20 Celebrities Who Scandalously Dated Teenagers

Top-20-Celebrities-Who-Scandalously-Dated-Teenagers

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most prominent adult celebrities who stirred up controversy by engaging in relationships with teenagers.

#20: Don Johnson & Melanie Griffith

Born to acting legend Tippi Hedren, Melanie Griffith was determined to follow in her mother’s footsteps, initially taking on minor roles in films during her teenage years. One of these parts had Griffith playing a student in “The Harrad Experiment,” where she crossed paths with then 22-year-old Don Johnson. Their relationship blossomed swiftly, despite Hedren’s disapproval, leading to their marriage in 1976, shortly after Griffith turned 18. However, they divorced just six months later. Despite this, fate brought them together again and they remarried in 1989. This second attempt at marriage lasted seven years and resulted in the birth of their daughter, Dakota Johnson, who also stepped into the acting world.

#19: Dane Cook & Kelsi Taylor

In September 2023, comedian Dane Cook raised eyebrows after it was announced that he had gotten married to his partner of six years, 24-year-old Kelsi Taylor. This indicates that their relationship began when Taylor was 18 and Cook was 45. To make things even more uncomfortable, it appears the two had crossed paths long before, meeting at a game night Cook hosted at his place. They then became “friends for a while” before getting romantically involved. While it’s not clear how old exactly Taylor was when this friendship began, the 26-year age gap between the couple understandably left a lot of people feeling unsettled.

#18: Tyga & Kylie Jenner

Rumors of a relationship between Tyga and Kylie Jenner began swirling in 2014 when the reality star was still under the age of majority and the rapper was 24. At the time, Tyga was engaged to model Blac Chyna, with whom he shares a son. Initially, Kris Jenner dismissed the speculation, claiming that the two were merely friends who moved around in the same circles and enjoyed each other’s company. However, their relationship was confirmed in August 2015, conveniently coinciding with Jenner’s 18th birthday. This confirmation came after Tyga gifted Jenner a Ferrari and the two were spotted cozying up in Mexico. Theirs was an on-again, off-again affair, before ultimately ending for good in April 2017.

#17: Chuck Berry & Janice Escalanti

Although many of the scandalous affairs on this list escaped legal consequences, this one remains one of the only exceptions. Rock and roll pioneer Chuck Berry was arrested in December 1959 on allegations that he had done the deed with an underage waitress named Janice Escalanti. He was also accused of transporting Escalanti across state lines for what was deemed “immoral purposes.” Berry maintained that Escalanti had claimed to be 21 and that he had hired her as a hostess for his St. Louis nightclub. Despite this defense, he was convicted in two separate trials and ended up spending nearly two years in prison for the crime.

#16: Ted Nugent & Pele Massa

In 1981, Ted Nugent released the single “Jailbait,” which contained disturbing lyrics about engaging in unlawful contact with an underage girl, with the consent of her mother. It may have been interpreted as tongue-in-cheek, if Nugent hadn’t been in a very similar situation just three years earlier. In 1978, the hard rock musician started dating Pele Massa. However, as the two couldn’t get married due to Massa being a minor, Nugent reportedly convinced her parents to sign documents declaring him as her legal guardian. It seems Massa wasn’t the only youth with whom Nugent had been involved; musician Courtney Love also claims to have had a similar experience with him before she even became a teenager.

#15: Luc Besson & Maïwenn

The 1994 film “Léon: The Professional” revolves around the unconventional emotional bond that develops between a hitman and a 12-year-old girl. The film, which was written and directed by Luc Besson, was reportedly inspired by Besson’s relationship with his ex-wife, Maïwenn. The couple first met when Maïwenn was also 12, and Besson was 29. However, they only officially began dating when she turned the age of consent in their native France. They tied the knot the following year, after Maïwenn became pregnant with their daughter. Although they parted ways a few years later, their controversial relationship re-entered the news in the late 2010s amid allegations of sexual misconduct against Besson.

