By Hive media
| Published 8 minutes ago
Having children is one of the biggest decisions a person can make in their life. However, sometimes people may not be ready to have kids and make the tough decision to put that child up for adoption.
Although giving up a baby for adoption may be a painful process for some, it’s good to know that the child will be going to a family that desperately wants one. While there are celebrities such as Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt that are known for adopting children, there are other celebrities that have put a child up for adoption at some point. Let’s check them out.
Kate Mulgrew Didn’t Want To Marry The Father
Leon Bennett/WireImage
Actress Kate Mulgrew is best known for her roles as Captain Kathryn Janeway in Star Trek: Voyage and as Galina “Red” Reznikov in the hit series Orange is the New Black. She became pregnant in 1977, right as her soap opera career on Ryan’s Hope was about to take off.
She didn’t want to marry the father of her child at the time, so she thought that the second best option for both her and her new daughter was to put her up for adoption. After her daughter was adopted, the two didn’t see each other again for 24 years.
Hank Williams Sr. Died Just Five Days After His Daughter Was Born
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Hank Williams Sr. is considered to be one of the most influential country musicians to ever step foot on stage. His daughter, Jett, was born out of wedlock just five days before Hank passed away of heart failure at the young age of 29.
Jett was then legally adopted by Hank’s mother Lillian Stone. When Lillian passed away just two years after adopting Hank’s daughter, Jett was then adopted by a family living in Alabama. That’s quite the change of hands for a young Jett.
Clark Gable Wouldn’t Admit He Was The Father
George Hurrell/John Kobal Foundation/Getty Images
Clark Gable was a renowned actor who won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1934 for his work on the film It Happened One Night. While he was married to his second wife Rhea Langham Davis, he was having an affair with the actress Loretta Young. As a result of their affair, Loretta gave birth to a girl named Judy Lewis in 1935.
The two placed a baby in an orphanage until Loretta came back 19 months later and adopted the child. Gable never admitted he was the father, and Judy went on to become a successful actress.
Patti Smith Didn’t Have Many Options
Peter Pakvis/Redferns
Influential musician Patti Smith was 19 years old and working a factory job in New Jersey when she became pregnant. While pregnant, her parents sent her away to a foster home in order to hide her pregnancy from the neighbors who would have judged the family for Patti having a baby while unwed.
Once she had the child, her only option was to put the baby up for adoption which she did. She was never reunited with her child.
Rod Stewart Gave His First Of Eight Children Up For Adoption
Michael Loccisano/Getty Images
British rock star Rod Stewart gave up his first of eight children up for adoption when he was 17 in the 1960s. When he found out that his art student girlfriend named Susannah Boffey gave birth to a girl named Sarah Streeter they both knew that there was no way that the two could care for a child, so they put her up for adoption.
Sarah reconnected with Stewart in the 1980s although the two didn’t develop a real relationship until meeting again in 2007. Stewart says that it still hurts him to think about.
David Crosby Played With His Son In A Band
Paul Marotta/Getty Images
Late Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member David Crosby was involved in some of the most influential bands of the 1960s and ’70s such as the Byrds and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. Crosby put his son Raymond up for adoption back in 1962 although the two reunited in 1994.
As it turns out, Raymond is an excellent musician and played with Crosby on stage as well as in the studio in Crosby’s band CPR. Now that’s quite the adoption story.
Dirk Benedict Was 30 When He Learned He Had A Son
Jeff Overs/BBC News & Current Affairs via Getty Images
Dirk Benedict is best-known for acting in Battlestar Galactica, and didn’t know that he had a son John Talbert, until he was 30 years old. Apparently, John was born in 1968 and his mother put him up for adoption without telling Benedict about the pregnancy, let alone the birth of their son.
John discovered who his biological father was after asking his adopted parents about his mother, who then told him about Benedict. Although Benedict was completely surprised by the news, he accepted that John was indeed his son.
Andy Kaufman Never Got To Meet His Daughter
Joan Adlen/Getty Images
Funnyman Andy Kaufman is a well-known comedian and prankster. He appeared numerous times on Late Night With David Letterman and always made sure to leave his mark. He had a daughter, Maria Bellu-Colonna, with his high school girlfriend in 1969. The extremely young couple were in no position to take care of or raise a child, so she was put up for adoption.
