Celebrity Single Moms Who Do It All Without a Partner

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Celebrity Single Moms Who Do It All Without a Partner

Mother knows best! Celebrities — including Amber Heard, Mindy Kaling and Charlize Theron — are proud to be single parents to their adorable little ones. While balancing careers in Hollywood, these famous ladies started their families solo, are bringing up children on their own and making it look easy. In July 2021, Heard announced that she’d decided to go through the surrogacy process and welcomed her first child, daughter Oonagh Paige Heard, by herself. “I’m so excited to share this news with you. Four years ago, I decided I wanted to have a child. I wanted to do it on my own terms. I now appreciate how radical it is for us as women to think about one of the most fundamental parts of our destinies in this way,” she wrote via Instagram. “I hope we arrive at a point in which it’s normalized to not want a ring in order to have a crib. A part of me wants to uphold that my private life is none of anyone’s business. I also get that the nature of my job compels me to take control of this. My daughter was born on April 8, 2021. Her name is Oonagh Paige Heard. She’s the beginning of the rest of my life.” Fellow stars were quick to share their congratulations with the Aquaman actress. “Congratulations. It’s absolutely the best part of life,” Andie MacDowell wrote. “Congratulations ❤️,” added Jason Momoa. [jwplayer VEvJPYZm-zhNYySv2] Kaling also chose to embrace motherhood on her own. In December 2017, she welcomed her daughter, Katherine. Less than three years later, the mother-daughter duo’s little family grew when baby brother Spencer was born in secret during the coronavirus pandemic. Nevertheless, the Office actress has always made it clear that she has assistance when it comes to raising her children. “I’m in a privileged position because I have help, you know, and I know that’s not the case for all American women,” Kaling told Us Weekly exclusively in May 2019. “I’m a single mom, but I have the means to have help. … I work incredibly hard. It’s like, work hard, play hard. I definitely work more hard than I play hard. And so I think that’s not bad. I think that I have never gotten anything easily and that’s OK!” Two years later, the actress said during an event that "being a single mom is not for everyone," explaining, "We have this, like, little strange little house of intergenerational, interracial people that are coming in and out to take care of everything." Scroll to see more celebrity moms who are rocking single motherhood without a partner:: [podcast_block]

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Madonna

Though she shares daughter Lourdes and son Rocco with ex-husband Guy Ritchie, the "Like a Prayer" singer determined that her family had room to grow. She adopted son David from Malawi in 2006 and she returned to the African nation to adopt daughter Mercy in 2009 and twins Esther and Stella in 2017.

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Lucy Liu

The Charlie's Angels star welcomed son Rockwell in August 2015 via gestational carrier. Liu did not share the sperm donor's identity, but she doesn't feel she is raising her little boy alone.

"I don't really raise [Rockwell] by myself," she told CBS in 2016. "I have a lot of friends and a group of people who help me. It's important to ask for help. If you can manage on your own, that's fine, but people shouldn't feel that they have to be alone while doing it."

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Meg Ryan

The romantic comedy queen and Dennis Quaid welcomed Jack Quaid in 1992, but the couple split in 2000 after nine years of marriage. In 2006, Ryan expanded her family by adopting daughter Daisy (born in October 2004) from China.

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Diane Keaton

The Annie Hall actress became a mom at age 50 when she adopted for the first time. She brought home daughter Dexter in 1996 followed by son Duke in 2001. "My life went a certain way and suddenly I was 50 with no purpose and I wanted a family," she told Ladies' Home Journal in 2008. "In some ways my children are lucky because I'm much less self-involved now. But they know they have this older parent, and that must be odd for them."

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Sharon Stone

The Basic Instinct star first adopted son Roan Joseph Bronstein in 2000 with ex-husband Phil Bronstein, but the couple finalized their divorce in 2004. Stone went on to adopt two more sons as a single parent, welcoming Laird in 2005 and then Quinn in 2006.

