After finding love with Audra Mari, Josh Duhamel has made rare comments about their 21-year age gap.
Duhamel was previously married to Fergie from 2009 to 2019. Before announcing their split in 2017, Duhamel and Fergie expanded their family with son Axl.
The actor subsequently met Mari and they dated for two years before getting engaged in 2022.
“I just sort of decided last-minute that was how I wanted to do it. I didn’t have anything planned. I didn’t have a ring yet,” Duhamel recalled exclusively to Us in 2022. “I was like, ‘OK, you’re gonna do this today. Today’s the day.’ And that’s just how it all kind of happened. … I coordinated with [the hotel concierge] there to make sure that bottle was floating up to shore as we were walking out there.”
After a high-profile marriage and subsequent divorce from Fergie, Josh Duhamel sparked a low-key romance with now-wife Audra Mari. “Everyone told me that after you get married you feel different,” Mari exclusively gushed to Us Weekly in September 2022. “To be honest, I never really believed them and I thought it would feel the same […]
Duhamel also offered a glimpse into his eldest child’s bond with his now-wife. “He is very excited about [our engagement]. That was a big part of it. They get along great. It’s been good,” he told Us.
Duhamel and Mari, who got married later that year, are parents to son Shepherd and daughter Rocca.
“Everyone told me that after you get married you feel different,” Mari exclusively gushed to Us in 2022. “To be honest, I never really believed them and I thought it would feel the same way it’s felt being with Joshua for the last three years. But it’s much different! I feel secure.”
With the couple being two decades apart in age, they have previously touched on the difference. Keep scrolling for their candid comments about the age gap:
Finding the Humor
The couple poked fun at their 21-year age gap during Halloween in 2022 when they dressed up as Anna Nicole Smith and J. Howard Marshall. (Marshall, then 84, married Smith, then 26, in 1994 one year before his death.)
How Their Age Difference Affected Their Dynamic
Duhamel recalled on the “Not Skinny But Not Fat” podcast how his and Mari’s age difference initially kept them from being a couple.
“It was truly platonic for years before that because I was like, ‘No, she’s too young for me. I’m not even going to go there,’” he said in May 2025. “Then, we started DMing back and forth.”
He concluded: “Then, I invited her to a barbecue, still thinking it was totally platonic just as a friend from [North Dakota]. There aren’t many people from there. But she did come, and I saw her and I was like, ‘Holy s***, this girl’s beautiful.’ But then she’s more mature than I am. That’s really how we started dating and it’s been a beautiful thing. We’ve been married now for over two years. She’s an amazing mother.”
Poking Fun at Their Age Difference
Duhamel appeared on a July 2026 episode of “The HoneyDew With Ryan Sickler” podcast where he discussed the age gaps between him and his siblings. He specifically brought up how his youngest sister, Cassidy, was born when he was in college.
“Cassidy came along and I was playing football at Minot State University. I remember looking up at the stands and I saw my mom and had this bump,” he shared. “And I’m like, ‘Is my mom pregnant?’ I’m 21 years old and she’s having another baby.”
It took a while for Duhamel to realize the connection to his wife.
“There’s a picture of me holding Cassidy as a 21-year-old young man with this little bitty infant,” he continued. “I looked at the photo and I looked at my wife and I said, ‘You and Cassidy are exactly the same age.’”
Duhamel quipped: “I am officially too old for you. They’re literally like months apart in age. I never looked at it like that until I saw that photo. I was like, ‘Wait a second.’”