Unfortunately, she never got to meet her biological father, as he passed away from lung cancer in 1984. However, she was reunited with her biological mother, grandfather, and uncle.
Mercedes Ruehl Later Adopted A Son
Matthew Eisman/Getty Images for Hamptons International Film Festival
Oscar-winning actress Mercedes Ruehl gave up her son Christopher for adoption at a much older age than most people usually assume. She was 28 years old and claimed that she didn’t have the “the emotional development or the economic capability” to raise a child. By the time Christopher was 21, he was reunited with his mother.
Then, in 1995, Ruehl adopted a child for herself named Jake. It’s not clear, but maybe it was a way of setting the balance after giving her biological son up for adoption.
Jay Thomas Wasn’t Ready To Put Aside His Potential Acting Career To Be A Father
Steve Eichner/Getty Images
Actor and comedian Jay Thomas is known for his work on Cheers, Mary Brown, and his iconic Late Night story about the Lone Ranger. When his acting career was just taking off, his girlfriend became unexpectedly pregnant.
The couple struggled to figure out what to do or whether they should get married or not. Eventually, they decided to put their baby son up for adoption as the final solution. Although it took a few decades, Thomas was reunited with his son in 2007.
Lucille Ball May Have Been Keeping A Secret
Weegee(Arthur Fellig)/International Center of Photography/Getty Images
In 2014, it was revealed that Lucille Ball of I Love Lucy gave up her daughter for adoption back in 1947. This news came about after a young woman named Cassandra Carlson claimed that she is Lucille’s granddaughter. The claim was that Lucille and Desi Arnaz were hiding such a secret would have shattered the two’s public image.
Carlson’s mother, Madeline Jane Dee, was born just four years before the premiere of I Love Lucy, something that may not have happened if the public ever discovered their supposed secret.
Jack Wagner Was Reunited With His Daughter After 23 Years
Paul Archuleta/Getty Images
Jack Wagner is known for acting on the hit show General Hospital. However, he was shocked to learn in 1988 that he had a newborn daughter. He claimed that he knew nothing of the pregnancy and that it was the result of a one night stand.
The girl was placed up for adoption by the mother although Wagner had mixed feelings about the entire situation. After 23 years, Wagner was eventually reunited with his long-lost daughter once again.
Peter Michael Escovedo Personally Asked Lionel Richie To Adopt His Daughter
Timothy Norris/Getty Images
Nicole Richie is most known for her reality television show The Simple Life, co-starring Paris Hilton. Her last name is also Richie, after the musician Lionel Richie. Her biological father is Peter Michael Escovedo, who asked Lionel Richie if he could adopt his daughter and raise her when she was just 3 years old.
After some years, Escovedo and his wife claimed that they could no longer support Nicole. So, Richie and his then-wife Brenda Harvey legally adopted Nicole when she was 8 years old.
Sinead Cusack
Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Wife to Jeremy irons, actress Sinead Cusack revealed in 2007 that she was indeed the biological mother of Irish politician Richard Boyd Barrett. She had given him up for adoption in 1968 for fear of being judged for being an unmarried mother in Ireland in the 1960s.
Cusack managed to reunited with her son back in 2004. Yet, even better, she has been seen at his side on his various campaigns on multiple different occasions.
Joni Mitchell Searched For Her Adopted Daughter Publicly
Michael Putland/Getty Images
Joni Mitchell is a Grammy Award-winning musician, most known for her music in the 1970s. When she became pregnant when she was 21, she was in a tough position because she was unwed and also hadn’t had any success in the music industry yet.
She was in dire financial straits and didn’t think that she would give the child a proper life. She put the baby up for adoption in 1965 and was reunited with her daughter, Kilauren Gibb, in 1997 after publicly looking for her.
Roseanne Barr Wasn’t Financially Ready
Desiree Navarro/WireImage
Roseanne Barr became pregnant with a daughter when she was just 18 years old. While she initially had hoped to keep the child, she soon realized that she was not financially suited to take care of the baby on her own.
While she was pregnant, she lived in a Salvation Army home for unwed mothers and gave her daughter up for adoption in 1971. However, the two were reunited 17 years later and her daughter Brandi worked as a production assistant on the set of Roseanne.