Josh Duhamel's Defense Of His Age Gap Marriage Isn't The Slam-Dunk He Thinks It Is

Following his high-profile divorce from former Black Eyed Peas member Fergie, actor Josh Duhamel married Audra Mari — a model who is around 21 years his junior. Interestingly enough, the "Shotgun Wedding" star has openly acknowledged that the significant age gap between them initially gave him pause about pursuing a romance with Mari. However, Duhamel ultimately stands by their marriage, and the actor even laid out his reasoning for why the difference in age doesn't really matter that much. To be clear, while it can certainly be difficult, it is absolutely possible to have a successful age-gap relationship. That being said, Duhamel's defense of his isn't really the slam dunk he seems to think it is.

The "Transformers" alum discussed his second marriage at length during a May 2025 appearance on the "Not Skinny But Not Fat" podcast. "I was like, 'Holy s**t, this girl is beautiful — no, I can't, she's too young, I can't do it,'" Duhamel recalled, adding, "But then she's more mature than I am, and that's really how we started dating and it's been a beautiful thing." Now, if things really are happy and healthy between Duhamel and Mari, then more power to them. 

But the actor's comment about his wife being "more mature" than he is does have us raising an eyebrow. After all, it was clearly meant to suggest that Duhamel and Mari are more compatible than some may think, given the difference in their ages. But assuming the "Safe Haven" star's assessment is genuine, a 52-year-old divorced father of two openly admitting to being less mature than a 31-year-old is certainly a choice.

Given their 21-year age gap, you may be wondering exactly how Josh Duhamel and Audra Mari actually met in the first place. Of course, celebrities tend to occupy a lot of the same spaces, meaning they were bound to cross paths at some point, any differences in age notwithstanding. As it turns out, though, Duhamel and Mari's meet-cute wasn't quite so Hollywood. Rather, the two got to chatting online after realizing they were both from North Dakota. This was something Duhamel also briefly discussed on "Not Skinny But Not Fat." 

The actor noted that meeting a fellow North Dakotan was pretty rare for him. Duhamel also claimed that he and Mari were strictly friends for quite some time before he figured out that he should make a move. "She's from Fargo, I'm from Minot, which is like four hours away. I'd followed her because she'd had some success in pageants and things like that so I always root for anybody who's from North Dakota," the "When in Rome" star explained. 

"It was truly platonic for like years before that, because I was like 'Nah, she's too young, I'm not even going to go there,' and then we started DMing back and forth," he continued. "I invited her to a barbecue, still thinking it was totally platonic, just as a friend." Naturally, once the actor saw Mari in real life, he was completely smitten with her. Hopefully these two turn out to be better matched than Duhamel and his ex-wife Fergie. As he put it on "In Depth with Graham Bensinger," in 2023, "We both agree that we're just very different."