- More and more women are choosing to become mothers later in life.
- Whether through IVF, adoption, surrogacy, or natural conception, these celebs became moms after 40.
- Gisele Bündchen, 44, is pregnant with her third child.
More children are being born to mothers over the age of 40.
The birth rate for women between the ages 40 to 44 increased by 4% between 2021 and 2022, per a 2022 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, while the birth rate for women 45 and older increased by 0.9% from 2021, the first time that rate had changed since 2015.
There are plenty of reasons women are waiting longer to have kids, including the high costs of childcare, their careers, advancements in fertility treatments like IVF or alternate methods such as surrogacy, health reasons, holding out for the right partner, or deciding to do it on their own.
These celebrities have joined the increasing number of women who, whether by carrying their own child, adopting, or using a surrogate, became mothers over 40.
Munn and Mulaney were first spotted together in early 2021 after the comedian got out of rehab that February. In September 2021, Mulaney revealed their pregnancy news on “Late Night with Seth Meyers.”
“I got into this relationship that’s been really beautiful with someone incredible who has dealt with the non-coked up Bambi version of me,” he said. “And that’s been very incredible, and she’s kind of held my hand through that hell, and we’re having a baby together.”
TMZ reported that Munn, now 44, gave birth to a baby boy that November.
She’d previously spoken to Hoda Kotb about impending motherhood on the “Today” show, saying, “I feel good. I feel scared, I feel nervous, and I’m excited.”
In September 2024, Munn and Mulaney announced the birth of their daughter, Méi, on Instagram. This time around, they used a surrogate, as Munn underwent an oophorectomy and hysterectomy after getting diagnosed with breast cancer in 2023.
Swank announced her pregnancy in October 2022. In April 2023, Swank posted a sunset photo with her twins on Instagram, revealing she’d given birth to a son and a daughter, Ohm and Aya.
“It wasn’t easy. But boy (and girl!) was it worth it,” she wrote, adding that she was posting “from pure Heaven.”
These are her and her husband Philip Schneider’s first children.
Hilton announced the news in a Twitter (now X) post on January 25, 2023. “You are already loved beyond words,” she wrote, accompanied by a photo of her and her son’s hand.
People reported that her son, Phoenix, was born via surrogate. “It’s always been my dream to be a mother and I’m so happy that [husband] Carter [Reum] and I found each other,” Hilton told People. “We are so excited to start our family together and our hearts are exploding with love for our baby boy.”
Ten months later, the heiress announced the birth of her daughter, London, on Instagram. Not only did she surprise her followers with the news, she surprised her family as well.
“Everyone thought, like, a magician was coming. Like, we have a performer coming in, so everyone’s all excited,” Hilton said during an appearance on “Live with Kelly and Mark.” “I walk in just holding a pink blanket with the baby, and everybody was sitting there like, ‘What?'”
During a May 2022 interview with Variety, Williams low-key revealed that she was expecting her third child (second with husband Thomas Kail) by the end of 2022.
“It’s totally joyous,” she said. “As the years go on, you sort of wonder what they might hold for you or not hold for you. It’s exciting to discover that something you want again and again is available one more time. That good fortune is not lost on me or my family.”
Williams was spotted by The Daily Mail on a walk with her newborn in October 2022.
Williams, 44, gave birth to her first child, Matilda, in October 2005. Matilda’s father was Heath Ledger, who died in 2008. Williams then welcomed her second child, Hart, with Kail in June 2020.
The actor, who also has a 10-year-old son with ex-husband James Heerdegen, welcomed her daughter in December 2021 when she was 41. The little girl is the first child for Ricci and her husband, Mark Hampton.
“Baby Cleo is here,” Ricci wrote on Instagram on December 8, 2022, alongside a video of the newborn. “We are so in love with her.”
It was first reported that Wiig had become a mom in June when she hosted the “SNL At Home” episode for Mother’s Day in 2020, in which she thanked her mom for “preparing me to be a mom myself.” People reported that Wiig and her now-husband, Avi Rothman, had welcomed twins via surrogate that January.
When she returned to host the 2020 Christmas show, she confirmed the news during her monologue, saying that while it had been an “icky” year, it hadn’t been all bad because she had twins.
Jackson, now 58, announced she was pregnant in October 2016. The singer had previously halted her tour in April that year so she and her then-husband, Wissam Al Mana, could focus on “planning our family.”
She gave birth to her son, Eissa Al Mana, in January 2017.
