Political Couples With Large Age Gaps

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The old adage tells us that age is just a number, but when that number presents itself in a gap between two lovers, people have opinions. In 2024, age-gap relationships were found to be no biggie to the majority of daters, but there's also the camp that feels that a sizable age gap is problematic for both parties because it comes with an inherent power imbalance, which might become worse with factors like the older person being wealthier or the younger person being close to the legal age limit. Despite this, several folks on the political scene have entered and stayed in relationships with people significantly older or younger than them. For example, we all know the current president and first lady have 24 years between them, though our matchmaker argues that this age gap isn't the biggest red flag in Donald and Melania Trump's marriage. 

Even though not everyone is on board with age gaps like this, political couples with decades between them often stay in their marriages for the long haul. Research says that the perfect age gap to ensure a successful relationship is zero to three years, as coming from different generations can present extra issues. For example, it can be difficult to build a bond with someone despite different interests, social groups, and stages of life. But still, couples like Karoline Leavitt and Nicholas Riccio make it work despite the odds. 

When it comes to age gaps on the political scene, the man is almost always older in heterosexual relationships. Still, there's still at least one high-profile couple where the reverse is true, and it certainly counts as one of the celebrity relationships with bigger age gaps than you might have thought.

Perhaps the most high-profile political couple with an age gap is Donald and Melania Trump. There are 24 years between the POTUS and the FLOTUS, with Melania being Donald's third wife. Before the two met in 1998, Donald was first married to the late Ivana Trump and then briefly married to Marla Maples (18 years his junior). "He was a bit older than me, but I, at the age of twenty-eight, felt an instant connection with him," Melania wrote of their meeting in her 2024 memoir, "Melania" (via The Independent).

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is one of the loudest personalities on the right, but one gripe that critics have with her outside of politics is her relationship with husband Nicholas Riccio. The latter is 32 years older than Leavitt, who has already come under fire for her matronly wardrobe and seemingly trying to appear older than she is. Despite the gap, Leavitt maintains that she's happy in her marriage, and the pair share son Nicholas "Niko" Robert Riccio and are expecting a daughter in 2026.

The Kennedys were one of the most iconic couples to set foot in the White House, and the focus has hardly ever been on the 12 years between them. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis tied the knot with John F. Kennedy when she was 24 and he was 36. While these two have gone down in history with a shiny legacy, their marriage was seemingly far from perfect. It's rumored that JFK participated in affairs with women such as Mary Pinchot Meyer, Judith Exner, Priscilla Wear, and, of course, Marilyn Monroe. 

Ronald and Nancy Reagan are remembered for bringing a touch of Hollywood glamour back to the White House, with Nancy being one of the first ladies who inspired fashion movements. There were 10 years between them, with Ronald born in 1911 and Nancy in 1921. When the couple tied the knot in 1952, they were 41 and 30, respectively. They went on to have kids Patricia Ann Reagan and Ronald Prescott Reagan, with Ronald passing away in 2004 at age 93, 12 years before Nancy, who died in 2016 at 94.

While Donald and Melania Trump's age gap is discussed widely, fans and critics often forget about the gap between Joe and Jill Biden, who are nine years apart. The former president was born in 1942, while Jill was born in 1951. In 2024, while discussing Joe's advanced age — an issue that continued to pop up as the 2024 presidential election drew near — with "Today," Jill revealed that the former POTUS' "age is an asset." She was talking about his political capability, but perhaps she feels the same in regard to their age gap.

When it comes to men in power, relationship age gaps typically feature younger women and older men. However, French President Emmanuel Macron has broken that tradition with wife Brigitte Macron, who's 24 years his senior. The details of their meeting tend to drop more jaws than their age gap, though. Brigitte, then 39 and married with three kids, was a literature and drama teacher, while Emmanuel, then 15, was her student. He was of the age of consent in France, but he was also a classmate of Brigitte's daughter.

Donald Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., has had a slew of high-profile relationships. After marrying Vanessa Haydon in 2005 (who is his age), the duo were together for 12 years and had five children. By 2020, Don Jr. was engaged to the now-U.S. ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle, who was nine years older than him. However, they split at some point in 2024, and by the end of the year, Don Jr. had moved on to socialite Bettina Anderson, nine years his junior. Their engagement was announced in December 2025.

Our love coach pointed out a few red flags in RFK Jr. and Cheryl Hines' marriage, but their 12-year age gap interestingly wasn't one of them. The pair got engaged in 2014, when RFK Jr. was 60 and the "Curb Your Enthusiasm" star was 48. But the couple focuses on the things they have in common, with Hines telling People ahead of their nuptials that RFK Jr. was "the person [she would] really [like] to be with for a very long time." Both come from big families, which they've bonded over.

Tennessee congressman John Rose has a considerable age gap with wife Chelsea Rose, whom he met when she was 17. At the time, he was 42, but they didn't tie the knot until she was legally an adult. They first met in 2007 at a Future Farmers of America convention in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, where Chelsea was representing her high school. Four years later, they got married. Chelsea was 21, while John was in his mid-40s and acting as a college board chairman at Tennessee Technical University, where Chelsea was a student.

Nothing has officially been confirmed, but Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert and "Cowboy" performer Kid Rock were first romantically linked in January 2025. Photographs of the congresswoman and country singer continued to surface throughout the year, leading to rumors that they're a new item. And if those whispers are true, Boebert has definitely earned a place on this list, as there are around 16 years between these two alleged lovers.