One of the most famous singers in Mandopop is undoubtedly Jay Chou (born 1979). After being single for over three decades, he married Taiwanese-Australian actress Hannah Quinlivan (born in 1993). Though they are still happily married several years later, their love story raised eyebrows in the beginning due to their significant age gap of 14 years.
In an interview on Crossing NBA, Hannah revealed that she met her now-husband when she was just 17 years old while auditioning for one of the music videos on his album WOW!
It was filmed around July 2010 and released a year later in November 2011. They went on several dates within this time, with the teenager playing the then-31-year old’s favorite sport on their first date.
The first date we did was on a basketball court. I was watching him mostly at the time, but now I play with him a lot.
— Hannah Quinlivan
Before the music video could be released, their relationship was exposed to the public and her scenes were scrapped. The actress was pressured to end the relationship by a substantial number of netizens who believed that she was not “worthy enough” to date the famous singer.
She broke up with him and left Taiwan for the United States to study. Barely two days had passed when the singer booked a flight to chase her back.
They eventually reconciled and tied the knot on January 17, 2015 at a private wedding ceremony in Taipei and another one later at Yorkside, Australia. By this time, they were dating for four years. Jay Chou was 36 years old and Hannah was 21 years old.
The Mandopop legend defended their significant age gap in interviews prior to the wedding. He stated that their mental ages are on par with each other and they rarely ever fight.
My mental age is about the same as hers and we just get along like children.
— Jay Chou
They now have three children: a daughter born in 2015, a son born in 2017, and another daughter born in 2022. Jay Chou is now 45-years old while Hannah is turning 31-years old.
