Musician Relationships That Have An Even Bigger Age Gap Than You Thought

Although research has shown that age-gap relationships are no biggie to the majority of daters in today's day and age, the stigma around celebrities dating outside their age bracket hasn't reduced much over the years. According to a March 2022 BBC report, women who chose to get into relationships with younger men usually bore the brunt of the criticism. Grace Lordan, an associate professor of behavioral science at the London School of Economics, explained why women were harshly critiqued by society for their decision, saying, "Women who match with younger men go most against the grain when it comes to our narrative of marriage, and so suffer the most judgement." 

We have seen that firsthand with the relentless criticism Madonna and Cher have earned for their respective age gap romances. Of course, women who fell for older men weren't much better off from a societal standpoint either, as people either bestow the age-old "gold digger" stereotype upon them or speculate that their "daddy issues" were to blame for their supposedly poor choices. Such was the case for women like Sunny Ozell and Melanie Hamrick. 

Granted, the potential power imbalances in an age gap may be pronounced in a relationship where one partner is wealthier and more well-established in the public eye. However, many successful celebrity relationships with massive age gaps have already proven that there is a trick to navigating those differences. On a similar note, many musicians have also defied the research-suggested age difference for a successful relationship. And they have managed to make multi-decade age gaps work in their own ways.

Madonna's love story with Akeem Morris apparently began in 2022, when they collaborated for her Paper Magazine cover. However, it doesn't seem like a romantic connection blossomed between them until 2024, since that was the first time that the soccer player, who is 38 years younger than the pop icon, made an appearance on her Instagram. 

In April 2025, a source informed Life & Style that Morris had become a part of Madonna's family. They noted that Madonna's kids weren't uncomfortable about the age gap because they had mostly known their mom to have younger partners. In fact, Madonna's sons were particularly happy about her relationship because they got to kick a ball around with a pro player like Morris. Even Lourdes Leon, who is the same age as her mother's beau, took no issue with him because he was so laid back around the gang. Then, in November 2025, a RadarOnline insider claimed that Morris had popped the question. 

They went on to share that the Grammy winner was living her best life with her partner, saying, "Akeem gives her that sense of calm and connection -– he makes her laugh, pushes her in all the right ways, and treats her better than anyone before." The insider also opened up about how Morris was vastly different from Madonna's former flames, saying, "He's mature, respectful, and she says he's shown her more genuine strength and stability than anyone she's been with –- even her ex-husbands." It's worth noting that Madonna did appear to be flaunting a rock on her ring finger in a since-deleted January 2025 Instagram post (via Page Six).

During a December 2022 appearance on "The Kelly Clarkson Show," Cher admitted that her relationship with Alexander "AE" Edwards seemed "ridiculous" in theory, presumably due to their 40-year age gap. However, the "Believe" hitmaker thought that their romance worked just fine in reality. When Cher appeared on "CBS Mornings" in November 2025, Gayle King asked what she thought about those criticizing her relationship. Cher only replied, "Whatever. They're not living my life. Nobody knows what goes on between us, but we just have a blast." 

Cher also shared that her beau was equally unbothered by their 4-decade age gap because he believed that her soul aged in reverse. In November 2022, the "Moonstruck" star directly addressed the critics of her relationship in a since-deleted post on X (formerly Twitter), writing, "Love doesn't know math" (via Instagram). Although the pair were believed to have met at Paris Fashion Week in 2022, their romantic connection wasn't instantaneous, partially due to their age gap. 

During a December 2023 appearance on "Chicken Shop Date," Cher recalled how Edwards had given her the ick in the early stages of their relationship by adding extra Y's to the end of "Baby" in texts. While the pop icon initially felt that his language was far too informal for someone he wasn't close to yet, she eventually grew to love his quirks. While all of that sounds great, it's hard to deny that significant age differences have been one of the major red flags in Cher's past relationships.

In 2014, 27-year-old ballerina Melanie Hamrick started dating 71-year-old Mick Jagger a few months after they met backstage at his concert in Tokyo, per People. About two years later, the Rolling Stones frontman and his partner would welcome their son, Deveraux Octavian Basil. While people repeatedly raised their eyebrows at their 44-year age gap, Hamrick told The Times in September 2024 that she paid no mind to it. "I don't think about it," the former ballerina said. "Everyone's going to have their opinion. If you think about others' opinions, no matter where you are in life, you're going to have a problem and you're going to analyze it." 

Instead of listening to the negative chatter surrounding their romance, Hamrick chose to focus on their happiness and the fact that their relationship wasn't negatively impacting anybody whatsoever. Ultimately, she just wished that people would stay in their own lane. When Page Six inquired about their age gap during a May 2025 event, Hamrick quipped, "He's younger than me!" Although Jagger didn't directly address their 4-decade age gap in his September 2023 Wall Street Journal interview, he did confess that having a young child made him feel "relevant."

In an April 2025 interview with Paris Match, Hamrick revealed that Jagger had popped the question about three years prior. However, she was unsure if they would ever officially lock things down because she felt that everything was swell just as it was. She also revealed that the secret to their thriving relationship was their mutual support and their regard for the happiness of everyone around them (via People).

In a 2022 People interview, Patrick Stewart recalled how he first came to know his wife Sunny Ozell as a waitress at a Brooklyn restaurant he was dining at in 2008. At the time, the "Star Trek" star was around 68, and the singer-songwriter was 30. When she expressed interest in watching his sold-out performance of "Macbeth," Stewart told her to give him a ring so he could arrange for tickets. The English actor stuck to his word, and they wound up grabbing a bite to eat after the show. 

 In 2013, Stewart and Ozell tied the knot in a ceremony officiated by Ian McKellen. In a July 2015 interview with Event Magazine (via Daily Mail), Stewart revealed that the jazz singer's father was five years older than him. Although Ozell's father was initially wary of their relationship due to their 38-year age gap, he eventually warmed up to Stewart and even started referring to him as his "son." 

Meanwhile, on Stewart's side of the family, both of his children from his first marriage are older than the "All That I Am" singer. Although Ozell was hesitant to insert herself into Stewart's kids' lives, they wound up welcoming her with open arms. The musician went on to assert that her nearly 4-decade age gap with her hubby was no problem, telling Event, "He is so youthful and I guess I'm kind of an old worry wart so we bridge the gap. It doesn't come up much. He's in better shape than me, which infuriates me." 

One of the biggest red flags in Beyoncé and Jay-Z's relationship is that they seemingly met when she had just become an adult. Speaking to Seventeen Magazine in 2008, the "Drunk In Love" songstress shared that although she met Jay-Z when she was 18, they only started seeing each other romantically when she turned 19 (via HuffPost). Since they share a 12-year age gap, Jay-Z would have been nearly 30 when they met. Notably, in Beyoncé's OWN interview, she noted that they primarily stayed in touch over the phone as friends before they started dating.

Meanwhile, during Jay-Z's 2007 interview with Charlie Rose, he shared that he had first laid eyes on his future wife "10 years ago," or around the time she first set foot in the studio. By his account, she would have been about 16 at the time of their first meeting, and he would have been around 28. When the rap icon's 37th birthday rolled around, Beyoncé honored him with a toast that received mixed reactions from the Internet because it shone a light on their uncomfortable age gap.

"You've taught me so many things. I was 20 years old when we first started dating," the iconic singer said (via YouTube). "You taught me how to be a woman, you taught me how to live. You taught me how to be a friend." Ultimately, she believed that there wasn't much she could do to repay Jay-Z for enriching her life. Even with the glaring age gap aside, though, there are plenty of signs that Jay-Z and Beyoncé's relationship will never last.