Stanley Tucci, 62, says he was ‘afraid’ about 21-year age gap with wife Felicity Blunt

Stanley Tucci has recalled how he tried to break up with his now-wife Felicity Blunt, 40, out of fear over their 21-year age gap.

The Hunger Games star, 62, spoke about finding love again after his wife of 14 years, Kathryn ‘Kate’ Spath-Tucci died from stage 4 breast cancer in 2009.

Tucci and the literary agent, who is the sister of Emily Blunt, first met at the premiere of The Devil Wears Prada in 2006.

The pair reconnected in 2010 at Emily’s wedding to John Krasinski in Lake Como, 18 months after Kate’s death.

Two years later, the couple married at London’s Middle Temple Hall, with Meryl Streep, Patricia Clarkson, Julianne Moore, Colin Firth and Kenneth Cole in attendance.

Appearing on Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, Tucci, 62, said: “I was afraid to get into a relationship and I kept trying to break it off because I am 21 years older than she is and I didn’t want to feel old for the rest of my life.

“But I knew this was an incredibly special person.

“Felicity has been so incredible taking on a widower and three children. 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 couple have welcomed two children together: son Matteo Oliver, eight, and daughter Emilia Giovanna, five.

The 40-year-old is also a stepmother to Tucci and Kate’s children, twins Isabel and Nicolo, 23, and daughter Camilla, 21.

Later in the interview, the Supernova actor spoke about feelings of guilt following his first wife’s death.

He told host Lauren Laverne: “I thought I could help her, I was helpless.”

Laverne reflected: “And I know you felt you couldn’t be with her in the end, which must have brought some complicated emotions to the surface for you.”

To which he replied: “Yeah, very. I was afraid it would affect me so greatly that I wouldn’t be able to go on and take care of the kids. That it would overwhelm me, so I had to step away.

“Other people were there with her – my stepdaughter and friends, and that was a good thing. I did what I had to do to help the kids get along. But you still feel guilty about it, you feel sad.”