Boy and the twosome wed in 2012. The couple later welcomed two children together, Wylda and Romy Hero, born in 2010 and 2012, respectively. (Aaron is also stepdad of Sam’s children Angelica and Jessie from her previous marriage to art dealer Jay Joplin.)
Since the duo were born more than two decades apart, their relationship has continuously come under public scrutiny, however, Aaron and Sam aren’t here for all the discourse.
“What you gotta realize is that what most people were doing in their twenties, I was doing when I was 13,” Aaron revealed in his April/May 2024 Rolling Stone UK cover story. “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.”
Keep scrolling to hear everything Aaron and Sam have said about their love and age difference:
The Fascination Was ‘Quite Intense’ at the Beginning
In April 2024, Sam told BBC Radio 4’s This Cultural Life that there was more interest in her and Aaron’s relationship when they first got together.
“And that sort of fascination, because he’s younger than me, which you know, we couldn’t really fathom the fascination,” she shared with the outlet, adding that the speculation has “gone away” for the most part. “Mostly when I’m doing press and things like this it sort of resurges a little bit. But yeah, I guess people want to understand things when they can’t. They want to pick apart when they can’t fathom what a certain love story that doesn’t fit in a box is.”
It’s “Never” Been an Issue
When asked in April 2024 whether age ever comes up in her marriage to Aaron, Sam told The Guardian, “It never does. I mean, it’s coming up now because you’re asking.”
She explained that the couple’s age difference “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.” However, after 14 years together, Sam confessed, “You just think, ‘Surely by now it doesn’t really matter?’”
Sam noted that her ability to drown out the noise has helped her stay connected to Aaron. “If I had been cynical for a second, it wouldn’t have worked,” she said. “If I had questioned anything, it would never have worked.”
The filmmaker added: “I’ve gone feet first into everything in my life. I’m always, ‘This seems amazing’, and I jump straight in and go through the experience, whether good or bad. It’s definitely a ‘F–k it, let’s go with it’ approach. And I’m a great believer that the heart overrides everything. Love conquers all.”
Slamming Down Critics
“You’re doing something too quickly for someone else? I don’t understand that,” Aaron said in his April/May 2024 Rolling Stone UK cover story. “What speed are you supposed to enjoy life at? It’s bizarre to me.”
Working Together on Films
“There’s a protectiveness I feel; I think it’s really difficult,” Aaron said in his April/May 2024 Rolling Stone UK cover story on his working relationship with Sam following their collaboration on the 2019 film A Million Little Pieces. “There’s also part of me that feels like if something didn’t work, I’m the one that’s responsible.”
They Share a Special “Connection”
“He was very intense and absolutely mind made-up [about us dating],” Sam said to the U.K.’s Sunday Times in 2017. “I literally found my soulmate. I feel so blessed: every day I wake up happy. We spend every minute of the day together.”
Getting Annoyed Over Criticism
“But having to deal with that early in my career probably got me to a place where I can more quickly go, ‘Oh, f–k it’ instead of wanting to rip someone’s head off for asking questions I don’t like,” Aaron said in a 2017 interview with New York Magazine.
Not ‘Analyzing’ Their Marriage
“I just know that it works. I just feel secure and loved and safe. We have this very deep connection. We’re just in sync,” Aaron said to Mr. Porter in 2017.
Sam, for her part, added: “If I gave a second thought to other people, I would be the unhappiest person, probably still in a miserable marriage. People like to talk about it. I’m like, ‘Yeah, but it works better than my last marriage.’ It [has] lasted longer than a lot of my friends’ marriages.”
Not Understanding the Discourse
When asked about films like the plot of May December and The Idea of You, which both feature age-gap relationships, Sam shared that she and Aaron aren’t interested in watching those types of movies because age doesn’t matter when you’re with the one you love.
“I think Aaron would say the same. Neither of us look at each other in that way. It’s just a connection of souls and hearts and our life is our life where we’re just moving through it in a gorgeous loving way,” she said in a May 2024 interview with Time. “When people make films, or talk about it or question it or dissect it, it is so strange to me. When people fall in love, they fall in love.”