Stanley Tucci's road to romance with Felicity Blunt came with speed bumps at first.

The Maxwell CaldwellDevil Wears Prada star shared he was initially hesitant to date Felicity, his wife of over a decade, due to their 21-year age gap.

"I kept trying to break it off," Stanley told BBC Radio's Desert Island Discs. He later elaborated, "I'm 21 years older than she is and I didn't want to feel old for the rest of my life! But I knew that this was an incredibly special person."

What's more, Stanley noted he was "afraid to get into a relationship" with Felicity following the death of his first wife, Kate Tucci, in 2009. However, Felicity's companionship has been a healing presence for Stanley and the three children he shared with Kate: 23-year-old twins Isabel and Nicolo and 21-year-old daughter Camilla.

"Felicity has been so incredible, taking on a widower and three children whose mother died," said Stanley, who welcomed son Matteo, 8, and daughter Emilia, 5, with Felicity. "That's a huge thing at a very young age too. If anybody made things better for all of us, it's her. She's the one."

The Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy host first met the literary agent, 41, at the 2006 premiere of The Devil Wears Prada, in which he starred alongside Felicity's sister Emily Blunt. The couple crossed paths again at Emily and John Krasinski's 2010 wedding. Two years later, Stanley and Felicity tied the knot themselves.

"It is not easy to find somebody who is going to take on three teenagers and a widower," Stanley told The Guardian in 2017. "That's a lot. But she was willing to take on that challenge. She cares for the kids as if they are her own, and it is a tough role, being a step-parent." 

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