Most folks that keep up with the celebrity gossip mill know all about the famous Jolie-Pitt
family, but there are numerous other stars that have opted to go the adoption route when
building their families as well.
Conventional wisdom would seem to suggest that celebs always have it easy.
They seem to get everything they want without having to bat an eye, but parenthood seems
to be the great equalizer.
A lot of people run into problems when trying to conceive – and there’s nothing wrong
with that.
We all have our struggles.
Not being able to produce children of your own doesn’t make you any less of a person
or parent.
The journey to parenthood presents many unexpected twists and turns.
For a growing number, adoption is the only way for parents who are struggling to conceive
to create the family of their dreams.
Adoption is almost always a very emotional and faith-testing undertaking.
It involves a lot of paperwork and patience.
For many, it takes years for children and their adopted parents to be matched with each
other.
The celebrity parents we're about to cover in this facts-packed video understand these
challenges all too well.
Join us as we take a look at a handful of stars who have had to contend with all of
those background checks and other adoption challenges while forming their happy little
families.
Facts Verse Presents: Celebrities Who Have Adopted Children Into Their Families
Andy Griffith Couldn’t Have Kids For A Surprising Reason
In Ron Howard's recent memoir The Boys, which he penned with the help of his brother and
fellow actor, Clint Howard, the famed director and former child star opened up about his
early years in Hollywood working on the sets of classic television shows like The Andy
Griffith Show and Happy Days.
At one point in The Boys, Howard touched on his relationship with his TV dad Andy Griffith.
According to him, the two were quite close both while working together on their iconic
sitcom and for years after the series came to a close.
Apparently, while on the set of The Andy Griffith Show, Howard was often privy to hearing tidbits
of adult conversations that his young ears weren't quite ready for.
On one of those occasions, he learned that Griffith was unable to father children after
being rendered sterile by a bout with the mumps as a teenager.
While Howard says Griffith's candor was quite admirable, he admits that the subject of sterility
was something that his ‘virgin ears’ had yet to hear about before.
So, on the ride home that evening, Howard's father had to explain the concept in greater
detail.
You can't blame the kid for having questions, right?
Andy married his first wife, Barbara Bray Edwards, in August 1949.
The two went on to adopt two children, a son they named Andy Samuel Griffith Jr, and a
daughter named Dixie Nann.
Griffith and Edwards divorced in 1972.
He later remarried twice, first with a Greek actress named Solica Cassuto, and later with
Cindi Knight, but never had any more children.
Angelina Jolie And Billy Bob Thornton Split Because He Never Wanted Kids
Jolie and Thornton got married in 2000, but just three years later, they split up and
divorced.
According to one of the ‘Bad Santa’ actor’s previous wives, Melissa deBin-Parish, he and
Jolie’s marriage might have fallen apart because he never wanted to have children.
While that claim is somewhat speculative, the timeline seems to fit.
Jolie had always wanted children, and in March of 2002, she somehow managed to convince Billy
Bob to expand their family by adopting a seven-month-old baby girl named Maddox Chivan from an orphanage
in Cambodia.
Just several months later, however, Jolie and Thornton’s marriage was kaputz, thus
making Angelina a single parent.
Just a couple of years later, Jolie was accused of causing the divorce of actors Jennifer
Anniston and Brad Pitt after falling in love with Pitt on the set of the 2005 film Mr.
& Mrs. Smith.
Granted, Jolie denies being a homewrecker and claims that Pitt and Anniston's marriage
was already on the outs.
Regardless of how their relationship began, Angelina and Brad would remain a Hollywood
power couple for the next 12 or so years.
The two made things official after years of living with each other in 2014 and remained
married until 2019.
While they’ve since divorced, the two will always be bound together by their six children
– three of whom are adopted.
Besides Maddox, Brangelina also adopted an Ethiopian girl named Zahara in 2005, as well
as a Vietnamese boy named Pax Thien in 2007.
Lionel Richie Adopted Nicole Richie When She Was 9
In October 1975, Richie married his college sweetheart, Brenda Harvey.
Not long after the two tied the knot, Richie was attending a Prince concert when he saw
a 2-year-old girl onstage playing tambourine.
He then went backstage, where he found the young girl's parents, Peter Michael Escovedo
and Karen Moss.
Both parents worked in the music industry.
Peter's brother was singer Sheila E. and his uncle was Latin guitarist Alejandro Escovedo.
Moss, on the other hand, worked as a stagehand.
After talking with Nicole’s parents, who opened up about their financial problems and
relationship woes, Lionel offered to take Nicole into his care so that they could work
out their issues.
When Nicole was 3, her birth parents decided to take Richie up on his generous offer.
Nicole went to go live with Lionel and Brenda, but it quickly became apparent that her parents
weren't making much progress in sorting out their mountain of problems.
