Josh Duhamel reveals why he changed his mind on 21-year age gap with wife Audra Mari

Josh Duhamel initially thought he wouldn’t “go there” with now wife Audra Maria, who is 21 years younger than him.

Josh Duhamel thought he wasn’t “even going to go there” when he first met his wife Audra Mari.

The 52-year-old actor has reflected on the 21-year age gap between him and Audra, 31, and how for a long time their relationship was strictly “platonic”.

He told Amanda Hirsch’s ‘Not Skinny But Not Fat’ podcast: “It was truly platonic for years.”

He added that when they first crossed paths, he thought: “I’m not even going to go there.”

Initially he saw the former Miss World America as “just a friend” before inviting her to a barbecue, having bonded over being from North Dakota.

He explained: “[I was] still thinking it was totally platonic, just as a friend from NoDak. There aren’t many people from there.”

However, things took a turn when he realised Audra is “more mature” than he is.

He added: “She’s more mature than I am. That’s now we started dating.”

Their relationship started in late 2018, and 16 months ago they welcomed son Shepherd into the world together.

Josh – who also has 11-year-old son Axl with ex-wife Fergie – recently opened up on how moving to a cabin in Minnesota has allowed his kids to learn things they never would have had the chance to in Los Angeles.

Last month, he told Fox News Digital: “We had a tree that fell over in the winter. We had to go out there and cut it up and put it in the back of the side-by-side and go stack the wood. He’s not doing that in Los Angeles, you know, and he sort of does it begrudgingly, but he’s going to be grateful because one day he’s going to have to do all this stuff, you know, and I think that it’s these little lessons.

“Shepherd is 15 months, he’s going to be doing the same thing, and I think that these things just help contribute, because we’re 40 miles from anything here, there’s nothing. We have to pretty much fend for ourselves when we’re out here. So these kids need to learn how to do this stuff, and they’re not going to get to do that in L.A.

“So, for that reason alone, I think it’s great. Plus they just love it. They have buddies out here, they get to, you know, go jet skiing and tubing and all those things that you do on a lake.”