Quite the clan! Eddie Murphy has welcomed 10 children over the years — and he’s spoken highly about each member of his blended brood.
“I am so blessed with my kids. I don’t have one bad seed,” the Saturday Night Live alum said during a March 2021 appearance on Marc Maron’s “WTF” podcast. “I don’t have any like ‘Oh, you are the one.’ I don’t have any of that. My kids are so great, normal people — and nobody is like the Hollywood jerk kid.”
The New York native added that his offspring served as a compass for him over the years, helping him choose projects that were right for him.
“The whole idea of being out there and doing three movies a year, that s— is over … along the way, I realized that if you put your children first you never make a bad decision,” the comedian shared. “When you hit a crossroads moment or you have got some s—, you think, ‘Well, what is best for my children?’ If you go that route, then you never make a bad decision.”
Murphy became a father for the first time in July 1989 when his then-girlfriend Paulette McNeely gave birth to their son, Eric. The comedian then welcomed two more children within the next 16 months — daughter Bria in November 1989 with Nicole Mitchell and son Christian in November 1990 with Tamara Hood.
The Nutty Professor star married Mitchell in March 1993 and the pair became proud parents to five children, including Bria, over the course of their relationship: son Miles, born in November 1992, and daughters Shayne, Zola and Bella born in October 1994, December 1999 and January 2002, respectively. In August 2005, Mitchell filed for divorce, citing “irreconcilable differences.” The duo finalized their split the following April.
The Golden Globe winner moved on with former Spice Girl Mel B after his divorce. When the England native became pregnant in 2006, Murphy insisted on a paternity test. Mel B gave birth to Angel in April 2007 and a subsequent test confirmed that the Dreamgirls actor was the child’s father.
Despite some drama at the beginning of their coparenting journey, the Emmy winner and the “Spice Up Your Life” musician have spoken highly of each other over the years.
“He’s such a loving, caring, respectful person,” the “Tell Me” singer said of Murphy during a December 2018 appearance on Steve Harvey’s syndicated talk show. “It took a while to get there because we broke up not in the happiest circumstances.”
The Trading Places actor expanded his family further in May 2016 when he welcomed daughter Izzy with model Paige Butcher, whom he began dating in 2012. The duo — who got engaged in September 2018 — also share son Max, born in November 2018.
Murphy has joked about his plentiful progeny in the past.
“Men kind of look at me like, ‘He’s crazy. How much did that s—t cost?’ And women, it’s kind of, like, something sexy about it, I think. ‘Eddie Murphy must be doing his thing. Eddie Murphy be getting it in,’” the Mark Twain Prize recipient joked during a December 2019 appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, adding, “I like it. I’m happy with it.”
Scroll through to see Murphy’s 10 children:
