These Political Couples Have Bigger Age Gaps Than We Realized

When it comes to celebrities, age gaps in Hollywood romances are nothing new. For as long as people have been famous, they've been perfectly content to think of age as nothing but a number. However, the phenomenon of sizable (and sometimes downright shocking) age gaps isn't limited to show business. Many public figures have raised eyebrows by marrying much younger or older partners in the worlds of technology, business, and especially politics.

When it comes to the political arena, however, public opinion matters quite a bit more — especially for those politicians holding elected office. So, from time to time, those age gaps get underplayed and go unreported, allowing the politicians to avoid the heat of the public spotlight. Other times, the politicians met decades ago when age gaps in romances didn't strike people as unusual in the same way they do today. These are just a few of the reasons there are so many powerful government players in relationships with much bigger age gaps than you ever may have realized.

U.S. Representative John Rose, a Republican from Tennessee, is 59 years old, while his wife, Chelsea Rose, with whom he shares two young sons, is a full 25 years his junior. However, it is the story of how they met that struck some as a bit unconventional. When Chelsea was a 17-year-old high school student, she traveled to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, for the 2007 Future Farmers of America Convention, where her high school's FFA chapter had won an award. It was there that Chelsea met John, who was 42 years old at the time.

When they first crossed paths, John was the vice chairman of the FFA board, and Chelsea was awarded the Jerry and Betty Williams Rose Scholarship — a monetary prize named after John's parents. The pair wound up tying the knot in 2011 when Chelsea was a senior in college. Chelsea credited her future husband for helping her in her career, telling the Murfreesboro Post in January 2010, "John has made everything possible that I've done in FFA beyond high school. Through the scholarship that he provides, I've not had to have a job through college. I've been able to train, improve, focus on FFA, and focus on school. That scholarship has made all the difference."

President Donald Trump has been married three times — first to Ivana Trump, who was only three years younger than him, and then to actress and model Marla Maples, who is 17 years his junior. Over a year after their split in 1997, Donald met model Melania Knauss at a party in New York, and they began a romance soon after. While it's obvious there's a significant discrepancy in their ages, Donald and Melania's 24-year age gap is actually record-setting.

Theirs is the largest age gap for any president since the dawn of the 20th Century. There have only been two other U.S. presidents with bigger age gaps in their marriages. The overall record goes to John Tyler, the 10th president, who was 30 years older than his wife, Julia. Notably, the second-largest age gap was between Grover Cleveland and his wife, Frances Cleveland, who was 28 years younger than him. Interestingly, Cleveland has another thing in common with Donald as he is the only president to be elected to two non-consecutive terms in office, serving as both our 22nd and 24th president.

In 1999, Melania sat down for an interview with Don Dahler, who asked the model about her romance with Trump and claims made by critics that she was only dating the real-estate mogul for his money. "People who talk like this, they don't know me," Melania said at the time (via the Daily Mail). "You can't sleep or to hug or to talk [sic] with beautiful things, with a beautiful apartment, beautiful plane, beautiful cars, beautiful houses, you can't do that. You could feel very empty."

Amid all of the controversy surrounding Matt Gaetz, including his various scandals and allegations of sexual misconduct, his wife, Ginger Gaetz, has been by his side and remained a vocal supporter of the embattled former Congressman. However, the 12-year age gap in their marriage has raised some red flags among the litany of Gaetz's critics. Matt and Ginger reportedly met in March 2020 at a birthday party for Donald Trump Jr.'s former fiancee, Kimberly Guilfoyle. After months of dating, Gaetz popped the question in December 2020, and they tied the knot the following August.

At the time of their engagement, Matt was under investigation by the Department of Justice for allegations that he played a role in the sex trafficking of a minor. The investigation ultimately was dropped, but other allegations surfaced accusing the politician of sleeping with underage girls. Matt has staunchly denied all allegations against him, and Ginger has been an ardent champion of her husband's political career throughout their marriage, often taking to social media to share her support and love amid his ever-changing career path.

A decade after Mitch McConnell's first marriage to Sherrill Redmon came to an end in 1980, the republican senator met his future wife, Elaine Chao, during a dinner with a mutual friend, and the pair soon began to date. Given the fact that McConnell was a nearly 50-year-old divorced politician with three children when he and Chao met, their 11-year age gap wasn't particularly significant in the grand scheme of things.

McConnell and Chao wound up tying the knot in a small ceremony on February 6, 1993, which had a particular significance to McConnell. The life-long politician explained on the Senate floor after resigning as Senate Minority Leader in 2024, "My wife Elaine and I got married on President Reagan's birthday, February 6th. It's probably not the most romantic thing to admit, but Reagan meant a great deal to both of us. For thirty-one years, Elaine has been the love of my life, and I am eternally grateful to have her by my side." While McConnell has served in the Senate, Chao has been a power player in Washington, D.C., as well. She served as the secretary of labor during the George W. Bush administration and later as the secretary of transportation during Donald Trump's first term in office.

Joe Biden has dealt with a great deal of heartbreak and tragedy during his long and eventful life, including the untimely death of his first wife, Neilia Biden, and their infant daughter in a car crash in December 1972. After some time as a widowed father raising two young sons, Joe's brother, Frank Biden, set him up on a blind date with Jill Biden, who herself was going through a divorce and was separated from her estranged husband. Joe, who is nine years older than Jill, came to pick her up for their date, and it seemed unlikely to her that they'd click.

"I was a senior [in college], and I had been dating guys in jeans and clogs and T-shirts, and he came to the door, and he had on a sport coat and loafers, and I thought, 'God, this is never going to work, not in a million years,'" she told Vogue in a profile interview in 2014 (via People). "But we went out to see 'A Man and a Woman' at a movie theater in Philadelphia, and we really hit it off ... I went upstairs and called my mother at 1:00 A.M. and said, 'Mom, I finally met a gentleman.'"

In that same interview, Jill confirmed the stories that Joe proposed to her five times before she finally accepted. According to Jill, she hadn't turned him down initially, but rather, she repeatedly told him to wait until he was absolutely sure. She'd become close with his young sons, and if they were to take that next step, she wanted to make sure it would be forever. Joe and Jill tied the knot in June 1977 and have been supporting and loving one another since.