A lot of fans don’t realize there are huge age gaps at play in their favorite shows .
This includes age gaps between the mother and children and age gaps between TV couples . There are even age gaps between the actors who portray these romantic interests.
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Keep reading to learn 19 of the biggest romantic age gaps in TV shows (both between the actors and characters).
Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher – *That ’70s Show*
Since Mila lied about her age to get on the show, she was 14 when she first started playing Ashton Kutcher’s love interest!
Meanwhile, Ashton was 20. He was even Mila’s first kiss! Their age gap definitely makes that fact weird.
Monica and Richard – *Friends*
During most of Season Two, Monica dated the handsome doctor Richard Burke, played by Tom Selleck. The two didn’t last since their 21-year age gap meant that Richard was done having kids.
Bianca Lawson and Shay Mitchell – *Pretty Little Liars*
There was a pretty huge age gap between the two actresses who played lovers in the teen drama. Mitchell is eight years younger than Maya, despite both portraying characters of the same age.
Paris and Asher – *Gilmore Girls*
Considering Asher was 60 while Paris was only 18, this was a huge age gap! Their relationship was also super unprofessional since Asher worked as a professor at the same university Paris attended.
Sarah Michelle Gellar and James Marsters – *Buffy the Vampire Slayer*
The actor was 35 when he started on the show. This meant that he was 15 years older when their characters got romantically involved.
But when you think about the fact that James’s character, Spike, is technically centuries older than Buffy, it’s not so bad.
Abraham and Rosita – *The Walking Dead*
There was a 20-year age gap between these two characters, with Rosita being younger.
The actors are also much different in age in real life as Michael Cudlitz was 48 when he started on the show and Christian Serratos was 23.
Kaley Cuoco and Johnny Galecki – *The Big Bang Theory*
While the show depicts their characters, Leonard and Penny, as being close in age, that’s not true in real life. Johnny is actually 10 years older than Kaley.
Hayley and Rainer – *Modern Family*
Since Rainer (Nathan Fillion) was a friend of Hayley’s (Sarah Hyland) father, you can imagine their age gap. The pair, which thankfully didn’t last long, had more than two decades between them!
Ben McKenzie and Mischa Barton – *The O.C.*
Their romance was one to swoon over, despite the age gap between the two actors. Mischa was 17 at the time, perfect for playing a high schooler, while McKenzie was in his mid-20s.
Trina McGee and Rider Strong – *Boy Meets World*
When Trina (Angela) first appeared on the show, she was 28. This was a huge contrast to the real age of Rider (Shawn) who was only 17. Knowing this makes their romantic scenes difficult to watch.
Gloria and Jay – *Modern Family*
Hayley and Rainer weren’t the only romantic age gap in the ABC sitcom. The show largely centered around the romance of Gloria and Jay who were decades apart. In real life, the actors are 27 years apart.
Puck and Shelby – Glee*
There was a lot of drama surrounding the relationship between the two characters.
Shelby, played by Idina Menzel, was the one who adopted the daughter Puck (Mark Salling) had. So he was a high school student dating the adopted mother of his child.
KJ Apa and Ashleigh Murray – *Riverdale*
Their characters got romantic in the episode “Bizarrodale.” At the time, KJ was 21 while Ashleigh was 32. This puts an 11-year age gap between them. Considering it’s Riverdale , are we really surprised?
Daveigh Chase and Harry Dean Stanton – *Big Love*
Fans of Pretty in Pink will probably recognize Stanton, who played the main character’s father. The actor is more than seven decades older than Chase, who plays his 14-year-old love interest in the HBO show.
Carrie and Aleksandr Petrovsky – *Sex and the City*
The large age gap between Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) and “The Russian” (Mikhail Baryshnikov) caused issues from the start since Aleksandr had already been married and had a child.
Aria and Ezra – *Pretty Little Liars*
The show took quite the turn when it had Aria’s (Lucy Hale) character fall for her high school teacher, Ezra (Ian Harding). She was 16, AKA basically a child, when she started dating him.
Pacey and Tamara – *Dawson’s Creek*
It was extremely uncomfortable for fans to have to watch 15-year-old Pacey (Joshua Jackson) make out with his 40-year-old teacher!
And that was only the pilot episode, which meant the series started out in a shocking way.
Sansa Stark and Petyr Baelish – *Game Of Thrones*
Poor Sansa. First, she lost her father. Then she had to deal with the demonic Ramsay and Joffrey.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, Petyr (Little Finger), who was close friends with her mother, loved Sansa since she looked so much like her.
Maitreyi Ramakrishnan and Darren Barnet – *Never Have I Ever*
The actors may both play high school students, but only one of them is actually close in age to that.
Ramakrishnan (Devi) was 17 when she was cast, while Barnet (Paxton) was 28.
