Controversial Couple Aaron And Sam Taylor-Johnson Immediately Hit It Off When They Met

Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Sam Taylor-Johnson's relationship has faced intense criticism and false cheating rumors because of their 23-year age gap. The controversial couple's paths crossed in 2008 when Aaron starred as a young John Lennon in Sam's directorial debut, "Nowhere Boy." Although social media users have been kinder towards some celebrity couples with the biggest age gaps, they can't seem to get on board with Aaron and Sam because when they met, she was 41 and he was 18. 

Users on X, formerly known as Twitter, have accused the "50 Shades of Grey" director of misusing her professional influence over him to groom and manipulate him into starting their relationship. Most of these people probably wouldn't be too pleased to know they had their eyes set on each other from the get-go. When the pair sat down with Harper's Bazaar in 2019, Aaron vividly recalled that Sam was wearing a white shirt when he first saw her at an audition for "Nowhere Boy." 

He happily noted that she had kept the blouse through all these years and added, "It definitely changed my life, though not in the way I expected." Despite the instant connection, the pair insisted that their relationship didn't start until after filming wrapped. "Everyone on set knew," Taylor explained. "And as soon as we finished, he told me he was going to marry me. We had never been on a date, or even kissed." However, she knew all along that he was the one for her. 

Speaking to The Guardian in 2009, Sam Taylor-Johnson shared that she kept her feelings for Aaron Taylor-Johnson on the back burner throughout filming. However, the interviewer, Simon Hattenstone, had attended a day of the shoots and said he could easily feel the romantic tension between them. Hattenstone previously wrote that Sam and Aaron seemed to be in a world of their own on set as they enjoyed themselves while wearing jackets with their initials. 

When the journalist inquired if all the cast and crew got similar clothing, the director answered that they were only reserved for the two most important people there. "Maybe feelings were there but unacted upon," Sam explained. "The thing is, we had quite a psychic link when we were working together. I knew from a flicker of an eyelash what kind of performance I was going to get. I felt that link almost from day one of meeting him." 

As a result, their relationship moved at breakneck speed after "Nowhere Boy" ended. Sam told The Guardian that she and the "Bullet Train" actor moved in together in March 2009. He had already popped the question before the movie premiere in October 2009. Aaron later told Harper's Baazar that he had meticulously timed the proposal to match the exact moment he had laid eyes on her only a year later. The couple welcomed their first child in 2010, when Aaron was 20, and their second in 2012. They went on to tie the knot in June 2012.

When Aaron Taylor-Johnson spoke to Rolling Stone in March 2024, he admitted that he couldn't understand why people had such strong opinions about his marriage to Sam Taylor-Johnson. He explained that his time as a child actor had caused him to mature beyond his years, so he felt prepared to take on more stereotypically older adult things at a young age. The "Avengers: Age of Ultron" star also stated there was no one-size-fits-all speed for going through life, so he couldn't live by anyone else's ideals. 

X users didn't find the interview comforting because they felt sad he was forced to grow up young. In an August 2023 Esquire interview, the former child actor shared that when he was around 11, he instinctively knew he would start a family earlier than most. As for Sam, she told The Sunday Times in 2017 that their age gap never hurt their relationship because he was wise beyond his years. "We spend every minute of the day together," she said. 

"My friends call him Benjamin Button because he has — on the outside — such youth, and on the inside, he is so wise and settled." She explained that he was more of a homebody who always went the extra mile to keep their family and friends more comfortable. When Sam spoke to The Hollywood Reporter in 2017, she shared that her happiness would swiftly crumble if she listened to the critics of their relationship, so she simply tuned them out.