Although most of us see only the glamour of celebrity lives, the star-studded ceremonies
we watch from our couches mask the difficult decisions many famed people have to face.
From a man who never knew of his baby boy to a little girl who disappeared without a
trace, here are eleven celebs who gave their kids up for adoption:
11.
Roseanne Barr - This comedian was born in November of 1952 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
She’s known for acting in films like She-Devil from 1989.
However, her more popular work has been making people laugh.
She began her career by doing stand-up gigs and eventually became famous through her television
series Roseanne from 1988 to 1997, in which she played the part of mother and wife in
a typical American family alongside fellow actor, John Goodman.
Roseanne Barr is lesser known for her real-life family.
She was in a car accident at just sixteen years old and stated that she was experiencing
medical problems due to brain damage from the crash.
So, she was placed in an institution.
After leaving the hospital, before her career took off, she had a child in 1970 at the age
of seventeen.
She placed the little girl up for adoption because she didn’t have the monetary means
to take care of a baby.
But seventeen years later, Roseanne Barr reunited with her daughter, Brandi Brown, after a tabloid
discovered the then-teen.
10.
Ted Nugent - This American musician was born in Redford, Michigan in 1948.
He’s known widely for his initial fame playing lead guitar for The Amboy Dukes, a one-hit-wonder
rock band known for their 1968 song, “Journey to the Center of the Mind.”
Ted Nugent split off from the group to pursue his career and released several albums including
Cat Scratch Fever in 1977 and Shutup & Jam in 2014.
He’s also known for writing several excerpts for magazines like the New York Times.
Nugent is not only known for his talent as a guitarist, however.
This father of about seven children has been in the news several times regarding the kids
he and former girlfriends had put up for adoption.
Around 1970, Nugent had a baby boy and girl.
The two discovered their father about forty years later, and it made the news in 2010.
His daughter’s name is Louisa Savarese.
She tracked down the rockstar, visited him in Texas, and they’ve kept in touch ever
since.
The son’s name is Ted Mann, who was adopted immediately by a Catholic woman named Mary
Mann.
At forty-two, after receiving a call about Nugent, Ted Jr. took a trip to his biological
father’s ranch.
The two hit it off right away and made plans for future visits.
9.
Patti Smith - Most people know this woman for her career as a rock singer and artist
who worked poetry into her music for a unique take on the genre.
She released several albums including Horses in 1975 and Banga in 2012.
Her most widely known song is one she co-wrote with Bruce Springsteen, called “Because
the Night.”
Although her musical prowess has won her plenty of recognition, Smith is also known for placing
her first baby up for adoption.
In April of 1967, during the time she was working at a factory, she became pregnant
and didn’t have the means of taking care of a child.
So, she made the difficult decision in hopes that her daughter would lead a better life
than what she could offer.
After giving birth, Patti Smith went on to achieve her dreams as a rockstar.
She eventually had a son and a daughter with guitarist, Fred “Sonic” Smith, whose names
are Jackson and Jesse respectively.
Although she and her first daughter were never reunited, Patti has stated that she doesn’t
regret the choice she made but did say that giving her away was a heartbreaking thing
to do.
8.
Jack Wagner - Born Peter John Wagner II, this actor is known for his roles in soap operas
like General Hospital, in which he played Frisco Jones, and Melrose Place, in which
he starred as Dr. Peter Burns.
He’s done some musical work as well, having released albums such as 1993’s Alone in
the Crowd and Dancing in the Moonlight in 2005.
But, this celeb has also received media attention for more personal matters.
In 1988, Wagner received a phone call from a woman he had relations with about nine months
prior.
She told the star that she just gave birth to a little girl and that he was the father.
She let him know that she decided to put the newborn up for adoption because she wasn’t
able to raise a child.
Wagner wasn’t sure what to do.
He later stated that he had contacted an attorney to figure out what his options were, but that
the situation was out of his hands.
However, hope wasn’t lost for this surprised father.
Twenty-three years later, Wagner was shocked again when he met his child for the first
time.
While performing during a concert in 2011, a girl he’d never seen before ran up and
embraced him.
He was pleased to find out that she was his long-lost daughter, Kerry.
The two ended up spending a five-day cruise together after their initial meeting to learn
about each other’s lives.
Jack and Kerry became close, and they’re happy to have finally connected.
7.
Kate Mulgrew - This actress is widely known for her role as Red in the Netflix original
series, Orange Is the New Black.
She has also played parts in other shows like Star Trek: Voyager from 1995 to 2001.
However, this star has made news because of her family life as well.
