Health

These Celebrity Moms Had Babies In Their 40s

Maybe you’ve been busy with a fulfilling career or maybe you didn’t meet Mr. Right until you were in your upper thirties. Whatever the reason, you may now be getting nervous about your chances of having a baby.

By Jessica Marie Baumgartner3 min read
There's Still Hope: These Celebrity Moms Had Babies In Their 40s

Luckily, there’s still hope. Everyone’s body is different and thanks to an abundance of healthy foods, clean drinking water, and better fertility care, women can have healthy pregnancies well into their forties. There are plenty of celebrity moms who make a perfect example. 

There’s Still Hope 

A lot of women in their thirties and forties are realizing that the idea of waiting to have kids has its drawbacks. The desire to find love and share that joy with the next generation grows stronger as we age. 

A social bias against family and tradition has led many to feel conflicted over their biological maternal inclinations. It’s taken its toll on birth rates for sure. But love knows no limits. 

If you’re feeling cheated or alone, there are plenty of people out there who feel the same way. A majority are just afraid to openly speak about this because they fear betraying their ideologies or friends, or they’ve bought into the absurd idea that only rich people can afford to raise children.

The desire to find love and share that joy with the next generation grows stronger as we age. 

The good news is that starting a family is still possible later in life. And trying to have a baby with the one you love — on purpose — is magical. It may be harder at times, but if we’re clear in our goals and desires, we can embrace our maternal rights.   

Famous Moms Who Got Pregnant in Their 40s

If you’re seeking some happy endings to inspire your own story, look no further. These celebrity moms had babies in their forties and rocked their bumps proudly.  

Alanis Morissette had her third baby at age 45.

At 45, Morissette had given up on her dream of having three kids. But a surprise pregnancy let her dream come true.

In an interview with Self magazine, the singer felt that after "challenges and some miscarriages," she didn't know if having a third child would be possible.

She describes the moment she found out she was pregnant as a "complete freak-out-joy-freak-out moment."

Salma Hayek had her daughter at age 41.

Salma says 41 was the perfect age for her to have her first child. "It's a little nerve-racking to wait that long, but it's the best time to have it because you've done so many other things in your life. You just get it out of your system, and you can really relax into being a mother, which is the best thing that can happen to you," she says. "If you're 23, you don't know this because you think you have to do so many more things. But if you already did them, then you can really focus and enjoy every minute of it."

Halle Berry had her first baby at age 41 and her second at 46. 

Berry had a hard time getting pregnant with her first child, saying she saved the 35 negative tests she took before finally conceiving her daughter at 41.

“I’m sort of superstitious, so I saved all of the negative [pregnancy] tests in a drawer,” Berry revealed on the Oprah Winfrey Show. “Don’t ask! I don’t know why, but I did. … After about 35 tests, we finally got a positive test.”

Her second pregnancy at 46 was a surprise, but a welcome one. "This has been the biggest surprise of my life, to tell you the truth. Thought I was kind of past the point where this could be a reality for me. So it's been a big surprise and the most wonderful."

Julia Stiles had her second baby at age 40.

Jennifer Love Hewitt had her third baby at age 42.

Hewitt found out about her third pregnancy in the cutest way possible. As she told People, one night she and her kids were watching TV when an ad for a pregnancy test came on, and "out of nowhere" her son suggested she get the test "in case there's a baby in your belly."

"I was like, 'How rude! I just ate a big dinner. What is he talking about?'" Hewitt said. But she decided to take a test anyway, and... surprise!

Hewitt and her husband welcomed their third child, a boy, this year.

Eva Mendes had her first baby when she was 40 and her second at age 42.

Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling are notorious about keeping their personal lives private, so the pair kept Mendes' first pregnancy in 2014 a secret until after their daughter Esmeralda was born.

"Whether we like it or not, privacy is going to be very difficult for Esmeralda. I think it’s unfair, but that’s our reality. So, Ryan and I decided early on to give her as much privacy as we could. And, my pregnancy was the first opportunity to give her that," Mendes explained in an interview.

The couple had a second daughter, Amada, in 2016.

Uma Thurman had her third baby when she was 42.

Janet Jackson had her baby at age 50.

Jackson believed she would never have children because “every doctor told me it wasn’t possible. But I’ve got a beautiful, healthy son. He’ll be 10 months old,” she said in an interview after the birth of her son in 2017.

On her son's third birthday, she shared a loving message on Instagram, saying "Three years ago today God blessed me, at the age of 50, with the greatest gift of all. My baby!”

Julianne Moore had her second baby at 41.

Closing Thoughts

Plenty of women find motherhood later in life. Whether it goes the way they planned or not doesn’t matter. What matters most is the love they have for their children and that they were able to start families. 

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