Josh Duhamel initially had doubts about his 21-year age gap with wife Audra Mari.

Josh Duhamel and wife Audra Mari smile on the red carpet in 2023.

There is a 21-year age gap between Josh Duhamel and his wife, Audra Mari — and he is revealing his initial doubts about their significant age difference.

The Safe Harbor actor, 52, initially thought the 2016 Miss World champion, now 31, was “too young” for him when they first met, he revealed on a recent episode of the Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast. The couple, who wed in 2022 and share a 1-year-old son together, went public with their relationship in 2019, when Duhamel was 46 and Mari was 25. (In addition to his baby with Mari, the Ransom Canyon star is also dad to 11-year-old son Axl, whom he shares with ex-wife Fergie.)

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As Duhamel revealed on the podcast, he had first heard about Mari — the two are both North Dakota natives — through her “success in pageants.”

“I always root for anybody who’s from North Dakota,” he explained, noting that Mari was the first one to reach out to discuss their home state connection.

“It was truly platonic for years” due to their two-decade age gap, Duhamel said. “I was like, ‘No, she’s too young for me. I’m not even going to go there.’”

Though the two “started DMing back and forth” and “talking,” the Love, Simon star “still thought it was totally platonic” when he invited her to a barbecue — “just as a friend from NoDak,” given that “there aren’t many people from there [in Los Angeles].”

For her part, podcast Amanda Hirsch expressed some skepticism on Mari’s behalf. “If Josh Duhamel was inviting you to a barbecue … do you really think she was like, ‘Oh, we’re gonna be best friends?'” she laughed. While Duhamel appeared flustered and said he “didn’t know,” he did admit that as soon as he saw Mari, “I was like, ‘Holy shit, This girl’s beautiful.'”

Still, he had those age gap doubts.

“‘No, she’s too young, I can’t do it,'” he recalled thinking at the time.

Ultimately, Duhamel said, “She’s more mature than I am.”

“And then we started dating and it’s just been a beautiful thing,” he gushed. “We’ve been married for over two years. She’s an amazing mother.”

As for their 16-month-old son, Shepherd, Duhamel shared that the little guy began walking at just nine months old. While he was excited for the milestone, the Win a Date With Tad Hamilton! actor joked that he and Mari thought they’d still have a few months of “stationary play” before Shepherd was on the move. Of course, their son had other plans.

“Little son of a bitch started walking,” Duhamel quipped, exaggerating exasperation.