Within a year of living with her as her guardian, Lionel fell in love with Nicole and began
to think of her as his daughter.
When she was 9, Lionel and Brenda decided to make it official by formally adopting Nicole.
While Richie and Harvey would eventually divorce, they both would remain in Nicole's life throughout
all of its twists and turns.
Nicole would eventually find fame of her own when she began her acting career, appearing
alongside Paris Hilton in the hit early-aughts reality TV show The Simple Life.
Unfortunately, her newfound fame and fortune came with its own set of unexpected problems.
Nicole fell into a dark downward spiral of addiction.
She also publicly struggled with eating disorders for a number of years before finally finding
stability once again after becoming pregnant with her first child in 2008.
Even at her lowest points, however, both Lionel and Brenda remained by Nicole's side and never
gave up on her.
She also eventually reconnected with her biological parents – especially her mother, Karen Moss
– and has been on the straight and narrow ever since.
Julie Andrew’s Two Adopted Children
This English actress, author, and singer is one of the most iconic names in Hollywood.
She has garnered countless awards and actors throughout her seven-decade-spanning career,
including an Academy Award, a BAFTA award, two Primetime Emmys, three Grammys, and Six
Golden Globes.
Andrews got her start as a child actress in London’s West End in 1948.
She made her Broadway debut in a 1954 production of The Boy Friend.
Andrews rose to fame by starring in Broadway musicals such as My Fair Lady and Camelot.
Most of our viewers, however, are likely most familiar with her portrayal as the titular
magical nanny in Disney's 1964 musical film Mary Poppins.
The following year she starred in the equally iconic musical film The Sound of Music.
Andrews went on to star in dozens of films, including 1966's Hawaii, 1968s Star!, 1986's
That's Life, and more recently 2001's The Princess Diaries and its 2004 sequel The Princess
Diaries 2: Royal Engagement.
Andrews married her first husband, Tony Walton, in 1959.
In 1962, the couple’s daughter Emma was born.
After divorcing Walton in 1968, she got married to director Blake Edwards.
In the 1970s, the couple adopted two Vietnamese daughters, Amy and Joanna.
Andrews and Walton remained married for 41 years until Blake’s death in 2010.
Diane Keaton Gave Up On Trying To Find A Husband
This actress and director rose to prominence with her performance as Kay Adams-Corleone
in 1972's The Godfather.
She went on to reprise her role in the film's two sequels.
Keaton also was a frequent collaborator with Woody Allen, appearing in films like 1972s
Play It Again, Sam, 1973s Sleeper, and 1977s Annie Hall.
Keaton, now 76, has yet to retire from acting.
In fact, she’s expected to appear in the upcoming film Book Club 2 – The Next Chapter,
which is slated to hit theaters in 2023.
Throughout her life, Keaton has been romantically tied to several of her film collaborators.
From Woody Allen to Al Pacino to Warren Beatty, Keaton has had a number of high-profile lovers,
but despite having nothing but good things to say about all of those men, she's never
been able to find someone that she could see herself settling down with.
In 1996, Keaton adopted a daughter named Dexter.
Five years later, she adopted a son named Duke.
In 2008, People ran an article that shined a light on Keaton’s late-in-life adoption
of children.
In that piece, Keaton was quoted as describing the time before the adoption of her two children
as being ‘years of selfishness’.
She went on to say that she has no regrets about how things turned out.
Jamie Lee Curtis
Iconic horror film star Jamie Lee Curtis and her husband, Christopher Guest, adopted two
children fairly early on in their marriage.
The couple exchanged marriage vows on December 18, 1984, just five months after Curtis saw
Guest's picture in Rolling Stone and telling her friend Debra Hill that she was going to
one day marry him.
Pretty much immediately after getting married, the couple realized that they would be unable
to birth a child due to fertility issues.
The two adopted their first child, Annie, in 1986.
A decade later, they adopted a child named Ruby, who has since come out as transgender.
After adopting their two kids, Curtis dropped her successful film career to take care of
her family.
In recent years, Curtis has expressed her belief that adoption is a ‘sacred exchange’.
She has also been quoted as saying that she is willing to dedicate her life to any child
she adopts.
After adopting Annie in '86, Curtis felt inspired to write a book about the various life-changing
aspects of motherhood.
She further declared that the adoption of her daughter was the most profound event in
her life.
With that, we’ll go ahead and wrap this video up, but before you move on to watching
another one of our facts-packed videos, we’d love to hear from you.
Did you know that Lionel Richie adopted Nicole Richie when she was 9 years old and that the
adoption of their child Maddox likely is what led Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton's
marriage to fall apart?
Let us know in the comments, and feel free to share your other thoughts about adoption
as well.