Oh, Baby! Did You Know These 32 Celebrities Have Secret Children?
Feb. 25 2019, Updated 11:48 a.m. ET
Usually when an individual discovers they are about to have a child, it is a moment filled with unbridled bliss. For these celebrities with secret babies, the news of their pending parenthood caused more of a sweep-it-to-the-sidelines response rather than a shout-it-from-the-rooftops celebration.
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These famous people with secret kids are a product of all walks of life, from A-list movie stars, politicians, rappers, singers, up-and-comers and legends alike. It is a diverse group, but they all share one thing in common. The birth of their child was kept quiet at least at first, sometimes for decades (like Arnold Schwarzenegger!), and sometimes it took legal battles (some are still ongoing!) and even DNA tests for these souls to embrace their parenthood. So, who are these celebrities with secret babies? Who are their partners and what is the latest with the child itself? Read on to find out!
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1. Donald Glover
No one had any idea that this Solo: A Star Wars Story star had a child until he took to the Golden Globes stage to accept his award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy for his work on Atlanta. Donald Glover, who is riding an enormous wave of popularity right now with his alter ego Childish Gambino and his smash hit This Is America, thanked his “we never knew about” child and mother by saying, “I really want to say thank you to my son, and the mother of my son for making me believe in people again, and things being possible.” We now know that the woman in question is named Michelle and his boy’s moniker is Legend. In fact, the pair even welcomed a second child earlier this year.
2. Hugh Grant
Hugh Grant is a well-documented ladies' man. The fact that it took until age 53 for him to spawn children is actually surprising given the length of his conquest list. Talk about when it rains, it pours! Grant is reportedly the father of three children from two different women, all within a span of 15 months. London receptionist Tinglan Hong gave birth to Grant’s child, Tabitha, in September of 2011. In September of 2012, Swedish TV producer Anna Eberstein gave Grant a son, named John. Three months after that, Grant’s “fleeting affair” appeared to be not-so-fleeting as Hong gave birth to a second child by Grant. The star now has a total of five kids!
3. Charlie Heaton
Stranger Things has made Charlie Heaton a star and with that comes the blazing spotlight on one’s personal life. One might recall that the actor was busted with a cocaine possession charge. The media dug deep into his life, soon after, and discovered that he had a secret baby with an ex-girlfriend. Akiko Matsuura and Heaton welcomed a boy back in 2014. Archie lives with his mum in England with Heaton hoping to see the boy more when his hit Netflix show’s shooting schedule settles down.
4. Jude Law
Jude Law’s history, in some ways, mirrors his fellow Brit, Hugh Grant. Both have a long history of hooking up with the opposite sex. Both were previously attached to high profile celebrities, Law with Sienna Miller and Grant with Elizabeth Hurley. So, is it any surprise that Law has a secret love child like his fellow English thespian? Actually, like Grant, there is more than one! Law has admitted paternity in two situations and is taking care of his kin financially. The Oscar nominee had a daughter, Sophie, with model Samantha Burke in 2008, and another daughter, Ava, was born in March of 2015 by mother Catherine Harding. Grand total? Like Grant, Law also five kids!
5. Arnold Schwarzenegger
This celebrity secret baby remained quiet until the child was a teenager. It was huge news as it was revealed that then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had a love child with his family maid, Mildred Baena. That coming to light brought an end to his longtime marriage to Maria Shriver, but also showed that Schwarzenegger was taking care of his son, Joseph Baena, now 20 years old. The pair even recently traveled to Octoberfest in Germany together.
6. Bow Wow
The rapper/actor formerly known as Lil’ Bow Wow is all grown up and that means adult problems, like fathering a baby with Joie Chaves that he kept hidden from the world for years. After denying the existence of a child for some time, Bow Wow took to his website to admit to being a dad while extolling the virtues of fatherhood. “My lil girl is getting big fast," he wrote. "I love every minute of it. She inspires me to go harder. Even made me treat my mother better. It’s like it made me into a man overnight.” Cue the awws…
7. John Edwards
The former senator from North Carolina was cruising in the primaries to be the nominee of the Democratic Party in 2008. Then, news broke that he had had an affair with a campaign staffer, all this while his wife was dying of cancer. Rielle Hunter, a filmmaker employed by the Edwards campaign, gave birth to Frances Quinn Hunter on February 27, 2008. At first, the presidential hopeful denied Hunter’s claims. Once Edwards retreated from public life, he embraced the surprise fatherhood and has become a doting father to Frances. Surprise... Apparently Hunter still loves Edwards!
