Asian celeb couples with large age gaps

Despite their 12-year age gap, Fandi Ahmad and Wendy Jacobs have shown that love knows no bounds—proving time and again that they’re the ultimate relationship goals. The former Singaporean football star and his ex-model wife tied the knot in 1996 and built a beautiful family together. They have five children: sons Irfan, Ikhsan, Ilhan, and Iryan—all of whom have followed in their father’s footsteps as footballers—and their daughter, Iman, who has made her mark as a homegrown singer (and even graced our cover in January 2024).

Some love stories take time to unfold, and that was certainly the case for Joanne Peh and Qi Yuwu. The duo spent a decade as friends before their on-screen chemistry in C.L.I.F 2 and C.L.I.F 3 sparked something deeper. Fast forward to 2014, and they sealed the deal with a wedding, later welcoming two children into their lives.

A quick scroll through their Instagram pages shows that their romance is as strong as ever—sweet gestures, candid moments, and a shared passion for life make them the ultimate couple goals.

Jam Hsiao (37) and Summer Lin (51)

Credit: Jam Hsiao/Facebook

3/13

Jam Hsiao made a surprise announcement on Jun 27, saying that he’s engaged to his manager Summer Lin. There have been longstanding rumours that the two are dating.

“I know this is sudden, but I want everyone to know that I am very happy, I really am very happy,” the singer-songwriter wrote in Chinese.

“Now, I have love, a love that is true and complete,” he gushed.

Summer, who just turned 51, has been working with Jam since his debut in 2007. And of course, their proposal party was a star-studded affair. Celebs in attendance included Jay Chou, Alyssa Chia, and even Singapore actress Yvonne Lim.

Since 2011, Mandopop King Jay Chou and Taiwanese-Australian model Hannah Quinlivan have been pretty close. In 2015, they decided to hunker down and get married in an extravagant wedding in Yorkshire, Northern England.

There is a 15-year difference between the two and when they first started dating, Hannah was just 17. Since then, the two have both come a long way personally and professionally and currently have three children together, Hathaway (born in 2015), Romeo (born in 2017) and Jacinda (born in 2022).

South Korean actress Ham So-won made the headlines for marrying a man 18 years her junior in 2018, Chinese Internet celebrity and former idol trainee Chen Hua. Sceptics were not optimistic about their marriage due to their age gap.

Both their parents had also opposed their relationship, with Chen’s father even threatening to sever ties with him. The couple has a five-year-old daughter.

We hate to say it, but it seems like the sceptics were right. The actress revealed in 2022 that she had divorced her husband, Chen Hua.

Gordon Chan (65) and Jelly Xia (34)

Credit: Weibo/SINA ENTERTAINMENT

6/13

Hong Kong director Gordon Chan sparked some excitement when he updated his relationship status on Facebook to “married”.

The Hong Kong media reported in June 2019 that Chan had registered his marriage to Chinese actress Jelly Xia in Hong Kong.

The 65-year-old had admitted that he was dating Xia when they were spotted together by the media in 2018. He also revealed to the media on his birthday in 2020 that Xia had given birth to their baby daughter a few days earlier.

Chan, who won Best Director at the Hong Kong Film Awards for Beast Cops (1998), is famous for directing movies such as The Yuppie Fantasia (1989), Fight Back To School (1991) and Fist Of Legend (1994) .

He got to know Xia when he was directing the Chinese movie Mural (2011). The relatively unknown Xia also acted in The Four movie trilogy (2012 to 2014) directed by him.

Chan was married to former actress Vindy Chan, from 1994 to 1997. He got to know her when he directed the movie Brief Encounter In Shinjuku (1990). They have two children.

Hong Kong actor Kenneth Ma has been linked to an actress whose surname is Tong since he broke up with actress Jacqueline Wong in 2019, reported The Straits Times.

It turned out to be Roxanne Tong instead of Natalie Tong as previously rumoured.

In June 2020, he was photographed by the media driving to Roxanne Tong's house. He stayed at her apartment for about four hours before they were seen leaving together for a shopping trip at about 8pm.