#14: Bill Wyman & Mandy Smith

In 1989, Bill Wyman, then the bassist for the Rolling Stones, married his second wife, Mandy Smith, who was 18 at the time. While that is legally permissible, the circumstances surrounding their relationship raised a lot of questions. According to Wyman, he first met Smith after she’d just become a teen, and he later fell in love with her. They reportedly became involved shortly after. However, their marriage lasted only two years before they separated and eventually divorced. Adding to the complexity of the situation, in the same year of the divorce, Wyman’s son from his first marriage tied the knot with Smith’s mother. This not only made him his son’s former son-in-law, but also his ex-wife’s step-grandfather.

#13: Charlie Chaplin & Lita Grey

By 1924, Charlie Chaplin was one of the most popular figures in the world, having achieved great success with several box-office hits. While making his third film “The Gold Rush,” Chaplin got married to his second wife, the teenaged Lita Grey. Their marriage was sudden, as Grey had unexpectedly become pregnant through the then 35-year-old Chaplin. Fearing potential legal repercussions in California due to the age difference, Chaplin opted to elope with Grey to Mexico for a clandestine wedding. Despite producing two children, their marriage ultimately soured, culminating in a bitter divorce. Grey walked away from the union with a staggering $600,000 settlement, a record sum for an American case at the time.

#12: Jimmy Page & Lori Mattix

Although Jimmy Page had a well-known adult partner throughout the 1970s, he also reportedly engaged in a secret relationship with a teenager between 1972 and 1975. The teenager in question was Lori Mattix, a former child model and groupie who began seeing Page in her early teens. According to Mattix, she initially had little interest in the musician, but was taken to his room by the band’s tour manager against her will. Despite lasting over two years, Page made extensive efforts to conceal the relationship, for fear of the legal consequences. It wasn’t until 2015 that it drew widespread attention after Mattix divulged her alleged encounters with several 70s rock icons in a revelatory interview.

#11: Woody Allen & Babi Christina Engelhardt

In his 1979 film “Manhattan,” Woody Allen plays a divorced writer entangled in a secret romance with a teenager named Tracy. Well, according to actress Babi Christina Engelhardt, that plotline may not be entirely fictional. In a 2018 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Engelhardt claimed that she and Allen were involved in an eight-year relationship, starting before she became officially an adult in 1976. This period coincided in part with Allen’s public involvement with actress Mia Farrow. Although Allen has refused to confirm the existence of this relationship, Engelhardt believes that she very likely served as an inspiration for the character Tracy in “Manhattan.”

#10: Doug Hutchison & Courtney Stodden

Hutchison is an actor perhaps best known for 1999’s “The Green Mile,” but he re-entered the spotlight in a big way when he married the teenaged Courtney Stodden in 2011. The two met online through an acting workshop Hutchinson was teaching, with the 50-year-old apparently unaware that his love interest was not even one-third his age. Stodden’s mother approved, at least at the time, while Hutchison lost his agent and was alienated from much of his family. Since tying the knot, the pair have split, reunited, been expecting, renewed vows, and split again. In 2021, Stodden claimed that Hutchison had initiated contact with her over email and groomed her. However, Hutchison denies this, asserting that she contacted him first.

#9: Henry Cavill & Tara King

The handsome, well-spoken Superman actor tends to keep a pretty low profile, which made the gossip-worthy 13 year age gap with girlfriend Tara King all the more surprising. After meeting Cavill at a London nightclub in 2015, King later accompanied him to the “Batman v Superman” premiere as well as a Vanity Fair Oscar Party. The actor spoke glowingly about his ladylove in interviews throughout 2016 - but by year’s end they had parted ways, with King reportedly wanting something more serious than Cavill. It wasn’t the first age-gapped relationship for Cavill either, as, oddly enough, he himself dated a 32-year-old when he was 19.

#8: Paul Walker & Jasmine Pilchard-Gosnell

Paul Walker’s accidental death was a shocker, but amid the tragedy came to light a previously unnoticed detail about his life - his girlfriend’s age. Jasmine Pilchard-Gosnell was 23 when Walker died, and having dated him for roughly 7 years, that would make her underage when her relationship began with the then 33-year-old actor. Although just 8 years her senior, Jasmine took on a step-motherly role to Walker’s daughter, Meadow. A bit of math, and a few details involving ex-girlfriend Aubrianna Atwell, suggest that Pilchard-Gosnell was not the first teenager that an adult Walker had been involved with.

