It goes without saying that there isn’t just one way to grow a family. Some families bear their children biologically. Others utilize the modern miracle of in vitro fertilization. Some choose surrogacy. And many add to their brood through adoption. All are valid and beautiful ways to grow a family, but today we want to focus on adoptive families — specifically, celebrities who’ve adopted.
Due to the highly publicized nature of Hollywood, it’s not uncommon to hear the adoption stories of famous families. Some of these stars are practically synonymous with adoption. We all know (and adore) the blended Jolie-Pitt clan, with three adopted children and three biological children. Madonna’s adoption journey with her Malawian son David and daughter Mercy has been well-documented.
However, other celebrity adoption stories may come as a surprise to you. Did you know that Rosario Dawson adopted a 12-year-old girl in October 2014? Or that in 2015, Cate Blanchett adopted her fourth child, daughter Edith, from the U.S.? “There’s a lot of children out there that don’t have the good fortune of our biological children, so it’s lovely to welcome a little girl,” she said at the time. “We’re besotted.”
Here, we celebrate the stories of celebrities who’ve adopted. Because, well, hearing from them warms our hearts. But also, talking about adoption openly and with reverence (because it is invariably amazing) helps to combat the “soft stigma” surrounding this form of growing a family.
A version of this story was originally published June 2020.
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Willie Garson
Image Credit: Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP Actor Willie Garson, who was perhaps best known for his portrayal of Stanford Blatch on Sex and the City before he passed away recently at age 57, was also a single father of one. He adopted his son Nathen in 2009 when the boy was 7 years old. He spoke to PEOPLE about the decision, saying, “We had a smooth transition because we both wanted this adoption. Fatherhood is what I always wanted it to be.”
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Nicole Kidman & Tom Cruise
Image Credit: Stephen Lovekin/Matt Baron/Shutterstock. Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise adopted two children together while married: daughter Isabella Jane, 27, and son Connor Anthony, 25.
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Denise Richards
Image Credit: Priscilla Grant/Everett Collection. In 2011, Denise Richards adopted Eloise Joni Richards at birth, her third daughter alongside older sisters Sam and Lola Rose. Richards has since opened up about the two-year adoption process and how she’s navigated her daughter’s chromosomal disorder.
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Connie Britton
Image Credit: Kristin Callahan/Everett Collection. Connie Britton adopted son Eyob (now called “Yoby” by Britton) in 2011 from Ethiopia, and has since told Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live that holding her son for the first time felt like a “wonderful moment of completion.”
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Sandra Bullock
Image Credit: Shutterstock Bullock adopted now-8-year-old Louis in 2010 when he was about 3 months old and later adopted Laila, now age 5, when the little girl was 3 years old.
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Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie
Image Credit: Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP/Shutte In addition to their three biological kids, Shiloh and twins Knox and Vivienne, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt adopted children: Zahara, Maddox, and Pax.
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Thomas Rhett & Lauren Akins
Image Credit: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP/Shutte Thomas Rhett and wife Lauren Akins adopted Willa Gray from Uganda in February 2017.
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Charlize Theron
Image Credit: Apega/WENN Charlize Theron adopted her son, Jackson, in 2012, and daughter, August, in 2015.
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Viola Davis
Image Credit: Brian To/WENN. Davis and her husband, Julius Tennon, adopted their daughter, Genesis, in 2011.
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Ewan McGregor
Image Credit: Stewart Cook/Shutterstock McGregor and Eve Mavrakis adopted their daughters from Mongolia: Jamiyan in 2008 and Anouk in 2011.
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Katherine Heigl & Josh Kelley
Image Credit: FayesVision/WENN The couple have two daughters, Nancy and Adalaide, both of whom are adopted.
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Rosario Dawson
Image Credit: FayesVision/WENN Dawson adopted a 12-year-old girl in October 2014.
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Lionel Richie
Image Credit: Nikki Nelson/WENN Richie adopted his now-famous daughter, Nicole, when she was 4 years old.
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Mary-Louise Parker
Image Credit: Joseph Marzullo/WENN Parker adopted her daughter, Ash, from Africa in 2007.
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Hugh Jackman & Deborra-Lee Furness
Image Credit: WENN. Hugh Jackman and his wife, Deborra-Lee Furness, have two adopted children, Oscar and Ava, pictured here in 2009.
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Madonna
Image Credit: FayesVision/WENN. Madonna has two adopted children, David and Mercy, who were both born in Malawi.
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Michelle Pfeiffer & David E. Kelley
Image Credit: NINA PROMMER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstoc The couple adopted daughter Claudia Rose, 27, and also share a biological son named John, now 25.
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Cate Blanchett & Andrew Upton
Image Credit: Richard Young/Shutterstock Cate Blanchett and husband Andrew Upton share three biological sons Dashiell, 18, Roman, 16, and Ignatius, 12, and adopted daughter, Edith in 2015.
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Harrison Ford & Calista Flockhart
Image Credit: Rob Latour/Shutterstock Flockhart adopted her son, Liam, when he was an infant back in 2001.
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Sheryl Crow
Image Credit: FayesVision/WENN Sheryl Crow adopted her sons Wyatt in 2007, and Levi in 2010.
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Kristin Davis
Image Credit: Brian To/WENN. The Labor of Love host adopted her daughter, Gemma Rose, in 2011 and in 2018, adopted a baby boy, Wilson.
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Meg Ryan
Image Credit: Joseph Marzullo/WENN Meg Ryan adopted her daughter, Daisy, from China in 2006.
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Nia Vardalos
Image Credit: Nicky Nelson/WENN Vardalos and her husband, Ian Gomez, adopted their daughter, Ilaria, seven years ago.
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Diane Keaton
Image Credit: John Salangsang/Shutterstock Diane Keaton adopted daughter Dexter in 1996 and son Duke in 2001.
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Mariska Hargitay
Image Credit: IZZY/WENN Hargitay and her husband, Peter Hermann, adopted Amaya and Andrew in 2011.
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Steven Spielberg & Kate Capshaw
Image Credit: Greg Allen/Invision/AP/Shutterst Steven Spielberg has seven children—four biological: Max Spielberg (from his former marriage to actress Amy Irving), Sasha, Sawyer, and Destry Spielberg (from his current marriage to Kate Capshaw); two adopted children, Theo and Mikaela Spielberg; and one stepdaughter, Jessica Capshaw.
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Julie Andrews
Image Credit: LAURENT LAURENT VU/SIPA/Shutters Julie Andrews adopted two daughters, Amy and Joanna, in 1974 and 1975.
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Hoda Kotb
Image Credit: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP/Shutte The Today show anchor Hoda Kotb adopted a baby girl, Haley Joy in 2017 and two years later adopted her second daughter, Hope Catherine.
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Christopher Guest & Jamie Lee Curtis
Image Credit: Erik Pendzich/Shutterstock The actress has two adopted children with husband Christopher Guest: daughter Annie, 33, and son Tom, 24.
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Sharon Stone
Image Credit: Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP/Shutte “Motherhood didn’t come easily, but it came lovingly to me by angels,” Stone said while accepting the Mother of the Year Award in 2017 at the Associates For Breast and Prostate Cancer Studies Mother’s Day Luncheon.
When Stone was married to her then-husband Phil Bronstein, the couple tried to get pregnant but because of an autoimmune condition that made it difficult for Stone to carry a pregnancy to term, the couple decided to adopt.
In 2000, they adopted now 20-year-old son Roan — and after her divorce, the Basic Instinct star adopted sons Laird Vonne in 2005 and Quinn Kelly in 2006.
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