Celebrity Parents Open Up About Giving Their Children the Sex Talk

Credit: CAROLINE BREHMAN/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Celebrity Parents Open Up About Giving Their Children the Sex Talk

Sex ed is in session! Even celebrity parents have to have the awkward birds and the bees discussion with their children — and many have gotten candid about how it went. In September 2018, Kristen Bell exclusively told Us Weekly about how she and Dax Shepard planned on being transparent with their daughters, Lincoln and Delta. “We decided when we had kids to be very, very honest with them and never to sort of spin a fairytale, even if it’s about hard subjects,” Bell explained at the time. However, when it came to the chat about where babies come from, the conversation did not go as the couple had originally planned. “We said, ‘Well, mom has a vagina, and dad has a penis and there’s sperm, and an ovum and then they connect and it makes a baby,” she recounted. “Truly, by the second sentence, they had walked outside.” Alyssa Milano, for her part, could not wait to have the discussion with her children, Milo and Elizabella, whom she shares with husband David Bugliari. “I love it all. I’m ready,” she dished to Us in August 2018. “I’m ready! I would do it now if they asked.” [jwplayer XZbreQO6-zhNYySv2] Another star who hasn’t shied away from the topic is Gwyneth Paltrow. In an interview with Entertainment Tonight in October 2021, the Goop founder — who shares daughter Apple and son Moses with ex-husband Chris Martin — encouraged parents to be truthful when broaching the subject with their kids. "I will always just encourage my children to really listen to themselves, listen to their instincts, listen to if something feels right and to act from that place,” the Iron Man star said at the time. “I try always to be neutral on the topic. I think my generation, we got a lot of messages around sex that made us feel bad about it. I try to just be curious. And teenagers are never going to want to talk to their parents about sex ever, so I sort of follow their lead. Luckily, in middle school they had a very thorough sex education, so the school handled the birds and the bees parts, and then I am there for any questions. But the questions are pretty minimal." While appearing on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in October 2021, Paltrow recounted an interaction she had when her son Moses initially found out that her company sells vibrators. While her son was “embarrassed” at first, he ultimately came around. "A few months ago, he said … 'I realized, no, this is great. You're making people feel not embarrassed to buy something, and that's great. You're a feminist,’” the actress recalled to the host. Keep scrolling for more celebrity parents' confessions about having the sex talk with their children:

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Alyssa Milano

The Charmed star exclusively told Us in August 2018 that she was far from dreading having the talk with her children. 

“I love it all. I’m ready,” she divulged.  I’m ready! I would do it now if they asked.”

The actress added: “And for me, I think it’s raising kids that are socially aware and conscious. But still have childhoods and aren’t completely terrified from the moment they wake up until the moment they go to sleep like their mother.”

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Kristen Bell

The Good Place actress exclusively told Us that she and her husband’s attempt at having the sex talk with their daughters didn’t go as planned. 

“We said, ‘Well, mom has a vagina, and dad has a penis and there’s sperm, and an ovum and then they connect and it makes a baby,” she shared in September 2018. “Truly, by the second sentence, they had walked outside.”

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Melissa McCarthy

During an October 2022 interview on Glennon Doyle's podcast, “We Can Do Hard Things,” the Bridesmaids star mentioned that she had the sex talk with her daughter, Vivian, whom she shares with husband Ben Falcone. The Gilmore Girls alum noted that she wound up broaching the subject with Vivian while the two were picking up after their dog in their backyard, joking that it was “really a wonderful time.”

"Vivi just goes, 'Oh dear God, is this happening?' And I was like, 'There's different parts of bodies be it ... uh,' but at least I was just like, let me be awkward and get through it,” she recalled of the moment.

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Brooke Shields

The model opened up about the time she had to have the talk with her oldest daughter Ronan, who is currently in college, after she googled “how to make a baby.” The Pretty Baby star and her husband Chris Henchy share two daughters Ronan and Grier.

“And I say to her, ‘Listen, If you can’t say penis or you can’t talk about sex… then you can’t watch these R-rated movies you want to watch,” Shields said in an interview with Fox News in February 2017. “They’re not as prepared as they think they are, so I broach it all the time.”

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Elizabeth Banks

While appearing on the Late Show With Stephen Colbert in October 2021, the “My Body, My Podcast” host recommended not lying about the matter. 

“If they ask, it’s because they're curious and they’re age appropriate,” Banks said at the time. “You should tell them straight up what it is. If you say ‘stork,’ then later on they're going to ask, ‘What else does she lie to me about?’ Because they're going to figure out soon enough it ain’t storks.”

The Pitch Perfect alum has two sons, Felix and Magnus, with whom she shares with husband Max Handelman.

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Jada Pinkett Smith

In June 2018, Pinkett Smith — who shares daughter Willow and son Jayden with husband Will Smith — dedicated an entire episode of her talk show, Red Table Talk, to the subject of sex. The Scream 2 star is also stepmom of Smith’s son Trey, whom he shares with ex Sheree Zampino.

“People are like, ‘Oh do you think that’s appropriate for Willow?’ I’m like, 'Hell yeah, that’s appropriate for Willow,’” the actress, who cohosts the show with her daughter and her mom, Adrienne Banfield-Norris, exclaimed during the episode. “Is it life? If I have to sit up here and tell her that she has to be careful in these streets because of all the harms that may come to her because she’s a young woman, I’m damn sure not leaving out the good stuff.”

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Gwyneth Paltrow

The Oscar-winning actress opened up about how crucial it was for her to be honest with her children when it came time to have the talk.

"I will always just encourage my children to really listen to themselves, listen to their instincts, listen to if something feels right and to act from that place,” she said to Entertainment Tonight in October 2021. “I try always to be neutral on the topic. I think my generation, we got a lot of messages around sex that made us feel bad about it. I try to just be curious. And teenagers are never going to want to talk to their parents about sex ever, so I sort of follow their lead. Luckily, in middle school they had a very thorough sex education, so the school handled the birds and the bees parts, and then I am there for any questions. But the questions are pretty minimal."