The internet decided long ago that Russell Crowe’s girlfriend was barely older than his sons, and it kept saying so for five years until the man himself got tired of it. The correction came in November 2025, on X, in the tone of a gentleman who would rather not discuss a lady’s age and is about to do it anyway. Our 2023 version of this story repeated several of those wrong numbers, so here is the version with the receipts.
The age gap, settled by the man himself
For years, tabloids listed Britney Theriot as about 30 and the gap as nearly three decades. Crowe answered on X: “I have clarified this on many occasions, but some people prefer the fiction.” Then: “It is so ungentlemanly to do this. However, my lovely Britney is 42 years of age. I am 61.” In a second post he added: “An 18-year age difference isn’t that scandalous in my opinion, and it’s nobody’s business what other people’s lives are.”
Crowe turned 62 in April 2026. So the “girlfriend his sons’ age” storyline (Charles was born in 2003, Tennyson in 2006) was never true, and it was in our old version too. I’ll take the correction gracefully. What strikes me is how long the wrong number survived: celebrity ages seem to get copied from article to article and never checked, like a family recipe nobody has actually cooked.
Broken City first, tennis courts later
They did not meet in 2020, as we once wrote. Theriot had a small part in Broken City, the 2013 thriller starring Crowe and Mark Wahlberg, and the romance came years later. Crowe married Danielle Spencer in 2003; they separated in October 2012 and finalized the divorce in 2018. They have stayed friendly co-parents of the two boys, now grown men.
Crowe and Theriot were first photographed together in Sydney in November 2020, on a tennis court, which is about as low-key as a Hollywood romance gets. Their red carpet debut came in 2022 at the premiere of Poker Face, the film Crowe directed. I like that the relationship went public at a premiere of something he made himself: no borrowed spotlight.
“Why ruin that with a wedding?”
Since 2024, several outlets have called Theriot his fiancée. Crowe shut that down on Australia’s 60 Minutes in late 2025, asking: “My life is joyous and happy, why ruin that with a wedding?” He also said: “But no, I’m not going to get married again.” Tabloid reports that Theriot was “reeling” afterwards rest on anonymous sources, and we do not count those.
The couple keeps turning up together anyway: at Roland-Garros for the French Open, and at the Taormina Film Festival in June 2026, where Crowe presented the world premiere of Bear Country at the ancient Greek theater and received the festival’s International Achievement Award. Here’s my read: a man who answers engagement rumors with “no” and then flies his partner to Sicily for his big night has made his priorities fairly clear. They just aren’t wedding-shaped.
Gladiator II went ahead without Maximus
Our first version claimed Crowe was overseeing the sequel alongside Ridley Scott. He wasn’t. Gladiator II opened in November 2024 with Paul Mescal as Lucius, and Crowe said in a 2024 interview with Kyle Meredith that he was “slightly uncomfortable” a sequel was being made at all, since his character is dead and cannot influence anything. Scott’s reply was pure Scott: Crowe’s death in the first film made consulting him unnecessary.
Crowe has said he wishes Mescal luck. Honestly, staying out of it was the classier move. Maximus got one of the great movie exits; nobody needed him back as a ghost with notes.
The exorcist who may return
The Pope’s Exorcist came out in April 2023, with Crowe playing Father Gabriele Amorth, the Vatican’s real-life chief exorcist. The film was rated R. Producer Jeff Katz has said a sequel is moving forward, and Crowe has spoken about a planned trilogy that was slowed by changes in studio leadership. As of October 2026 there is no announced director, cast or start date, so treat it as “planned,” not “coming.”
@russellcrowe From the writings of Father Gabriele Amorth @popesexorcist @sonypictures
In the meantime he keeps working: Bear Country reunites him with director Derrick Borte, who made Unhinged with him in 2020.
My take
Three years ago this story was built on a wrong age, a wrong meeting date and a sequel job that didn’t exist. The true version is less dramatic and much nicer: a 62-year-old actor, a 42-year-old partner who met him on a film set more than a decade ago, a lot of tennis, and no plans to change any of it. Crowe ended the age discussion the same way he ended the wedding one. Short answer, then back to the tennis court.
Sources
- Russell Crowe on X (posts of November 2025 on Britney Theriot’s age)
- Russell Crowe on Instagram
- Sony Pictures: The Pope’s Exorcist, official trailer
- The Independent via AOL: Crowe clarifies girlfriend’s age (9 Nov 2025)
- Parade via AOL: Crowe on 60 Minutes, “not going to get married again” (3 Nov 2025)
- The List: Crowe and Theriot met on Broken City
- Variety Australia: Crowe at Taormina with Bear Country
- Sky TG24: Crowe at the Taormina Film Festival (14 Jun 2026)
- NME: Ridley Scott on Crowe and Gladiator II
- Bloody Disgusting: Crowe on The Pope’s Exorcist 2 and a planned trilogy
