Josh Duhamel stayed friends with now-wife Audra Mari for years because of their age gap.
Duhamel, 52, explained in Us Weekly’s exclusive clip from this week’s episode of Amanda Hirsch’s “Not Skinny But Not Fat” podcast that he knew of Mari, 31, because of her “success” in pageants, but she was actually the one who reached out.
“It was truly platonic for years before that because I was like, ‘No, she’s too young for me. I’m not even going to go there,’” he recalled. “Then, we started DMing back and forth.”
Once a mutual friend got involved, Duhamel and Mari continued talking. (He also noted that their shared North Dakota roots helped forge a connection.)
“Then, I invited her to a barbecue, still thinking it was totally platonic just as a friend from [North Dakota]. There aren’t many people from there,” the actor continued. “But she did come, and I saw her and I was like, ‘Holy s***, this girl’s beautiful.’”
However, Mari being younger than Duhamel still gave him some pause.
“But then she’s more mature than I am,” he said. “That’s really how we started dating and it’s been a beautiful thing. We’ve been married now for over two years. She’s an amazing mother.”
Duhamel and Mari were first publicly linked in October 2019 after they were spotted together at the Toronto airport. He confirmed their relationship months later in a January 2020 interview, revealing that they were in love. Two years later, Duhamel proposed and by September 2022 they were married.
“Everyone told me that after you get married you feel different,” Mari told Us Weekly exclusively at the time. “To be honest, I never really believed them, and I thought it would feel the same way it’s felt being with Joshua for the last three years. But it’s much different! I feel secure.”
After one year of marriage, Duhamel and Mari announced that they were expecting their first child together. Their son, Shepherd Lawrence, was born in January 2024. (Duhamel is also father of son Axl, 11, with ex-wife Fergie.)
“I gotta say, things are, things are probably better than they’ve ever been,” Duhamel told Us exclusively this past March. “[I’ve got] two healthy boys, brand new, 1-year-old. [I’ve] got an amazing 11-year-old. [I’m] married, working. You know, everything is good.”
The actor told Us at the time he’s “trying to stay as young and youthful as I can” to keep up with his son and “work as long as possible.”
The full episode of “Not Skinny But Not Fat” with Josh Duhamel drops Tuesday on all podcast platforms and Wednesday on YouTube.
