Jonathan Ross welcomes actress Marisa Abela and Sam Taylor-Johnson on ITV this Saturday (March 30, 2024) at 9.35pm as the pair are due to talk about their Amy Winehouse biopic, Back to Black.
Sam has enjoyed her fair share of successes throughout her career, most notably with the 2015 release of Fifty Shades of Grey with A-list stars Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson.
Standing by her side, ready to cheer her on in all of her endeavours is Sam's husband actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who became a household name in the early 2010's with the lead role in the Marvel blockbuster Kick Ass following his rise to fame in Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging.
But while their romance has been going strong for more than fifteen years, the pair have attracted heavy media attention due to the 23-year age difference between them as well as the circumstances that led to them getting together.
The pair met on the set of Sam's 2009 directorial debut Nowhere Boy, a biopic inspired by Beatles star John Lennon and his childhood. At the time, 18-year-old Aaron had been picked out to portray a teenage John Lennon for a 42-year-old Sam Taylor-Wood, as she was then called.
Though both have claimed there was "no funny business at all" during filming in a rare joint interview for Harper's Bazaar years later, Sam and Aaron embarked on a romantic relationship after wrapping up.
A 19-year-old Aaron jumped straight into co-parenting Sam's two daughters from her previous marriage with art dealer and gallerist Jay Jopling, despite only been a handful of years older than them, and quickly proposed to Sam.
Loved-up and ready to tie the knot, the couple made their red carpet debut at the BFI London Film Festival premiere of Nowhere Boy on October 29, 2009, but their clear age difference was difficult for some of Aaron's fans to understand.
Aaron addressed the age gap two months later during an interview by simply stating: "I’m an old soul and she’s a young soul. We don’t see an age gap; we just see each other."
The Pietro Maximoff star became a father for the first time in early July, 2010, following the birth of his first child with Sam, a daughter named Wylda Rae.
Sam and Aaron welcomed a second daughter called Romy Hero in January, 2012, and tied the knot in June that same year during a ceremony held in Somerset.
To symbolise their love, the newlyweds underwent a dual name change to Taylor-Johnson. "As soon as we finished (filming Nowhere Boyd), he told me he was going to marry me", Sam remembered for Harper's Bazaar in 2019, "we had never been on a date, or even kissed."
Aaron added: "And a year to the minute after we met, exactly one year to the minute, I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me."
Throughout the years they've spent together, Sam and Aaron have made sure to keep their daily life with their children firmly private, only divulging a handful of details in sporadic interviews, particularly as their age-gap relationship has been under intense scrutiny since their love story began.
Speaking to Esquire last year, the Bullet Train actor said: "I've probably talked to you more about my kids and Sam than I have with anybody. I've got really nothing to hide, and I'm secure in what we have. But I'm not going to unlock things that are actually precious to me."
This didn't stop Aaron from paying tribute to his director wife at the 2017 Golden Globes as he was 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 said at the time. "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."
Sam has also made it clear that Aaron was the only one for her, responding to the backlash about their age gap in a Sunday Times interview by claiming: "We spend every minute of the day together.
"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."
In 2018, the lovebirds worked together once again as the began production on their film A Million Little Pieces, based on the famous James Frey book, which Sam deemed "the best thing" they had ever done while chatting with Harper's Bazaar.
As the discourse around their 23-year age difference continued, Sam and Aaron continued to share proof of their love, sealing it in ink as the couple opted for matching tattoos in 2021 and renewing their vows in 2022.
Unfortunately for them, criticism is rife online and cheating rumours targeting Aaron emerged on social media after an unsubstantiated "blind item" on TikTok relayed by user @thekylemarisa.
In her short video, the content creator dropped a bombshell according to which Aaron Taylor-Johnson had cheated on his long-term wife with his Bullet Train co-star Joey King during a promotional trip in Paris.
The rumours sent may fans into a frenzy as they remembered the circumstances of Sam and Aaron's first meeting - many people on social media were outraged as they accused the director of "grooming" her teen husband and celebrated his potential infidelity.
Many social media users defended their stance by alleging that Sam Taylor-Johnson met her beau years before his eighteenth birthday, making him underage at the time.
But this still wasn't enough to damage the unbreakable bond between Sam and Aaron and the actor responded to the harsh comments about his age gap with his wife in a March, 2024, interview with Rolling Stone UK.
"What you've got to realise is that what most people were doing in their twenties, I was doing when I was 13", he recalled, adding that the interest in his relationship was "bizarre."
This wasn't the first time Aaron expressed his frustration with the attention his relationship had attracted as he once deemed it "intrusive" during a chat with New York Magazine in 2017.
"The attention was intrusive. But having to deal with that early in my career probably got me to a place where I can more quickly just go, 'Oh, (expletive) it' instead of wanting to rip someone's head off for asking questions I don't like", he had said.
After living in Los Angeles, Sam and Aaron returned to the UK in 2022 and they've since settled in Somerset, where Aaron has said he keeps pigs, bees and "loves" his life in the country which he balances with his acting gigs.
Speaking of which, while Sam has her own projects to promote ahead of Back to Black's May 2024 release, it was reported that Aaron was offered the role of James Bond after Daniel Craig bowed out of the franchise following its latest film, No Time to Die (2021).
A source told The Sun in March, 2024: "Bond is Aaron’s job, should he wish to accept it. The formal offer is on the table and they are waiting to hear back.
"As far as Eon (Productions) is concerned, Aaron is going to sign his contract in the coming days and they can start preparing for the big announcement."
Speculations about who would take on the role have been rife in the last few years and rumours have included other household names in the likes of Tom Hardy, former Bridgerton star Regé-Jean Page, Idris Elba, Robert Pattinson, Harry Styles and Henry Cavill as other strong contenders for the James Bond role.
As 007 fans wait to hear the final call, Aaron was quick to pour water on the rumours as he chatted to Rolling Stone magazine, saying: "I can only really talk about the things I’m going to show and tell. So, The Fall Guy, Nosferatu, Kraven the Hunter. I don’t feel like I need to have a future drawn out for me. I feel like, whatever’s drawn out for me, I can f***ing do better."
Whatever the case may be, both Aaron and Sam have made it clear as day - they won't be facing the future separately, come what may.
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