These Celebrity Parents Welcomed Kids Through Adoption

It’s widely known that Angelina Jolie has committed her life to the humanitarian work she began in Cambodia in 2001. It wasn’t until 2002 that Jolie would make headlines after she adopted her first son, Maddox, from Cambodia. Jolie intended to adopt Maddox with her then-husband Billy Bob Thornton, but the couple abruptly separated only three months after making the announcement. Next came Jolie's relationship with Brad Pitt, and the alleged affair that shook Hollywood to its core. Jolie would soon adopt Zahara from Ethiopia and Pax from Vietnam, with Pitt later adopting them. The couple, who have since divorced, are also parents to three biological children together, Shiloh and twins Knox and Vivienne. 

When asked about her journey as a parent, it's hard to get a word out of Charlize Theron. The notoriously private actress adopted Jackson in March 2012 and another daughter, August, in July 2015.

Theron credits her interest to adopt as a part of her childhood dream. While being interviewed by Diane von Furstenberg for her podcast InCharge with DVF, Theron explained how keen she was to adopt at a young age. "My mom has a letter that I wrote her when I was eight years old, and in the letter, I ask her if we could for Christmas go to an orphanage to adopt a brother or sister for me." In 2019, Theron told The Daily Mail that Jackson, then seven years old, is a transgender girl. She expanded on her daughters and parenting by stating, "They were born who they are, and exactly where in the world both of them get to find themselves as they grow up, and who they want to be, is not for me to decide."

It wasn’t until 2011 that actress Kristin Davis adopted her daughter Gemma, and she would later adopt her son Wilson in 2018. For Davis, the concept of adoption hit close to home due to her stepfather, Keith Davis, adopting her as a child when he married her mother. Both of her children are African American, and in 2021, Davis appeared as a guest of Jada Pinkett Smith’s Facebook series, Red Table Talk. While on the show, Davis spoke to the difficulties of raising Black children as a privileged white mom and included several lessons she is still learning while she moves forward as parent.

While Sandra Bullock was married to motorcycle builder and Monster Garage host Jesse James, the couple had begun the process of adopting her son Louis from New Orleans, Louisiana, in 2010. That same year, several women came forward as James' alleged mistresses, which ultimately destroyed Bullock's marriage and made her the focus of a widespread media frenzy. Bullock proceeded with the adoption as a single parent, and in 2015, Bullock adopted her daughter Laila out of foster care in Louisiana. She has been quoted in interviews as giving credit to Louis for encouraging her to adopt his future sister. 

Rosario Dawson was 35 years old when she adopted her then 11-year-old daughter, Isabella. This adoption story is slightly different than how some of her Hollywood colleagues became parents. Dawson's family knew Isabella's biological mother, and when they found out she was in foster care, Dawson reacted swiftly to adopt her. The actress shared more about her experience raising a teenager when she was featured on the cover of Health in 2021.

"To have a young person move in with you and to have to really consciously work through triggers and that kind of stuff is a really different thing than being pregnant and having your baby grow up in front of you — to be able to see how we're getting closer and closer. We are a family, and it's beautiful."

Everyone's favourite television mom, Connie Britton, became a mom in real life during a transitional period. She welcomed son Yoby from Ethiopia in 2011 after a three-year adoption journey. Britton moved to Nashville to star in the show Nashville when Yoby was only nine months old. The actress has described the difficulty of moving to a city as a single parent without a support system.

In 2021, she reflected on this time during an interview with Hemispheres magazine, when she explained, "[Nashville] was a very ambitious, difficult show. It was extremely long hours, I was a brand-new mother, and I had no support system in Nashville. So, at least initially, I would say being a mother mostly taught me grit, frankly. And to rely on myself and my instincts. So I do think that being a mom has brought that out even more in my work — and in everything, really."

Unless you follow her adventures on TikTok, you might not be immediately aware that Rosie O’Donnell is a mom of five children. She adopted her eldest son Parker back in 1995 when she was dating her then-girlfriend, Kelli Carpenter. The former couple has three children together,  Chelsea, Blake and Vivienne, who joined their family via artificial insemination. Carpenter and O’Donnell divorced in 2004. The actress and talk show host would meet her next wife, Michelle Rounds, in 2011 and expand her family when they adopted her youngest child, Dakota. Sadly, the couple split in 2015, and two years after their divorce, Rounds tragically took her own life.

The O’Donnell family continues to grow now that the children have become parents. In 2018, her eldest daughter Chelsea welcomed O’Donnell’s first grandchild.

Powerhouse Madonna has six children, including her two biological kids, Lourdes and Rocco. After suffering from birth complications when she gave birth to Rocco, Madonna, who was determined to expand her family and path to motherhood, decided she would adopt. However, the pop star faced serious backlash when she adopted her son David from Malawi in 2006. In a 2013 interview with Harper's Bazaar, she explained, "I didn't know that trying to adopt a child was going to land me in another shit storm. But it did. I was accused of kidnapping, child trafficking, using my celebrity muscle to jump ahead in the line, bribing government officials, witchcraft, you name it. Certainly, I had done something illegal!"

Since then, Madonna has committed to helping the children of Malawi, later welcoming three new children into her family, including Mercy and twins Estere and Stella.

Like many strong and independent women, Sheryl Crow struggled with her want for children as an unwed, single person. The stigmas attached to women who choose to raise children on their own felt like the only thing holding her back from getting started. It wasn't until her mother encouraged her to seek motherhood without worrying about what anyone else would think. The singer adopted her two sons — Wyatt in 2007 and Levi in 2010 — and never looked back.

She opened up about the adoption experience during an episode of the Making Space with Hoda Kotb podcast, where she gave great credit to her mother for helping her kick start this journey by stating, "The story I was telling myself limited what I thought I could have until somebody stepped in and said, 'Wait a minute, your story doesn't have to look like your mom and dad's story.'"

In addition to being the stepmother of husband Julius Tennon's two children from a previous marriage, actress Viola Davis welcomed daughter Genesis in 2011 via adoption. Davis spoke in detail about raising Genesis when she was interviewed by People magazine in 2019. Among the many pieces of wisdom, Davis has passed down to Genesis, her thoughts on raising a daughter who loves herself for who she is particularly stand out. "I empower her to understand that she has to count it all as joy. Even her mistakes, her failures, her triumphs, what she looks like, all of it. That's all a part of her loving herself, even if none of those things change."