Stanley Tucci admits he tried to break it off with girlfriend over 21-year age gap
There is no doubt that a lot of talk comes comes packaged with large age-gap relationships.
That much so, actor Stanley Tucci nearly ended up calling it quits with his now-wife Felicity Blunt because of their 21-year age gap.
The Citadel star appeared on Radio 4's Desert Island Discs on Sunday (2 July), where he spoke about finding love again after Kate Spath-Tucci, his wife of 14 years, who died from breast cancer in 2009.
That newfound love came in the form of Blunt, the sister of Emily Blunt, who is 40, while Tucci is 62.
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Tucci first met Felicity in 2006 at the film premiere of his own The Devil Wears Prada - with the actor saying 'she and Kate talked a lot that night'.
It was a long while before the couple spoke and met in-person again, which actually came at Emily's wedding to John Krasinski in 2010.
The pair quickly fell in love and officially tied the knot two years later in 2012.
However, it was seemingly not all sunshine and roses for the couple though, as Tucci revealed he tried to 'break it off'.
"I was afraid to get into a relationship and I kept trying to break it off because I am 21 years older than she is and I didn’t want to feel old for the rest of my life," he said on Desert Island Discs.
"But I knew this was an incredibly special person."
The couple have since had two children together, son Matteo Oliver, eight, and five-year-old daughter Emilia Giovanna.
Blunt is also step-mum to twins Isabel and Nicolo, 23, and 21-year-old Camilla - children of Tucci and Katie.
"Felicity has been so incredible taking on a widower and three children," Tucci said.
"That’s a huge thing, at a very young age too. If anybody made things better for all of us, it’s her. She’s the one."
Elsewhere in the interview, Tucci spoke about feeling guilty after Katie died in 2009.
"I thought I could help her, I was helpless," he said.
The actor also recalled on having to take a step back before Katie's death, he said: "I was afraid it would affect me so greatly that I wouldn’t be able to go on and take care of the kids. That it would overwhelm me, so I had to step away.
"Other people were there with her, my stepdaughter and friends, and that was a good thing.
"I did what I had to do to help the kids get along. But you still feel guilty about it, you feel sad."
Topics: TV and Film, Celebrity, Sex and Relationships
Callum Jones