Both Ma and Tong admitted to their relationship a few hours later. They posted a photo of a toy unicorn and a toy white horse on their respective Instagram accounts with the caption, "Thanks for the care", and tagged each other in the posts.

Ma and Tong had previously acted together in the psychological crime drama My Dearly Sinful Mind (2017).

"We did not keep in touch much after filming My Dearly Sinful Mind," he said. "But we met up recently and felt that we could develop our relationship further. I am not young either."

Tong is the daughter of veteran actor Tong Chun Chung and niece of actor Kent Tong.

Tong Chun Chung told the media that he was very satisfied with his daughter's boyfriend and rated Ma "100 marks".

Roxanne Tong is a good friend of Wong's. They both took part in the Miss Hong Kong Pageant in 2012, where Wong was the first runner-up and Tong finished in the top six.

And Tong took over Wong's role in television serial Forensic Heroes IV after Wong was caught kissing married singer Andy Hui last year.

This adorable couple are separated by a whopping 23-year age difference, but thanks to Hong Kong superstar Aaron Kwok’s boyish good looks, it doesn’t show.

Either way, the “Heavenly King” and his Shanghainese model wife are in love, and have two young daughters, Chantelle and Charlotte. The couple have been extremely low-key about their marriage and only held a private 10-table banquet for their wedding that took place in April 2017.

This beautiful pair has an 11 year age gap, but love is love and their marriage has lasted a full decade with plenty of ups and downs. South Korean actress Lee Min-jung has been married to A-list actor husband Lee Byung-hun, and welcomed their first son in 2015. However, they have also been marred by a blackmail scandal. Two female entertainers were charged in court after threatening to upload a video in which the actor made inappropriate comments to them. While Lee Min-jung did not address the controversy, she alluded to it when sharing her tip for maintaining a relationship.

“Every relationship has problems but you don’t throw it away when it’s not working. You fix it, just like how everyone used to fix their telephones and television sets. These days, people just throw them away and buy new ones,” she said in an interview with The Straits Times.

On December 21, 2023, they welcomed their second child, a daughter, after eight years of marriage.

In 2009, Taiwanese actor-singer Nicky Wu divorced his wife Chinese actress Ma Yashu after a three-year marriage. Two years later, he was ready to try his hand at love again with someone new. He found that with Chinese actress Liu Shi Shi.

The reel-to-real couple first locked eyes on the set of the popular drama “Scarlet Heart”, the 2011 drama that recharged Nicky Wu’s career. In 2016, at a wedding that fans hailed as the “best special episode”, Nicky Wu exchanged his vows with his co-star Liu Shi Shi at a lavish Bali resort.

However, in 2024, it was reported that Nicky and Liu Shi Shi had filed for divorce and were no longer bound by marriage or finances. The two finalised their divorce proceedings, and occasionally meet for the sake of their five-year-old son.

The two first met at a Karaoke room in 2009, when Huang Xiaoming was in Taiwan filming the drama series, “Summer’s Desire”. They began dating shortly after and tied the knot in a gorgeous wedding in 2015, when Huang Xiaoming was 37 and Angelababy was 25. The couple called it quits in 2022, after seven years.

Tang Wei (45) and Kim Tae Yong (55)

Credit: Tang Wei/Facebook

12/13

Chinese actress Tang Wei who catapulted to fame through Ang Lee’s “Lust Caution” met her Korean film director husband through the 2009 film “Late Autumn” as actress and director, respectively.

They have been harmoniously married since 2014, and have a daughter together. The only thing that separates them? Their 10-year age gap. Not that it will stop them from loving each other.

Singer Mina and former idol, Ryu Phillip from now-defunct idol group SoReal have 17 years between them, and she is well aware of the age difference. In an interview with OSEN, the singer broke down in tears and revealed that she couldn’t help but feel guilty about Ryu not living up to his full potential because of her and she hopes that she can be a great support to him to repay the burden she has put into his life.

Despite their much-talked-about age gap, it seems the two are going strong. Their relationship didn’t even falter during Ryu Philip’s mandatory military service. The couple tied the knot in 2018.