Musician Relationships With Controversial Age Gaps

Since the radio was invented, countless rock and pop stars have cultivated reputations for their wild, scandalous, and often downright illegal lifestyles. Indulging in cars, drugs, alcohol, sex, and many other vices is part and parcel of the celebrity life. And while it's easy for us audiences to pass judgment on the decadent lives of those who dominate the airwaves and magazine covers, let's not pretend that most — if not all — of us wouldn't give in to all manner of debauchery if we achieved ungodly fame and fortune. After all, popularity and riches can corrupt just as absolutely as absolute power.

But one of the more questionable things that prominent musical artists often do is become romantically involved with substantially younger people. It's one thing when they hook up with, say, a supermodel or movie actor in a highly public and tumultuous relationship, but it's something else entirely when they hook up with someone who's young enough to be their child or, worse, grandchild. Even if their significant other is well above the age of consent, this type of affair raises all kinds of questions about whether the young paramour is being exploited or manipulated in some way. Let's take a look at musician relationships with some of the most controversial age gaps.

The most uncomfortable age gap on this list is that between Elvis and Priscilla Presley. It's not the number of years that separated them that makes it so uncomfortable (they were 10 years apart) — it's that the romance began when he was 24 years old and she was only 14. A military brat, Priscilla's father was stationed in Wiesbaden, West Germany, in 1959, where she met Elvis and the two quickly fell in love. They were introduced by a mutual acquaintance who took Priscilla to Elvis' house for a party; during their first meeting, Priscilla told Elvis she was in ninth grade, but that didn't diminish his interest in her. They met again a few days later, as Priscilla recounted in People, and then a third time shortly after that, which was when they had their first kiss. Perhaps finally realizing what he was getting into, Elvis pulled away and said, "We have plenty of time, Little One," before sending her home.

This sort of relationship would never fly today, and rightfully so. Still, Priscilla assures fans that Elvis' love for her was innocent; she spoke at a press conference following the premiere of Sofia Coppola's film "Priscilla" at the Venice Film Festival, where she said (via Entertainment Weekly), "[P]eople think, 'Oh, it was sex'... Not at all. I never had sex with him. He was very kind, very soft, very loving. But he also respected the fact that I was only 14 years old. We were more in mind and thought. And that was our relationship."

Paul McCartney needs no introduction, nor does his love life need much elaborating on. His first wife was Linda McCartney (née Eastman), with whom he famously formed the band Wings. After her tragic passing in 1998, he married Heather Mills in 2002, but that marriage ended acrimoniously in 2008. However, it's his marriage to his third wife, businesswoman Nancy Shevell, that's raised the most eyebrows, as she's 17 years younger than him. The two first met in 2007 while McCartney was in the process of divorcing Mills; they both were living in the Hamptons and frequently met for coffee.

As soon as McCartney's divorce was finalized, he and Shevell embarked on a romance whose details they tried to keep as private as possible; only a handful of intimate tidbits would leak to the press. Eventually, however, the two started to appear in the public eye more and more, such as when they attended McCartney's daughter Stella's fashion show in Paris in 2008 and the 2011 Met Gala in New York City, where Shevell was seen sporting an engagement ring. The pair got hitched in 2011 and are still married today, and quite happily so, it seems. In a 2023 interview on his website, McCartney stated that "When it comes to being a husband ... I see it as just trying to be good to my wife Nancy and trying to be considerate and romantic. I completely overdo Valentine's Day!"

On July 4, 2015, music icon Billy Joel and then-girlfriend Alexis Roderick surprised guests at their annual Independence Day party with a wedding that was presided over by former New York governor Andrew Cuomo. Even more surprising, though, is the age gap between them — Joel is a whopping 33 years older than Roderick.

Their relationship is all the more questionable as Joel's daughter, singer-songwriter Alexa Ray, is only four years younger than his wife. But things get dicier, still, when one learns the reason behind Joel's divorce from his third wife, Katie Lee: "It was really the age difference that caught up with them. They grew apart. She is very career-oriented. She loves going out. She loves the city. When Billy isn't touring, he'd rather be on Long Island with his motorcycles and boats," a friend told the New York Daily News. The age gap between Joel and Lee was 32 years — only one year less than the gap between Joel and Roderick — so hopefully this latest marriage fares better.

Mick Jagger has a love life that would put Giacomo Casanova to shame — and that's just with the partners the public knows about. While only being legally married once, the Rolling Stones frontman has fathered eight children with five different women. He's continued to provoke discussion about his latest relationship, this time with former ballerina Melanie Hamrick, who's 43 years his junior. Even though the guy's an octogenarian, he still hasn't lost his mojo.

