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NFL player and husband open up about making history with their gay age-gap relationship
Former football player Jeff Rohrer says his much younger husband "likes daddies."
There may be a 23-year-age gap between former NFL player Jeff Rohrer and his celebrity aesthetician husband, Josh Ross, but the pair of lovebirds have managed to build a fantastic life together.
The couple couldn't be more different on paper. Rohrer, 65, was a linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys who was divorcee after having been married for 17 years, had two teenage kids, and was still living in the closet, while Josh, 42, was living his life out and proud in West Hollywood where he was dating a "roster" of men.
But when they met at a WeHo restaurant, their lives changed.
"We met in West Hollywood at a restaurant that was not traditionally a gay restaurant," Ross explained in a new interview with Queerty. "It's hard for Jeff to go back to that time sometimes, but I think he was trying to dip his toe into the gay pool, but not necessarily like going to the Abbey. He was like, 'Let me go to the nice Mexican restaurant in West Hollywood, and maybe there will be a gay person there.'"
The fact that Rohrer was older, still mostly in the closet, and had an ex-wife and two kids should have been red flags, but instead, Ross was drawn to him.
"I was never a football fan, of course, but living in Texas, the Dallas Cowboys, that's America's Team. There was something about that," he said. "The coincidence for him to have played football in my home state, it just felt like there was something kinetic and magic about that."
Not only were Rohrer and Ross in a gay age-gap relationship, but when they got married in 2018, they made history, becoming the first-known NFL player, past or present, to enter into a same-sex marriage. Their whole family was featured in People as "redefining the term blended family" because they chose to live together with Rohrer's ex-wife and kids all under one roof.
"Jeff and Josh are my family, and we're a better team together than apart," ex-wife Heather Rohrer told People back in 2019.
When Rohrer finally came out to his family and the public, he was pleasantly surprised by the reception he got, telling Queerty that he was "honestly shocked" by how well people reacted.
"I did not expect… I knew I would get props from the gay community… or at least I hoped I would," he explained. "I did not expect the amount of people, friends of mine on the right, on the left, married, unmarried, all colors, giving me their support. This says nothing about me, but I think it says something about our community. When you live your life well, when your handshake means something, when words come out of your mouth, they mean something. When you work, people appreciate what you do. That matters a lot more than your sexuality."
As for the attraction between the two men, "The good news is, he likes daddies, so that worked out pretty good," Rohrer quipped.
Ariel Messman-Rucker is an Oakland-born journalist who now calls the Pacific Northwest her home. When she’s not writing about politics and queer pop culture, she can be found reading, hiking, or talking about horror movies with the Zombie Grrlz Horror Podcast Network.
Ariel Messman-Rucker is an Oakland-born journalist who now calls the Pacific Northwest her home. When she’s not writing about politics and queer pop culture, she can be found reading, hiking, or talking about horror movies with the Zombie Grrlz Horror Podcast Network.
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