8. Eddie Murphy
Mel B, AKA Scary Spice, and Eddie Murphy were having a short fling at the time that she became pregnant. They broke up soon after she announced she was going to have his baby. Murphy refused to say he was the child’s father. The superstar comedian tried his best to keep the child a secret, but in the headline-grabbing, public, domestic legal war that followed, Murphy’s let’s-keep-our-private-life-private hope faded into an incredibly public feud between the singer and actor. After the little girl was born in 2007, a DNA test proved that Murphy was indeed the father. Although it took a few years for him to accept the results, he has since become quite close with his daughter, Angel. In fact, Mel B. recently had Christmas dinner with Murphy's mom!
9. Gavin Rossdale
Gavin Rossdale was happily married to Gwen Stefani when news broke that he had had a secret baby with Pearl Lowe. The girl, named Daisy, was a teenager at the time. Now, the discovery of Daisy was not necessarily what drove Stefani and Rossdale to split—their love affair was on the outs anyway. But, it is clear that learning of the secret baby was apparently too much for Stefani as Rossdale and the No Doubt singer divorced soon after the news made headlines.
10. Pauly D
No stranger to hooking up, Jersey Shore star Pauly D went on to a career as a successful DJ after the show ended. During a gig in Las Vegas, after wrapping up a set, Pauly hooked up with a woman named Amanda Markert. Turns out, before long, Markert learned she was with child. The two went their separate ways and Pauly must have thought his tryst was just one of many that firmly sat in his past. Thing is, Markert became pregnant from the one night stand and told her live-in boyfriend that she was expecting, and he was the father. She only revealed that the DJ/Jersey Shore alum was the true daddy of Amabella much later. Pauly refused to admit the child was his until a paternity test proved otherwise. Now that the child is known to everyone as his, the reality star has taken to fatherhood, saying, “I'm proud I'm a father. I am excited to embark on this new part of my life.”
11. Chuck Norris
The action star did not reveal he had a secret child away from his longtime marriage until he released a tell-all book, Against All Odds: My Story. Chuck Norris admitted to an affair that he had in 1962 that produced a girl named Dina in the autobiography. It was decades after the love child came into the world. When did Norris know? Apparently, he was in the dark about Dina’s existence until she wrote a letter to him in 1991. Once he met her, he didn’t request a DNA test because he felt she looked just like him.
12. Steven Tyler
This secret celebrity baby is probably the most famous and the most successful parent-child spawning on this list. Steven Tyler, lead singer of Aerosmith, was unaware that his brief affair with model Bebe Buell produced a daughter. The little girl had no idea either. The child, Liv, took the last name of Buell’s live-in boyfriend at the time—another rocker, named Todd Rundgren—and that was that. It was Liv who first noticed the physical resemblance to Tyler when she met the Aerosmith singer and his other daughter, Mia. It was then Liv started to put two and two together. She asked her mother about the similarities in their looks and mom fessed up to the truth. Tyler and his daughter would embark on a father-daughter bonding period that was as beautiful as fatherhood can be, and the public would not discover this truth for over five years. It only came to light when Liv legally changed her last name to Tyler.
13. Ludacris
When it comes to hip hop hits and Fast and Furious movies, Ludacris is the man. The “Roll Out” rapper fathered a child, Cai Bella Bridges, with Tamika Fuller. She was born December 9, 2014. The reason this child was on the down low is that Christopher Bridges (his given name) has long been in a relationship with Eudoxie. To quote Ross from Friends , “we were on a break!” is the defense that Luda is putting up, and it seems to have worked because Eudoxie is still his better half. Ludacris was concerned about Cai’s welfare and in early 2015, he went to court and was awarded full custody of the child.
14. Owen Wilson
Owen Wilson has made a career of playing goofball characters with a heart of gold. For those that have met him, that certainly stems from his real-life persona—he reportedly really is quite charming. That is what must have made him irresistible to a married personal trainer named Caroline Lindqvist. Soon after their fling, she discovered she was pregnant. Finn Lindqvist Wilson was born in January 2014 and Lindqvist then earned the title of not only mother, but divorcee. Ever the gentleman, Wilson has been a regular presence in his son’s life, even though he and the baby mama are not close.
15. Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton had a love child while he was married to Pattie Boyd. The rock icon’s affair with Yvonne Kelly produced a little girl, Ruth, in January of 1985. It was not revealed to the world until 1991. Ruth is now in her 30s and has reported a terrific relationship with her father, despite the child’s secretive beginnings.
16. P. Diddy
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P. Diddy (he stills goes by that moniker, right? Or maybe it's just Sean Combs) and his longtime love Kim Porter had a family of their own. In 2007, that all came crashing down. Photographer Sarah Chapman came forward to Diddy with news that their affair had produced a child. How did Porter take it? Well, she was pregnant herself with Diddy’s twin daughters, D’Lila Star and Jessie James. So yeah, not too well. She split from the rapper/mega producer and had her twins in December 2006, only five months after his secret baby, Chance, was born.
17. Clint Eastwood
When a child arrives unplanned, some dads refuse to admit that these kids are theirs, as seen on this list! Case in point is the legendary movie star/director Clint Eastwood. Back in 1964, Eastwood had a fling with dancer Roxanne Tunis. A girl, Kimber, was born later that year and papa Eastwood did not acknowledge her existence until 1996. This is not a one-time thing. Eastwood fathered two children with Jacelyn Reeves, a flight attendant, in the mid-'80s. He didn’t fess up to their paternity until 2002!
18. Chris Brown
Fresh from his troubled relationship with Rihanna, Chris Brown was probably hoping for something a bit more placid with his new love, model Karrueche Tran. Well, that didn’t work out as the two were together, apart, together and apart over several years. Making things more complicated was the fact that the singer cheated on Tran with another model, Nia Gonzalez, and that affair produced a child. Tran learned about the baby when Royalty (born May 27, 2014) was nine-months-old and she had enough, telling Brown to hit the road. At least she wished him well on Twitter, saying, “One can only take so much. The best of luck to Chris and his family. No baby drama for me.” As for Brown himself, he has fully embraced fatherhood and is seen with Royalty everywhere.
19. Oscar de la Hoya
Oscar de la Hoya is considered one of the best boxers in the history of the sport. As such, he’s amassed a massive fortune. When he hooked up with Playboy model Shanna Moakler (who would later marry, then divorce, Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker), their time together would produce a daughter, Atiana de la Hoya. She was born March 29, 1999, but it took until later in 2000 for him to admit to fathering the child. Perhaps that $62.5 million lawsuit from Moakler spurred the admission? They settled out of court. It took some time, but they are all now on good terms. De la Hoya, Moakler and their child all reunited for the blessed day that was Atiana’s graduation from high school in June of 2017.
20. Flo Rida
Alexis Adams and Flo Rida hooked up in December of 2015 and the union resulted in a son, Zohar Paxton. He was born September of 2016, and since then, the baby daddy has refused to cop to the fact that the child was his. Even a DNA test done in December that proved that there was a 99.99% possibility that he was the father has not done the trick. The “My House” singer/rapper still to this day has no relationship with his son.
21. Matthew Knowles
Beyonce dealt with her own infidelity issues head on as she triumphantly sang about the experience on “Lemonade.” It must have been an interesting thing to learn that her father, Matthew Knowles, had cheated on her mother, Tina. The Knowles were married for three decades when Matthew had a secret baby on February 4, 2010 with Canadian actress Alexsandra Wright (Scrubs). The boy, Nixon Knowles, lives with his mother in Los Angeles and has little contact with Beyonce’s dad.
22. Dwayne Wade
Another celebrity, Dwayne Wade, who was “on a break” (like Ludacris, above) has a love child with a woman who would not become his wife. At first, Miami Heat superstar Wade did not want to fess up to the affair, or the child. It appears that meeting Xavier Wade (born November 10, 2013) and the passage of time, plus the forgiveness/acceptance of his now-wife Gabrielle Union, aided the melting of the frost between baby daddy and baby mommy.
23. Steve Jobs
As chronicled in the movie Steve Jobs, the Apple co-founder had a daughter on May 17, 1978 with girlfriend Chris-Ann Brennan. He refused to admit the child was his for years and years. Lisa Brennan-Jobs would later work her way into her father’s heart. He even paid for her to attend Harvard University. She now works as a successful journalist.
