Jennifer Lawrence's relationship with Darren Aronofsky reportedly suffered because of their "huge age difference".

Jennifer Lawrence and Darren Aronofsky

Jennifer Lawrence and Darren Aronofsky

The 26-year-old actress is 22 years younger than her former boyfriend, whom she split with earlier this month, and sources have now said the large age gap caused problems between the pair, and may have had an impact on their decision to go their separate ways.

A source said: "Once they are onto new projects and interests, it's harder to keep up relationships of any kind. They were never destined for marriage. They had fun, shared many beliefs, and enjoyed what they could learn from each other.

"There is a huge age difference, and they are different people. Each has to look practically to the future. Jen has yet to figure out her life and how it will evolve. He has responsibilities in life that she has yet to experience."

Jennifer and Darren, 48, began dating in late 2016, when Jennifer starred in the central role of Darren's psychological horror 'Mother!', which was released in September this year.

And the 'Passengers' star recently admitted the movie drove them apart, as whilst she would be sick of talking about the feature, he would keep pressing the subject.

She said: "We'd be on the tour together, I'd come back to the hotel and the last thing I want to talk about or think about is the movie, and he comes back and that's all he wants to talk about.

"I was doing double duty of trying to be a supportive partner while also being like, 'Can I please, for the love of God, not think about 'Mother!' for one second?'"

But that isn't to say the couple weren't happy, as during their year-long romance, the pair were "infatuated" with one another.

The source added to People magazine: "Each was infatuated with the other. She was attracted to his brilliance and education, and he was in awe of her talent and personality. They have amazing respect for each other given the huge age gap, but other things were not on the same level."