When it comes to falling in love, age is nothing but a number. Love does not discriminate and this is true whether you are an average joe or a popular actor or singer.
While a wide age gap may have outsiders scratching their heads, these celeb couples choose to let their heart lead the way. From the 15 years between Jay Chou and Hannah Quinlivan to the 31 years between Gordon Chan and Jelly Xia, these Asian stars have found their match in partners more than 10 years older than them. So, did love conquer all? Scroll down to find out.
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 two children together, Hathaway (born in 2015) and Romeo (born in 2017).
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 have a three-year-old daughter.
Recently, Ham has reacted to rumours that her marriage is on the rocks. On Feb 26, Ham posted three photos on her Instagram account, including one of her and Chen kissing and a wefie.
Though she acknowledged there are differences between them, she wrote in Korean: “We married for love. In our love, there are no obstacles of age, other people’s gazes and national borders.”
Ham, famous for acting in the movie Sex Is Zero (2002), added: “I love you, but there is also the process of setting up the family. I will protect the family. Please trust me and wait for a while.”
A report by South Korean media outlet Sports Chosun on Feb 24 quoted a source saying that the couple had decided to separate as their relationship had deteriorated rapidly. Ham initially declined to comment on the report, but later told the media that couples go through good and bad times.
She and Chen appeared on Taste Of Wife on Feb 23, a reality television show in which celebrity couples seek to find joys of daily lives through cooking and eating. But Chen has not appeared on Ham’s Instagram Live in recent months, adding fuel to speculation that all is not well with their marriage.
Hong Kong director Gordon Chan sparked some excitement on Jan 18 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, 30, in Hong Kong.
The 61-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, 53, 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, 47, and Tong, 34, 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.
The actor was approached by Hong Kong media when he reported for work at TVB City, the headquarters of broadcaster TVB.
He said they have been dating for about two months and have met each other’s parents. He added that he liked Tong’s character and that his mother liked her too.
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, 64, 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 5 years with plenty of ups and downs. South Korean actress Lee Min-jung has been married to A-list actor husband Lee Byung-hun, their union has produced a 3-year-old son, but has 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.
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.
Chinese actor Huang Xiaoming and his wife and fellow actress Angelababy might have an age difference of 12 years but they never stray very far from each other – or their four-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. In recent months, there have been rumours about a rift between the couple, as people noted that they have not been interacting with each other in public events like Weibo Night, and on social media.
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 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.