Entertainment

PSA: Priyanka Chopra Doesn't Care What Anyone Thinks About Her & Nick Jonas' Age Gap

by Parry Ernsberger
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

They say "age ain't nothin' but a number," and that couldn't be more true for one celebrity couple in particular. Priyanka Chopra is 36, Nick Jonas is 26 — and the 10 years between them unfairly raised some eyebrows when they first started dating. During a recent interview with InStyle, though, Chopra's response to criticism of her age gap with Jonas — whom she married in December 2018 — proves that she could not care less about what the haters say.

Back in May 2017, Chopra and Jonas caused a bit of a ruckus when they showed up at that year's Met Gala together alongside Ralph Lauren. Fans immediately started wondering if the two were dating, but Chopra insisted that she and Jonas were just casual acquaintances at the time.

During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live a few days after the Gala, Kimmel straight-up asked the star, "What's going on, are you dating Nick Jonas? Isn't he like 11 years old?" he joked. "We were both wearing Ralph Lauren," Chopra explained, "and we decided to go together, and it was fun."

While they reportedly were not dating back then, they did get together eventually, and critics repeatedly pointed out their 10-year age gap. "People gave us a lot of sh*t about that and still do," Chopra told InStyle for their July 2019 issue. "I find it really amazing when you flip it and the guy is older, no one cares and actually people like it."

She makes a fair point, and it's not the first time that that kind of discrimination has come up in recent months. Back in March, Saturday Night Live's Pete Davidson was in the midst of a very public romance with Kate Beckinsale. The 20 years between them definitely got tongues wagging, which Davidson directly addressed during the March 9 episode of SNL.

When Weekend Update anchor Colin Jost asked Davidson about his "girlfriend situation" — neither he nor Beckinsale had officially defined the nature of their relationship publicly at that point — he immediately went after the age-gap critics. "Apparently, people have a crazy fascination with our age difference, but it doesn’t really bother us," he admitted.

Davidson then went on to say that if anyone had "questions about a relationship with a big age difference," then they should ask, "Leonardo DiCaprio, Jason Statham, Michael Douglas, Richard Gere, Jeff Goldblum, Scott Disick, Dane Cook, Derek Jeter, Bruce Willis, Harrison Ford, Tommy Lee, Alec Baldwin, Sean Penn, and whoever the president of France is [Emmanuel Macron, who is 24 years younger than his wife]. Mel Gibson, Billy Joel, Mick Jagger, Sylvester Stallone, Eddie Murphy, Kelsey Grammer, Larry King, Larry King, Larry King, Rod Stewart, and Donald Trump."

So, clearly Chopra's comment about people criticizing the age difference between her and Jonas was spot-on. She doesn't let what the haters say bother her — whether about their age gap or otherwise — and prefers to just not address them at all. "Commenting on some stupidity means it eventually becomes important because I gave it importance," she told InStyle. "A lot of people don’t understand that way of thinking. It’s not a myopic thought ... it’s a long-term plan."

While it can't be easy to have to continuously endure that level of scrutiny, it sounds like Chopra's figured out how to block it all out. She and Jonas truly seem happy together, age gap be damned.