The two first started dating in 2014, and had a son together in 2016 named Deveraux Octavian Basil. In a June 2023 interview with People, Hamrick addressed the rumors spreading about the ring she was seen sporting, saying, "I mean, I have to giggle because did Mick give me the ring? Yes. Is it for that finger? Yes. But are we like, horny teenagers where we're giving each other... In my mind, it's a promise ring. We'll be immature and call it a promise ring." While initially downplaying any possibility of them tying the knot, there have been rumblings that the so-called "promise ring" is indeed an engagement ring, though, as of this writing, no official announcement has been released from the Jagger-Hamrick camp.

Adam Duritz has been rocking nonstop since the early 1990s, most notably with his band Counting Crows. As a high-profile rock star, it's no wonder he's been romantically linked to several high-profile actresses, such as Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox. However, perhaps his most standout relationship is that with actress Emmy Rossum, whom he started dating when he was 45 and she was 23. During the launch of the W Hotel in Washington, D.C., Rossum told People, "I get why chicks dig him. He's extremely kind, incredibly intelligent, thoughtful, creative, and respectful." However, at the time, she was reluctant to admit to the outlet whether the two were actually dating or not, saying, "Let's put it this way: I'd be flattered if someone hit on me tonight, but I really can't say if I'm available or not."

While the couple called it quits in 2009, it sounds like their introduction was a dream come true for the young actress at the time. Rossum revealed on the radio show "Valentine in the Morning" (via People), "I was on tour with the band this summer. They invited me actually on Twitter. That's how we met — on a dare. They dared me to come sing with them a song that I'd never sung before ... So I ended up on tour with the band, and it was very, very fun."

Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon made waves when they first got together, not just because of their popularity, but because of their 11-year age gap. The couple sparked rumors of their relationship when Cannon was seen in the music video for her 2008 song "Bye Bye" before publicly announcing their marriage, followed by having twins several years later. Unfortunately, their marriage only lasted for six years, and it seems that the difference in age factored into the breakup. According to HollywoodLife, a source told them that, "He wanted to party and she wanted to stay home with the kids. He's young, the age difference played a huge role in this. She's not easy to get along with ... A total diva. Never happy and always making demands, he never wanted to be home."

However, despite the acrimonious split in 2014, Carey and Cannon have since patched things up and remain friendly. Cannon has spoken highly of her, though he recognizes that Carey's defenders still have a bone to pick with him regarding how young he was compared to her, revealing in an interview with the Shade Room that "I always talk about that and then it goes viral and then all her fans get mad at me ... I was 12 years old with Mariah Carey pictures on my wall, and that becomes my wife. And the fact that she's the coolest person I ever met ... I get a lot of this delightful disposition from her."

Singer and songwriter Sunny Ozell may not be a household name, but her marriage to Patrick Stewart of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and "X-Men" fame has certainly catapulted her life into the limelight. Considering the fact that she's 39 years younger than him, the age difference is of course going to be brought up in interviews. Ozell told the Daily Mail, "He is so youthful and I guess I'm kind of an old worry wart, so we bridge the gap. It hasn't come up much. He's in better shape than me, which infuriates me."

While Ozell has managed to take the age difference in stride, Stewart, on the other hand, has had a bit of a rougher time with it. In the same interview with the Daily Mail, he pointed out how his age is very much on his mind, saying, "Right now, what my age means is that I go to a load of memorial services. This has been a horrible start to the year. My generation — some of them younger than me – are going. I get this urge to say, 'Don't go!'" Making things worse was the fact that Ozell's father, at first, wasn't happy with the idea of his daughter being with such an older gentleman, but has since learned to not only accept it but joke about it, even going so far as to refer to Stewart, who his five years younger than he is, as his son.

As a lifelong rock star, Rod Stewart has had more than his fair share of ups and downs in the romance category. Considering the countless loves he's had in his life, he seems like the last guy to finally settle down. But that's exactly what he did when he married Penny Lancaster, who's 26 years younger than him. During her appearance on "Loose Women," she pointed out the misconceptions people have about them and their age difference, stating, "People would often say to me, 'What about his age? Does it matter?' I'm like, 'He's a little schoolboy!' He's the naughtiest little, funniest guy to be with ... He also has this, kind of like, sort of steely side to him. He's got a lot of strength and he works out regularly, so I find him very sexy, appealing, you know, all that."

Of course, because the couple had two children while Stewart was quite long in the tooth, the situation forced Lancaster to consider the inevitability of her husband dying before her. On another episode of "Loose Women," she shared that "Rod's in his 70s, early 70s, and we have a huge family base at home and there's a lot of activities ... My life is based on the family ... The children will be grown up and gone, so I kind of feel like I need to prepare."