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Josh Duhamel Says He Just Realized His Wife Is The Same Age As Her Little Sister: ‘I’m Too Old For You’

Pascal Le Segretain / Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images

By
January Nelson

Josh Duhamel is married

Josh Duhamel and Audra Mari at the UTA Theater in Los Angeles for a screening of Preschool
Josh Duhamel and Audra Mari step out together for a screening of Preschool at the UTA Theater in Los Angeles on March 16, 2026. Photo by Jesse Grant / Getty Images.

from 2022, but it took an old family photo for the actor to see how the numbers lined up. His wife, it turns out, is the same size as his younger sister.

Audra Mari, 32, was born a few months apart from Duhamel’s sister Kassidy – a coincidence the Transformers actress, now 53, didn’t do the math until she found a photo taken decades earlier.

He described the time he hit her on the July 13 episode of the HoneyDew podcast with host Ryan Sickler. “There is a picture of me holding Kassidy when I was a 21-year-old young man with this young child,” said Duhamel. “I looked at the picture, I looked at my wife, and I said, ‘You and Kassidy are exactly the same age.’ … I am officially too old for you.” As he put it, “They’re like months apart in age.

Kassidy is Bonnie Kemper’s step-sister from her mother’s second marriage. He arrived while Duhamel was a college athlete at Minot State University. “I remember looking up from the stands, I saw my mother again [she] this bump was necessary. And I’m like, ‘Is mom pregnant?’ I’m 21 years old, you have another child.”

A man in a black pinstripe blazer signing autographs for a large crowd of fans at a movie premiere in Tokyo.
Josh Duhamel signs autographs for a crowd of eager fans at the ‘Transformers’ Japan Premiere held at the Big Sight in Tokyo on July 24, 2007. Photo by Koichi Kamoshida / Getty Images.

Mari grew up in Fargo, North Dakota, and studied public relations and communications at North Dakota State University. She was runner-up at Miss Teen USA 2011 and Miss USA 2014 before winning Miss World America 2016 and entering the top 11 at Miss World that December. She moved to Miami at age 20 to model, landing the cover of Ocean Drive’s swimsuit issue and H&M campaigns, and later hosting travel shows on the Welcome Channel and InForum.

Josh Duhamel and Audra Mari at the Sphere Grand Opening in Las Vegas
At the grand opening of Sphere in Las Vegas on September 29, 2023, Josh Duhamel and his wife Audra Mari appeared together. Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images.

Duhamel started messaging Mari on social media after she won the North Dakota pageant. They were friends for years before dating. “It was a really platonic age,” Duhamel said on a 2025 episode of the Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast, recalling that he first told himself, “I’m not going there.” He thought Mari was too young at first, but as he put it, “She’s more mature than me.” That’s how we started dating.”

Emma Roberts laughs and Josh Duhamel smiles while holding the microphone on the set of MTV's Total Request Live.
Microphone in hand, Emma Roberts and Josh Duhamel appear on MTV’s Total Request Live in New York City on June 12, 2007, sharing a laugh during the segment. Photo by Evan Agostini / Getty Images.

They started dating in late 2018 and married in September 2022 in Fargo. They share two children, Shepherd Lawrence Duhamel, 2, and Rocca de Leon Duhamel, 2 months. He was married to Fergie until they split in 2019, and they share son Axl Jack Duhamel, 12.

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