24. Dan Marino
Dan Marino is in the Hall of Fame and known as one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game of football. Although he never won the Super Bowl, he has certainly been victorious in the game of life. He is married and has a number of kids. One more child arrived courtesy of an illicit affair he had with CBS sports analyst Donna Savattere, producing a girl, who was born in 2005. The legendary footballer eventually took responsibility for the child, both financially and personally.
25. Ray Charles
Ray Charles' life story was told in the Oscar-winning flick Ray. One thing that was never revealed in that film was his many children born in secret. Sure, his infidelity was front and center in the movie. The truth is, Charles is papa to 12 kids from nine different women. In 2004, two years before he died, he promised each child half-a-million dollars in a trust with the condition that they would never seek more money from his estate. If you’re wondering, seven sought more…
26. Carmelo Anthony
Carmelo Anthony and La La Anthony seemed like a match made in heaven. The New York city-based couple (he was with the New York Knicks and she a reality star and a budding actress) were the toast of the town. Then, rumors spread that the baller had hooked up with a woman, Mia Angel Burks, he had met in a Chicago club, Room Seven. Worse still, she claimed to be pregnant with his child. The baby was born in July of 2017. Since the Anthonys split last year, Carmelo has been seen visiting his child frequently.
27. Liam Gallagher
The lead singer of Oasis, Liam Gallagher, had himself a baby that was a surprise to many. Since 2008, the “Wonderwall” singer had been happily married to All Saints chanteuse Nicole Appleton. That bliss went south in 2013 when Appleton discovered that Gallagher had fathered a child with an American journalist, Liza Ghorbani. Gemma reportedly has never had any kind of relationship with her father. The news only reached the masses when Ghorbani sued Gallagher for $3 million in a Manhattan court, seeking support in raising the child. She won the case, but Gallagher is still fighting.
28. Tom Jones
Legendary lothario Tom Jones has had an army of hits over the decades, most notably “It’s Not Unusual.” He is no stranger to a long line of reported flings, but the one that made the most headlines had to do with him fathering a son, Jonathan Berkery. He refused to admit that Berkery was his until the kid was no longer a child. In fact, Berkery was 20 when Jones finally admitted that his 1987 four-day affair with American Katherine Berkery had in fact resulted in a love child. Even though he gave her a flat payment and agreed to monthly child support, Jones spent two decades denying that Jonathan was his boy.
29. Jesse Jackson
A Civil Rights legend, Jesse Jackson, had been happily married for decades. Then, in 1998 he cheated on his wife with Karin Stafford, a woman who worked for him. Soon after, the Rainbow Coalition founder had a daughter with Stafford and he did everything he could to try to keep his secret baby a secret. When the girl’s mother demanded $12,000 a month and took him to court, Jackson had no recourse other than to reveal the existence of Ashley, now 18, to the world. The two have a solid relationship, and Jackson’s wife, Jackie, has even extended an olive branch to Stafford.
30. François-Henri Pinault
The husband of Salma Hayek husband is French billionaire, François-Henri Pinault. Right before Hayek and Pinault got together, he had a brief relationship with supermodel Linda Evangelista, which resulted in a son, Augustin James Evangelista, who was born in October of 2006. As Pinault was setting out on what would be a soulmate-type relationship with Hayek, Pinault denied that the son was his. He even submitted to a DNA test. Cue that Maury Povich legendary phrase, “You’re the father!” Evangelista and the billionaire came to a settlement agreement to support the child in 2012, but it’s not known if Pinault sees Augustin much, if at all.
31. Busta Rhymes
Even though his love affair partner, Jill Miskelly, produced a DNA test that proved that he was 99.99% the father, Busta Rhymes still refuses to admit publicly that Miskelly’s child is his. However, the rapper does provide child support for Mariah Elizabeth Miskelly, who is now almost 20-years-old.
32. James Marsden
James Marsden had been married for 11 years and had two children when his relationship with his wife fell apart in 2011. After his divorce, Marsden wasted no time getting back into the dating pool, hooking up with Brazilian model Rose Costa for a quick fling in Miami. Indicative of the saying “it only takes one time” to produce a baby, sure enough, Marsden was a daddy again. He kept the pregnancy on the down low for months, only admitting that William Luca Costa-Marsden was his son when he was born in December of 2013.
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