“For someone like me, raised in show business where self-concern is always a priority, how fortunate I am now to be concerned, first and foremost, with the welfare of someone else. Day after day and night after night, holding my baby in my arms, I am at peace. I am blessed. I feel bliss. In those moments, all is right with the world,” she told Billboard.
Diaz revealed she and her husband, Good Charlotte front man Benji Madden, had welcomed a daughter. Baby Raddix was reportedly born in December 2019.
“Happy New Year from the Maddens! We are so happy, blessed, and grateful to begin this new decade by announcing the birth of our daughter, Raddix Madden. She has instantly captured our hearts and completed our family,” Diaz, now 52, wrote on Instagram in a since-deleted post.
“While we are overjoyed to share this news, we also feel a strong instinct to protect our little one’s privacy. So we won’t be posting pictures or sharing any more details,” she continued.
In March 2024, Madden announced the birth of their son, Cardinal, on Instagram. “He is awesome and we are all so happy he is here! For the kids’ safety and privacy, we won’t be posting any pictures — but he’s really cute,” he wrote.
Bullock’s personal life has been frequently scrutinized, including her decision to adopt Louis in 2010 — while she was in the midst of her very public divorce from Jesse James.
“We spent so much time in New Orleans after Katrina, and one day, it was just a feeling that came that instead of bringing another life into this world, we wanted to reach out and find our child in New Orleans,” Bullock told People in 2010.
In 2015, Bullock, now 60, announced she had adopted another child, her daughter Laila, also from Louisiana. “My family is blended and diverse, nutty, and loving and understanding,” Bullock told People. “That’s a family.”
Davis adopted her daughter, Gemma, in 2011 and a son, Wilson, in 2018. The “Holiday in the Wild” star opened up about being a white mother to two Black children during an emotional “Red Table Talk” interview in 2019.
“Because my children are African American, I feel like it’s my duty and my job to do as much research, as much work, build as many bridges as possible because you are their community,” said Davis, who is now 59, on “Today.” “I work at that every day trying to figure out how I can make sure they have access to the Black community, that they’re part of it, that they’re not separated from it.”
Morissette had her first son in 2010 when she was 36 years old. She then welcomed two more kids, Onyx and Winter, in 2016 and 2019, respectively.
“I think this pregnancy is different from the first two times because of my ability to sense what’s going on inside my body in a lot more of a subtle way,” Morissette, now 50, told Self in 2019. “I’m one of those women who actually enjoy being pregnant.”
Grace, now 65, broke the news in 2007, telling The New York Post, “I never thought it would happen like this. I thought ‘mother’ and ‘wife’ was just not part of God’s plan for me.” She gave birth to Lucy and John in November of that year.
Linney, now 60, never publicly confirmed her pregnancy, opting to wait until her son, Bennett, was born. “I was an older mother-to-be, and it had taken me a very, very long time to have a child, so I wanted to make sure that my child actually arrived, and was safe and healthy,” she explained in 2016 during an appearance on “Live with Kelly.”
The couple announced the birth of their son, Arthur, on Instagram in March 2021.
Baccarin, who is now 45, wrote on Instagram: “2021 is looking up. Welcome to the world Arthur. Trust us, you haven’t missed much yet.”
The couple welcomed their first child together, daughter Frances Laiz Setta Schenkkan, in 2016 and got married the following year. Baccarin also shares a son with her ex-husband.
Madonna, now 66, has six kids total. The “Madame X” songstress became a mom for the first time in 1996, when she gave birth to Lourdes at 38. Four years later, she welcomed her son Rocco with then-husband Guy Ritchie at age 42.
In 2006, the singer, then 48, adopted another son, David, from Malawi, per the BBC. Three years later, she adopted another child from Malawi, her daughter Mercy. In 2017, she adopted twins, Estere and Stella, also from Malawi, according to The Guardian.
Parker, now 59, gave birth to her first child, her son James, in 2002. Seven years later, a 44-year-old Parker and her husband, Matthew Broderick, announced the birth of their twin daughters, Marion and Tabitha.
“She’s made a really big choice to be part of our lives and I think she’s an honorable person,” said Parker to People of her family’s surrogate.
Stefani, now 55, had two other sons, Kingston and Zuma, when she welcomed her youngest son, Apollo, in 2014.
“But having children, it’s really interesting to watch them and have the responsibility of trying to make them good people. Parenting is terrifying, but it’s also so incredible and rewarding,” she said to Parents.
https://www.businessinsider.com/celebrities-who-became-moms-after-40