Updated 2025-07-10T13:59:28Z
- Some iconic rom-coms have shocking real-life age gaps between love interests.
- Iconic duos like Julia Roberts and Richard Gere and Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling aren't close in age.
- Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence are over 15 years apart and have played love interests.
You may not realize that a movie set in New York was actually filmed in Canada or that your favorite leading lady has a different hair color in real life.
And on-screen couples you thought were just a few months or years apart might have a bigger real-life age gap than you thought.
Here are some of the most surprising real-life age differences between love interests in popular romantic comedies.
"Silver Linings Playbook" love interests Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence are over 15 years apart.
In the film, Cooper plays a divorcé who falls for a widow, played by Lawrence.
It's unclear exactly how old the characters are supposed to be, but at the time of the premiere, Cooper was 37 and Lawrence was 22.
Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal, who famously starred in "When Harry Met Sally," are 14 years apart.
Although the characters are meant to be the same age as the film moves through 12 years of their lives, Crystal and Ryan are over a decade apart.
The Nora Ephron classic first hit theaters in 1989, when Crystal was 41 and Ryan was 27.
Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, who starred in rom-coms like "Pretty Woman," are 18 years apart.
When the film premiered, Gere was 40 and Roberts was 22.
The two also starred opposite each other in "Runaway Bride" in 1999 when Gere was 49 and Roberts was 31.
Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck were 13 years apart when they starred in "Roman Holiday."
The cult-classic romantic comedy "Roman Holiday" starred Hepburn and Peck as love interests.
Hepburn was 24 and Peck was 37 when the film came out.
"While You Were Sleeping" stars Bill Pullman and Sandra Bullock are over 10 years apart.
In the 1995 film, Bullock played Lucy and Pullman was Jack. At the time of the premiere, Bullock was 30 (almost 31) and Pullman was 41.
Cameron Diaz and Dermot Mulroney, who are engaged in "My Best Friend's Wedding," are nine years apart.
In the film, the two play love interests in their late 20s. But when the film premiered in the summer of 1997, Mulroney was 33 and Diaz was 24.
Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson are over nine years apart, and they starred opposite each other in "How to Lose a Guy in 10 days."
When the 2003 film premiered, Hudson was 23 turning 24 and McConaughey had recently turned 33.
Frequent love interests Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler are eight years apart.
Barrymore and Sandler have starred as love interests in a few films.
When their first movie together, "The Wedding Singer," premiered in 1998, Sandler was 31 and Barrymore was a week from turning 23.
They later worked together on "50 First Dates" in 2004 and "Blended" in 2014.
Diane Keaton and Woody Allen, who played love interests in "Annie Hall," have a 10-year age difference.
When Keaton played the titular role of Annie Hall, she was much younger than her love interest, played by controversial filmmaker and actor Allen.
The film premiered in April 1977 when Allen was 41 and Keaton was 31.
Repeat movie love interests Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone have an eight-year age difference.
When Stone and Gosling first appeared together in "Crazy, Stupid, Love" in 2011, she was 22 and he was 30.
They went on to reunite for "La La Land" in 2016.
Renée Zellweger is eight years younger than both of her love interests in "Bridget Jones's Diary."
Zellweger isn't that close in age to either of her love interests from "Bridget Jones's Diary."
Funnily enough, Hugh Grant and Colin Firth were born a day apart (Grant is older), and they were both a little over 40 when the film premiered in 2001.
Zellweger was about a week away from turning 32 at the time.
Patrick Dempsey and Amy Adams, who starred in "Enchanted," are also more than eight years apart in age.
The musical romantic comedy featured Adams and Dempsey as unlikely love interests.
When the movie premiered in 2007, Dempsey was almost 42 and Adams was 33.
This story was most recently updated on July 10, 2025.
