Shocking age gap between Keira Knightley and Thomas Brodie-Sangster in Love Actually has fans in disbelief

The die-hard fans of popular film Love Actually are now in disbelief after getting to know the age gap between its actors Keira Knightley and Thomas Brodie-Sangster.

Akhila Menon
Written by Akhila Menon , Journalist
Published on Dec 24, 2022 | 07:04 AM IST | 5.4M
Love Actually
Image credits: Universal Pictures/Studio Canal

The Christmas season is not complete for film fanatics without revisiting the much-loved film Love Actually. The movie, which is helmed by Richard Curtis,  hit the screens in 2003 and earned immense love from the audiences over years, thus eventually earning cult status. The romantic comedy, which features a stellar star cast, depicts the various facets of love, with 10 unique love stories. One of the segments narrated the tale of Sam, a boy who mourns his mother's demise and later falls for his classmate Juliet.

Keira Knightley and Thomas Brodie-Sangster's shocking age gap

The film fanatics absolutely loved the heartwarming story of the young Sam and his much-older crush Juliet. Keira Knightley and Thomas Brodie-Sangster played their respective roles to near perfection, and earned a great fan base. However, the fans of the actors are now left in shock, after getting to know about the real age gap between them. Keira Knightley, who played Sam's married classmate Juliet, was actually just 18 when she shot for the film. Thomas Brodie-Sangster, who played the 10-year-old Sam, was 13. Yes, you read it right. The actors, who played the roles of classmates with a major age gap, actually had an age gap of just 5 years. 

Image credits: Universal Pictures/Studio Canal

ALSO READ: Love Actually: Diversity criticism to Martine Mccutcheon's life-changing moment; 8 facts about Christmas film

The audience reacts to Keira and Thomas's shocking age gap

Interestingly, the unknown details about the Love Actually co-stars began to surface online, after a Twitter user named Madeleine Lloyd-James made a post on the same, in 2019. "Yearly reminder that there is only a five-year age gap between Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Keira Knightley in Love Actually," reads her tweet. Her post immediately went viral with over 19,000 retweets and 1.1 Lakh likes, on the renowned social media platform.

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"He looks 5 and she looks 25!" reads a post made by one of the Love Actually fans.

"I just looked this up because I was 100 percent certain this was false. I researched it and now I think that you have rigged the internet to lie to me," wrote another netizen.

A fan, who found this age-gap between Keira Knightley and Thomas Brodie-Sangster problematic, took to Twitter and wrote: "Just did a quick Wiki. She'd have been, what, 17 or 18 at the time? And was getting married to a bloke in his late 20s. As if that film didn't have enough problems in my mind."

Image credits: Universal Pictures/Studio Canal

The current age of Keira Knightley and Thomas Brodie-Sangster

For the unversed, Keira Knightley is now 37 years old, while her Love Actually co-star Thomas Brodie-Sangster is 32. The unusual onscreen pair essayed roles that are drastically different from their real ages in the much-loved film, and their fans are still finding it extremely hard to believe. 

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Sam and Juliet's story

In Love Actually, Thomas Brodie-Sangster played the role of Sam, who is around 10 years old and is mourning the death of his beloved mother. He lives with his stepfather Daniel, who tries his best to take care of young Sam. The boy slowly develops a massive crush on his much-elder, married classmate Juliet, played by Keira Knightley. The segment revolves around Sam's attempts to garner Juliet's attention, and how Daniel supports him.

ALSO READ: JK Rowling remembers Harry Potter’s late Severus Snape actor Alan Rickman with an emotional confession

Credits: Universal Pictures/Studio Canal
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About The Author

Hopelessly in love with Indian cinema, Akhila Menon grew up watching Malayalam and Tamil films, and those are

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