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Edie Falco

The Emmy Award winner adopted son Anderson in 2005 and daughter Macy in 2008. "At that time I was single and the idea to adopt came to me," Falco told Anderson Cooper in a 2012 interview. "I just knew at a certain point it was time to raise kids."

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Jean Smart

“Being a single mother is the hardest thing I've ever done,” the Hacks star said at the February 2022 SAG Awards of raising her youngest son, Forrest, without late husband Richard Gilliland, who died in March 2021.

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Amber Heard

Heard welcomed her first daughter, Oonagh, in July 2021.

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Mindy Kaling

Kaling spoke of single motherhood during a 2021 event, saying that she is “only able to do it” with the help of a full-time nanny and her retired dad. 

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Charlize Theron

The Mad Max: Fury Road actress adopted her son, Jackson, in 2012 and her daughter, August, in 2015. “I always knew I would adopt. Always,” the Oscar winner told Australia’s Madison magazine. “You know, I don’t think any mother aims to be a single mom. I didn’t wish for that, but it happened.”

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Connie Britton

The Friday Night Lights alum announced in 2011 that she adopted a son, Yoby, from Ethiopia, without a partner. “I didn’t think I’d have a baby on my own,” she told Ladies' Home Journal. “Even after a long, difficult day, coming home and being with Yoby just washes any stress away.”

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Sandra Bullock

While The Blind Side actress began the adoption process for her son, Louis, while she was married to Jesse James, the couple split acrimoniously in April 2010 and she continued on as a single parent. She later adopted a daughter, Laila, in 2015. “Whatever comes our way, we handle as a family,” she told Vogue. “It’s not just me anymore." Bullock began dating Bryan Randall in 2015.

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Denise Richards

The former model is mom to daughters Sam and Lola with Charlie Sheen. After her divorce from the Anger Management actor, she adopted another little girl, Eloise, solo. “Some people think if a celebrity wants a baby, they get one the next day. The adoption took two years, and there were many times I felt discouraged,” she told Us Weekly of completing her family. She married Aaron Phypers in 2018.

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Elizabeth Hurley

“I am a single parent and he is a single child of a single parent so we have a very close bond in that respect,” The Royals star told News.com.au of her son Damian (born 2002), whose father, producer Steve Bing, did not play a big part in his upbringing. 

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January Jones

The Mad Men alum gave birth to her son Xander in September 2011, but she’s remained steadfastly mum on the identity of the father. “I knew I would be raising my son alone,” Jones told The Edit, “I was excited about it.”

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Minnie Driver

“It is really challenging to be by yourself, to be the bread-winner, to make sure your child is having a complete and lovely childhood — and it’s all on you, sort of, on the day-to-day,” she’s said of being a single mom to her son Henry. The Good Will Hunting actress kept her son’s father a secret for several years, until finally revealing his identity as Timothy Lea, a writer on her now-defunct FX series The Riches. 

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Padma Lakshmi

The Top Chef host revealed in her memoir that when she first became pregnant with her little girl Krishna in 2009, she didn’t who know her daughter’s father was. She later found out the dad was venture capitalist Adam Dell. “I was raised by a single mom. I was told I couldn’t have children, so every day I am kissing the sky with happiness about it,” she said of raising Krishna on her own.

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Sheryl Crow

After the “Soak Up the Sun” singer split from fiancé Lance Armstrong because he didn’t want more kids, she decided she could do it by herself. Crow adopted son Wyatt in 2007 and another son, Levi, three years later. “I am the quintessential single working mom,” she told Parade. “All of my decisions are based around what’s best for my kids."

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Kristin Davis

Just like her Sex & the City character, Charlotte, the actress decided to adopt to fulfill her dream of becoming a mom. Davis adopted her daughter, Gemma Rose, in 2011. 

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Taraji P. Henson

The Empire star unexpectedly became a single mother to son Marcel when his father, William Johnson, was murdered in 2003. “I think we try to do our best. And yes, we can do it all, but I wouldn’t wish being a single parent on my worst enemy,” she told Redbook. “It is not easy.”