#7: R. Kelly & Aaliyah

“Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number” takes on an entirely different meaning considering the relationship between the song’s adult producer and underage singer. R. Kelly, credited as the sole writer, first met Aaliyah when she was a pre-teen, and assumed a mentor role in her life. The controversial lyrics of the song sparked rumors that the two were romantically involved. Soon after, a marriage certificate emerged, showing that they had secretly tied the knot in 1994. As Aaliyah was only in her mid-teens at the time, rather than the listed age of 18, the marriage was rendered unlawful and was promptly annulled by her parents. Both parties initially denied the wedding ever happened, but Aaliyah later admitted to falsifying her age.

#6: Jerry Seinfeld & Shoshanna Lonstein

The fictional Jerry Seinfeld has had many notable romantic interests - a deaf woman, a phone sex operator, a supermodel, a woman who always wore the same outfit, a woman with man hands and many more. The actual Jerry Seinfeld... dated a high school student. Meeting her before she turned 18 - and rollerblading - Seinfeld and Shoshanna Lonstein became tabloid regulars and Howard Stern fodder. The two were an item throughout her university days and Jerry also allegedly made two attempts at engagement, including a proposal on her 21st birthday. However, they also broke up at least once during their couplehood, before splitting for good in 1997 after roughly 4 years together.

#5: Sonny Bono & Cher

It’s doubly impossible to believe - that Cher was ever a teenager, and that Sonny Bono was capable of dating her - but it’s true, all of it. By then a high school dropout, a teenaged Cher was a dancer keen on cracking into showbiz when she met Sonny in November of 1962. He instead hired her as a housekeeper, but eventually found her work as a backup singer. After about a month of living together the two became involved, culminating in an “unofficial” - and nonbinding - wedding in Tijuana in October, 1964, when she was 18. A real wedding followed in 1969, after the birth of their child, Chaz, born Chastity Bono.

#4: Sam Taylor-Johnson & Aaron Taylor-Johnson

Freshly divorced and deep into directing her debut feature film, “Nowhere Boy,” the then 42-year-old Sam Taylor-Wood fell for her star, then 18-year-old Aaron Johnson. Although Johnson was just seven years older than her eldest child, the pair hit it off and by the film’s premiere in October 2009, were officially engaged. Marrying in June of 2012, the couple both took on the name “Taylor-Johnson” and also adopted a one film per year policy, which allows either of them to work, while the other raises the family... and tends to the garden. In Aaron’s case, he enjoys his fathering and gardening so much that he once contemplated retiring from acting.

#3: René Angélil & Celine Dion

Although they were ultimately together until his death in 2016, the beginnings of the Angélil-Dion union saw Dion meet Angélil when he was 38, and she was not yet a teen. With Dion seeking management, René not only took Celine on as a client but also put up his house to bankroll her debut album. When she was around 17 or 18, Dion began to have feelings for the older René, despite him still being legally married. They began secretly dating in 1987, and while Celine’s mother was initially opposed to the courtship, it actually had more to do with René’s prior failed relationships than the whole position of authority thing... or the massive age gap.

#2: Jerry Lee Lewis & Myra Gale Brown

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Jerry Lee Lewis has been married many times, but the only one that lasted in the public memory was wife #3 – the teenaged first cousin once removed, Myra Gale Brown. The discovery of Lewis’ underage-bride (unsurprisingly) completely derailed his career. Busted at the beginning of a quickly aborted 1958 tour of the UK, Lewis’ booking fees dropped from $10,000 to $250 per show, while radio blacklisted him. Despite this, the couple was married until 1970 – by which time Brown had doubled in age, and given birth to two children.

#1: Elvis Presley & Priscilla Ann Wagner

Presley’s army life was eventful to say the least. The only time he left the U.S. was when he was stationed in Germany, and this was also when he was introduced to substances, karate, and teenager Priscilla Ann Wagner. Meeting in 1959, Elvis was smitten, but was initially denied a second date when he broke her curfew. Regardless, the couple dated until Presley returned stateside in 1960. They then kept it up long distance, until Priscilla moved into Graceland in 1963. They got engaged in 1966, and tied the knot the following year which, according to Priscilla at least, was also the first time they did the deed. Lisa Marie, the couple’s only child, was born nine months later.


Which of these significant age-gap relationships shocked you the most? Let us know in the comments below.