Fans shocked by Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Keira Knightley’s Love Actually age gap

Love Actually might have been around for 20 years now, but there are some aspects of the film that are still taking viewers by surprise.

Is it how mean Alan Rickman's character is to Emma Thompson's? Well, yes, but not only that.

One of the most shocking facts about the film relates to the age differences between one of the love interests, played by Keira Knightley, and one of the children, played by Thomas Brodie-Sangster.

Fans of the movie will know that Brodie-Sangster's Sam is still at school, and on a mission to make his American crush fall head over heels for him. It turns out well for him in the end, and Brodie-Sangster love story has only continued in the real world as he's actually just got engaged to actor Talulah Riley.

Meanwhile, Knightley's character, Juliet, is fully grown, married and causing some entirely unintentional heartbreak.

It's clear Knightley and Brodie-Sangster's characters are in very different stages of life in the film, and as a result fans have struggled to wrap their heads around the fact that wasn't actually the case in real life.

Universal Pictures

In fact, the pair were much closer in age than you might expect. So close, that the difference between Brodie-Sangster and Knightley's ages is actually similar to Brodie-Sangster and his new fiancée.

While they were shooting the film, Brodie-Sangster was just 13 years old. Knightley, surprisingly, was just five years older, at 18.

Hard to believe, given that Knightley's character appears to be a mature married woman while little Sam looks about 10, isn't it?

Fans of the movie have been left entirely baffled by the revelation, with one user writing: "He looks five and she looks 25!"

Universal Pictures

Another added: "I just looked this up because I was 100 percent certain this was false. I researched it and now I think that you have rigged the internet to lie to me."

As hard as it might be to wrap your head around, it's the truth, and if things had gone differently between the pair it could even have been them celebrating their engagement this week.

Okay, admittedly that is even more weird to think about.

Thankfully, though Brodie-Sangster is entirely loved up with Riley, to whom he announced his engagement on Instagram.

The Love Actually star is now 33 years old, while Riley is 37 and was born in September 1985, just a few months after Knightley in March 1985.

Brodie-Sangster managed to squeeze a Love Actually reference into his engagement announcement, writing: "Happy to announce that Talulah and I are engaged. Love is all around X."

In her own post, Riley, who previously dated Elon Musk, shared that the proposal came after she and Brodie-Sangster had been dating for two years.