Stars Who Grew Their Families Through Adoption

Families are built in many ways.

For some celebrities, adoption became the path to parenthood. Some adopted as single parents. Some adopted with partners. Some adopted internationally. Others expanded families that already included biological children.

Here are celebrities who have publicly shared that they adopted children.

1. Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie is one of the most widely known celebrity adoptive parents.

She adopted Maddox from Cambodia, Zahara from Ethiopia, and Pax from Vietnam. Jolie also has three biological children: Shiloh, Knox, and Vivienne.

2. Brad Pitt

Brad Pitt became an adoptive parent through his family with Angelina Jolie.

Pitt adopted Maddox and Zahara after Jolie’s earlier adoptions, and Pax later became part of the family as well. Their family includes three adopted children and three biological children.

3. Madonna

Madonna adopted four of her six children from Malawi.

Her adopted children are David Banda, Mercy James, and twins Stella and Estere. The twins were born in Malawi and Madonna adopted them in 2017, after already having two other adopted children from Malawi.

4. Sandra Bullock

Sandra Bullock adopted two children, Louis and Laila.

She became a mother when she adopted Louis in 2010 and later adopted Laila, who had been in foster care in Louisiana. She completed her family with Laila’s adoption in 2015.

Bullock has often spoken about motherhood with warmth while also protecting her children’s privacy.

5. Charlize Theron

Charlize Theron is the mother of two adopted daughters, Jackson and August.

Theron adopted Jackson in 2012 and August in 2015, and she has spoken about adoption as her primary path to parenthood. She has always viewed adoption as her path to motherhood.

She has been clear that adoption was not a backup plan. It was the way she wanted to build her family.

6. Hugh Jackman

Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness adopted two children during their marriage.

Their children, Oscar and Ava, were adopted after the couple experienced fertility struggles. Oscar was born in 2000 and Ava in 2005, and both were adopted by Jackman and Furness. Jackman and Furness have generally kept their children’s lives private.

7. Nicole Kidman

Nicole Kidman adopted two children, Isabella and Connor, during her marriage to Tom Cruise.

Kidman and Cruise adopted Isabella shortly after her birth in 1992. Kidman and Cruise adopted Isabella Jane Cruise and Connor Cruise during their marriage. Kidman later had two daughters with Keith Urban, but Isabella and Connor remain part of her public family history.

8. Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise adopted Isabella and Connor during his marriage to Nicole Kidman.

Both children were adopted while Cruise and Kidman were married, and their family story has been part of public celebrity coverage for decades.

9. Sharon Stone

Sharon Stone adopted three sons.

She became a mother in 2000 when she and then-husband Phil Bronstein adopted Roan. She later adopted Laird in 2005 and Quinn in 2006. Stone has often spoken about motherhood as one of the most important parts of her life.

10. Calista Flockhart

Calista Flockhart adopted her son Liam in 2001.

Liam was born in San Diego and adopted by Flockhart in 2001, before she married Harrison Ford. Ford later became an important father figure in Liam’s life.

Flockhart’s story is a clear example of single-parent adoption before marriage.

11. Viola Davis

Viola Davis and her husband, Julius Tennon, adopted their daughter Genesis.

Davis and Tennon adopted her in 2011. Davis has spoken often about family, motherhood, and raising her daughter with confidence and love.

12. Kristin Davis

Kristin Davis adopted two children as a single parent.

The Sex and the City actress adopted her daughter Gemma Rose in 2011 and later adopted her son Wilson. She is the mother of two children and Gemma Rose was adopted in 2011. Davis has also spoken about the responsibility of transracial adoption, making her story especially important to write with care.

13. Katherine Heigl

Katherine Heigl and her husband, Josh Kelley, adopted two daughters.

The couple welcomed daughter Naleigh through adoption in 2009 and later adopted daughter Adalaide in 2012. Naleigh joined the family through adoption and Heigl and Kelley later grew their family with Adalaide and son Joshua.

Heigl has said adoption was always meaningful to her, partly because her own sister was adopted from South Korea.

14. Hoda Kotb

Hoda Kotb adopted two daughters, Haley Joy and Hope Catherine.

She announced Haley Joy’s adoption in 2017 and adopted Hope Catherine in 2019.

Kotb’s story has resonated with many viewers because she became a mother later in life and has spoken about adoption with gratitude and openness.

15. Sheryl Crow

Sheryl Crow adopted two sons, Wyatt and Levi.

Crow adopted Wyatt as a newborn in 2007 and later adopted Levi in 2010. Crow has said motherhood changed her priorities, and she has often chosen family time over a full-time touring schedule.

16. Diane Keaton

Diane Keaton adopted two children, Dexter and Duke, later in life.

She adopted Duke in 2001, while Keaton adopted both children in her 50s, with Dexter joining the family in 1996 and Duke in 2001.

Since her death in 2025, she was a devoted single mother.

17. Lionel Richie

Lionel Richie adopted Nicole Richie with his then-wife Brenda Harvey Richie.

Lionel and Brenda officially adopted Nicole when she was 9. Nicole later became a public figure herself through television, fashion, and media, making this one of the most famous celebrity adoption stories where the adopted child also became well known.

18. Michelle Pfeiffer

Michelle Pfeiffer adopted her daughter Claudia before marrying David E. Kelley.

Pfeiffer later had a son with Kelley, making adoption part of her family story before marriage. Pfeiffer has generally kept her family life private.

19. Meg Ryan

Meg Ryan adopted her daughter Daisy from China.

Ryan also has a son, Jack Quaid, from her marriage to Dennis Quaid. Her adoption story has been publicly covered for years, but Ryan has generally kept her family life private.

20. Mariska Hargitay

Mariska Hargitay and Peter Hermann adopted two of their three children.

The couple has three children: August, Amaya, and Andrew. Hargitay gave birth to August in 2006, and she and Hermann later adopted Amaya and Andrew within six months of each other.

Hargitay has spoken about gratitude, older motherhood, and building a family in more than one way.

21. Ty Burrell

Ty Burrell and his wife, Holly, adopted two daughters.

The Modern Family actor became a father through adoption while playing one of TV’s most famous dads.

22. Jillian Michaels

Jillian Michaels became a mother through adoption and birth around the same time.

She adopted her daughter Lukensia from Haiti, and her then-partner gave birth to their son Phoenix shortly afterward. Her family story is often included in celebrity adoption coverage because it shows two paths to parenthood happening close together.

23. Jamie Lee Curtis

Jamie Lee Curtis and Christopher Guest adopted two children, Annie and Ruby.

Curtis has spoken publicly about motherhood and family over the years. Her family story is also known because Ruby publicly came out as transgender, and Curtis has spoken about supporting her daughter.

24. Rosie O’Donnell

Rosie O’Donnell has grown her family through adoption.

O’Donnell is the mother of several children, and adoption has been part of her family story for decades. She has spoken publicly about motherhood and family life many times over the years.

25. Connie Britton

Connie Britton adopted her son, Eyob, from Ethiopia.

The Friday Night Lights and Nashville actress became a single mother through adoption and has spoken about how motherhood changed her life.