Josh Duhamel knew there was a 21-year age difference between him and wife Audra Mari, but an old family photograph gave him a startling new way to measure it.
During a July 13 appearance on The HoneyDew With Ryan Sickler, the 53-year-old actor recalled seeing a picture of himself at 21 holding his youngest sister as a newborn.
Duhamel then realized that his sister and Mari, 32, were born only months apart. “I looked at the photo, and I looked at my wife, and I said, ‘You know, you and [my sister] are exactly the same age,’” he said.
“I am officially too old for you,” Duhamel remembered telling Mari. “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.’”
Duhamel Was Already in College When His Sister Was Born
Duhamel said his youngest sister was born while he was attending Minot State University and playing football. He remembered warming up on the field, looking into the stands and noticing that his mother was pregnant.
“I’m 21 years old, and she’s having another baby,” he recalled. The actor laughed throughout the story, even asking Sickler whether the realization qualified as a “highlight or a lowlight.”
The Age Gap Initially Made Duhamel Hesitate
Duhamel and Mari, a former Miss World America, began dating around 2019 and married in Fargo, North Dakota, in September 2022. Both have roots in the state, Duhamel grew up in Minot, while Mari is from Fargo.
Duhamel previously said he first contacted Mari through Instagram after seeing that she had won North Dakota beauty pageants. He invited her to a barbecue but initially doubted that their friendship would become romantic because of their ages.
“I didn’t think anything would come of it because she was way too young for me,” he said during a 2023 television interview, according to People. After meeting Mari, he described her as “pretty amazing.”
Their Age Difference Comes Up When They Discuss Children
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Duhamel and Mari now share son Shepherd, born in January 2024, and daughter Rocca de Leon, whose arrival they announced in May 2026. Duhamel is also the father of son Axl, whom he shares with former wife Fergie.
Mari previously said their age gap rarely becomes part of everyday conversation, although it has influenced discussions about the size of their family. “The age thing doesn’t normally come into conversation, but it definitely does when speaking of having babies,” she said in a 2023 interview, according to Entertainment Weekly.
Shortly before Rocca’s birth, Duhamel said becoming a parent again in his 50s had given him a different perspective from many friends who were sending children to college or becoming grandparents.
“I’m not as stressed out as I was before,” he said. “I can really focus on and appreciate how awesome kids are.”