Talk about a headline that makes you do a DOUBLE TAKE!!
New wave icon Gary Numan has everyone talking after opening up about the very unconventional beginning of his decades-long love story with longtime wife Gemma. And yes… it’s exactly the kind of celebrity confession that sends the internet into detective mode.
Here’s the tea: Gary revealed in a new interview with The Times this week that they first crossed paths when he was 22 and Gemma was just 12 (!!!) at a fan meet-and-greet. Yes, you read that right — he was a full-blown adult at 22, and she was just a 12-year-old girl!
WTF?!?!
But before anyone jumps to conclusions, the romance didn’t actually begin until years later, apparently, after she was an adult… but still just barely!
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According to the Cars singer, after that first underage meeting, they actually went their separate ways for a while and then reconnected years later, when she was 18 and he was 28. Then, they supposedly eventually started dating after he reached out to offer condolences following the death of her mother.
The singer even joked about the way he got her phone number through his fan club, and quipped:
“That’s how I attracted her, which I think is illegal now.”
Uhhh…
And he’s not the only one backing this story! Years ago, Gemma gave her own version of events in a totally separate interview with another outlet, and it was… exactly the same! Per Us Weekly and others, she said at the time:
“I was 11, and it started as a schoolgirl crush — a big crush. You know, when you’re at that age. I first met Gary around my 12th birthday. My dad worked at Warner Bros, which the Beggar’s Banquet label belonged to, and he arranged for me to meet Gary and get a single autographed. I was completely overcome, I couldn’t talk — I was crying, and I told him I really loved him.”
Um… wow.
As wild as the story sounds out of context, the couple has now been together for decades, tying the knot in 1997 and raising three kids together. That’s a pretty remarkable Hollywood survival story in an industry where some marriages barely outlast an album cycle! So, uh, the proof is in the pudding, we suppose?
Related: Alec Baldwin Got ROASTED By His 12-Year-Old Daughter Over 26-Year Age Gap With Hilaria!
Still, social media is gonna do what social media does best: debate every detail of the timeline. Some fans say it’s proof that context matters, while others think the headline alone is enough to raise eyebrows.
What do U think, y’all?? Which came are U in?! Romantic fate… or a story that’s impossible to hear without asking a lot of questions?
[Image via MEGA/Rocky/WENN]