For celebrities, it’s important to have someone to carry on the family legacy. Most of the time, this comes from having biological children.
But that’s not always an option for certain celebs, so they turn to adoption. Other celebs see adoption as a way to give someone a better life and opportunities that they might not have had anywhere else.
Wondering which celebrities have adopted children? Here’s a roundup of our favorite celebs and their awesome adopted children!
Tom Cruise & Nicole Kidman
When you think about Tom Cruise’s kids, the first one that comes to mind is probably his biological daughter with Katie Holmes, Suri Cruise. But back when Cruise was married to Nicole Kidman, they adopted Connor and Isabella. After Cruise and Kidman divorced, she went to Australia while the adopted children chose to remain in Los Angeles with Cruise.
Maybe these kids will have some insight into whether Cruise does his own stunts around the house. Or is that only for those tentpole action movies?
Katherine Heigl
Every celeb has their own motivation for adopting children. For Knocked Up star Katherine Heigl, it was very personal. She grew up with an adopted sister from South Korea, and it inspired her to adopt in the future.
Because of this, Heigl and her husband have actually adopted two children. They adopted daughter Nancy from South Korea back in 2009. And in 2012, they adopted Adalaide from the United States. They also have a biological son, Joshua, born in 2017.
Ty Burrell
Some celebs really take to adopting. This is certainly the case with Modern Family star Ty Burrell. He adopted his daughter Frances in 2010. Then in 2012, he and his wife Holly adopted another daughter, Greta. With a family this diverse and inclusive, it looks like the real “modern family” is the one waiting for him at home!
Hugh Jackman
X-Men star Hugh Jackman has been married to Deborra-Lee Furness for two decades. The two of them always intended to have biological children, but they eventually discovered this would be impossible.
Because of this, the couple turned to adoption. They adopted their son Oscar in 2000 and their daughter Ava in 2005. They now have a perfect little family together.
“I don’t think of them as adopted – they’re our children,” Jackman told the Herald Sun in 2011. “Deb and I are believers in… I suppose you could call it destiny. We feel things happened the way they are meant to.”
Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s life looked complicated enough back when they got together, prompting Pitt’s divorce from Jennifer Aniston. But Jolie’s love of adoption soon made things more complicated… or, at the very least, more crowded!
Keep in mind that Pitt and Jolie have three biological children together: Shiloh and twins Knox and Vivienne. On top of those kids, the celebrity couple has adopted Maddox from Cambodia, Zahara from Ethiopia, and Pax from Vietnam.
The sheer size of that family is guaranteed to keep them busy. But we suspect Jolie and Pitt wouldn’t have it any other way.
Viola Davis
Viola Davis can be a pretty intimidating actor. We know this thanks to her killer performances in movies like The Help. Later, she expressed her regret for her role in that movie and how it pushed white narratives rather than amplifying the voices of maids from that time period. But one thing she will never regret is adopting her daughter Genesis Tennon back in 2011.
Lionel Richie
Lionel Richie adopted Nicole Richie at a young age. And these two have a more complex story than many parents and children on this list.
Nicole Richie is actually the daughter of Peter Michael Escovedo, who was part of Lionel Richie’s band. When her biological parents started going through some issues, Nicole moved in with Lionel Richie when she was only three years old. Six years later, he officially adopted her.
Madonna
Madonna is both world-famous and a world traveler. So perhaps it’s not a surprise that she adopted four children from the African country of Malawi: David in 2006, Mercy in 2009, and twins Esther and Stella in 2017.
Denise Richards
Denise Richards has stayed quite busy as an actor, but she has also managed to stay quite busy as a parent. When she was married to Charlie Sheen, they had two biological children together: Lola and Sam. But after Richards and Sheen got a divorce, Richards adopted her daughter Eloise with the intention of raising her as a single mother.
And while Eloise may not have Charlie Sheen’s notorious “tiger blood” or “Adonis DNA,” she and Richards seem quite happy together.
Mariska Hargitay
Mariska Hargitay is most famous for her role on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. When she’s not catching bad guys on screen, she’s raising children off-screen. In addition to her biological son (August) with Peter Hermann, she has adopted two children: Amaya and Andrew.