Absolutely Everything We Know About Sam Taylor-Johnson
It's been an exciting week for red carpets. Under 24 hours after Jurassic World Rebirth made its premiere in Leicester Square, London, the highly anticipated 28 Years Later had its world premiere.
The film is a sequel to Danny Boyle's post-apocalyptic horror film, and features a star-studded cast including Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ralph Fiennes and Alfie Williams, a 14-year-old newcomer set to make an impact on the big screen.
The film is set 30 years after the original, and focuses on how humanity has adapted to survive. True to the film's style, the red carpet was decorated with biohazard signs and in one section, several skulls.
Joining Aaron on the red carpet was his wife, Sam Taylor Johnson, who he's been with for 15 years. The pair put on a loved up display at the premiere, and lots of people are curious to know more about the woman who captured Sam's heart.
Sam Taylor-Johnson is a director, whose debut was Nowhere Boy, in which Aaron played a future John Lennon. It was hugely successful, and Sam went on to cement her name in the industry. In an interview with Vanity Fair, she spoke about her decision to cast Aaron as John Lennon.
'It wasn't about, "Oh this guy looks like Lennon,"' Sam told the outlet. 'Because I think, as you said, by the time you finish watching the film it doesn't matter that Aaron's not identical to him. He's sort of embodied the spirit of him, which I think was much more important to try and get across.'
Over her career, Sam has a number of successful movie titles under her belt, including Back to Black, Fifty Shades of Grey, and A Million Little Pieces.
Sam Taylor-Johnson was born on 4 March 1967, making her 58-years-old. This means there's a 23-year-age gap between her and Aaron, who is 35-years-old.
The pair have addressed this age gap in past interviews. 'I don't really analyse our relationship,' Sam told Mr. Porter. 'I just know that it works. I just feel secure and loved and safe. We have this very deep connection. We're just in sync.'
In a 2017 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Sam said: 'If I gave a second thought to other people, I would be the unhappiest person, probably still in a miserable marriage. People like to talk about it. I'm like, 'Yeah, but it works better than my last marriage'. It's lasted longer than a lot of my friends' marriages.' Prior to meeting Aaron, she was married to the art deal Jay Joplin for eleven years, and the couple have two daughters.
Aaron told The Telegraph in 2019 he 'knew instantly' that Sam was his 'soulmate'.
The couple had a whirlwind romancer that all began on set. Aaron and Sam met in 2008 filming Nowhere Boy, which was Sam's directorial debut. Aaron was 18 when they met, and Sam was 42. Things moved pretty quickly from there; the pair the following year and got married in 2012 after having two children together, who were born in 2010 and 2012.
'We were very professional through the entire film. ... But everyone on set knew. And as soon as we finished, he told me he was going to marry me. We had never been on a date, or even kissed,' Sam told Harper's Bazaar in 2019.
Aaron added: 'And a year to the minute after we met, exactly one year to the minute, I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me.'
In a 2013 interview with The Independent, Aaron gushed that Sam was a wonderful mother. 'My whole thing, my priority, is my family, my kids, and my wife,' he told the newspaper. 'That's my future. I don't really care about what role is next. I don't live to act, to go from job to job ... I live for my wife and my kids and I wake up to them and that's what I enjoy.'
Sam was previously married to Jay Jopling, an art dealer and gallerist, and Sam was working as a photographer at the time. The couple wed in 1997 and had two children together, before announcing their split in 2008.
In a joint statement, they said: 'Jay Jopling and Sam Taylor-Wood are saddened to announce that, after 11 years of marriage, they have agreed amicably to separate. No other parties are involved.'
The statement continued, 'For the sake of their two daughters, who are their number one priority, they have asked that their privacy be respected.'
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