When Mulgrew was still young and beginning her career as a television actress on the
show Ryan’s Hope, she was shocked to find out she was pregnant.
Luckily, the star didn’t have to quit her job because the creator of the show changed
the story to include her pregnancy.
Nevertheless, once the baby was born in real life, Mulgrew decided adoption was her only
option.
She didn’t have the means to keep the little girl, and she had no family or a partner to
support her.
The actress stated it was a life-changing decision to make, but it had to be done.
But, luck befell the star in 1998 when she ran into the nun who was present during her
baby’s adoption.
After struggling to get any information about the child’s whereabouts, she was finally
able to get ahold of the registration forms.
Soon after, Mulgrew and her daughter, Danielle, met for the first time and have been inseparable
ever since.
6.
Flavio Briatore - This businessman began his career as a restaurant manager in Italy.
He faced many charges for fraud in his thirties that earned him a couple of prison sentences,
which he ultimately avoided by fleeing to the Virgin Islands.
Aside from his not-so-upstanding status, this Italian bad-boy made news in 2003 because
of his relationship with the famous model, Heidi Klum.
Their liaison didn’t last long after she told Briatore she was pregnant later that
year.
After the couple broke up, Klum started dating her now-ex-husband, Seal, and gave birth to
Leni in May of 2004.
The model stated that Briatore never played much of a role in her daughter’s life.
After giving birth to three more children with Seal, he officially adopted Leni so that
she would share the same last name as her siblings.
Briatore agreed to the adoption without any argument, saying that he and Leni used to
talk over the phone every day, but the physical distance between them took a toll on their
relationship.
The two eventually stopped keeping in touch after Seal became her father legally.
5.
Sinead Cusack - People recognize this Ireland-born celeb for her acting career.
She is known for her work in films like 2005’s V for Vendetta and Eastern Promises in 2007.
However, this star has also made headlines for a decision she had to make fifty years
ago.
When she was just nineteen years old, she became pregnant.
Cusack gave the boy up for adoption shortly after giving birth in 1968.
Thirty years later, she reached out to the adoption agency to find her son’s whereabouts.
She managed to get in touch with him and discovered he was a politician in their home country.
His name is Richard Boyd Barrett.
He has stated that their reunion was very heartwarming and that he and Cusack got along
very well.
At the time, he was in the running for one of the Dun Laoghaire constituency seats.
His biological mother began helping him with his campaign, but he ultimately lost the election.
Nonetheless, the two have remained in touch since their first meeting!
4.
Duane Lee Chapman - This bounty-hunting tough-guy made himself known through the reality television
show Dog the Bounty Hunter, in which the world watched him and his family take down outlaws
one-by-one in Hawaii.
The show ran from 2003 to 2012 gaining him a fan-base.
He published an autobiography in 2007, titled You Can Run But You Can’t Hide, and went
on to write another book, called Where Mercy Is Shown, Mercy Is Given, which released in
2010.
This well-rounded star also got attention for something that happened back in his teens.
When he was in high school, Chapman dated a girl named Debbie White.
She became pregnant and gave birth to a boy, named Christopher Michael Hecht.
Sadly, White took her own life, and her son was put up for adoption.
Duane had no idea that Debbie had his child until years later.
After Christopher grew up, his grandmother got in touch with the bounty hunter to inform
him of his adult son.
Once he found out, Chapman maintained contact with him.
Unfortunately, Christopher led a troubled life, struggled with addiction, and ended
up in jail numerous times.
In 2014 his father got him into a rehabilitation center, which hopefully turned his life around.
3.
Joni Mitchell - This Canadian singer and songwriter is mostly known for her musical career.
Her 1971 album, titled Blue, has been referred to as one of the best records of all time
by Rolling Stone and The New York Times.
She’s won several Grammys for her work such as the Lifetime Achievement Award she received
in 2002.
However, Joni Mitchell also got a lot of publicity when the story about her daughter’s adoption
came to light in 1993.
At the time of her pregnancy, Mitchell was living in Toronto.
She was away from her family and making hardly any money through her folk-singing gigs.
After she gave birth, she named the little girl Kelly Dale Anderson and put her up for
adoption.
Kelly found a family at just six months old, and they gave her the name Kilauren Gibb.
Mitchell wrote several songs inspired by her daughter, but it would be years until the
two met.
Kilauren didn’t find out she was adopted until she was twenty-seven years old.
She began searching for her mother immediately, and the two reunited five years later.
Their meeting caused an uproar from the media, resulting in a negative outcome.
Gibb claimed Joni had attacked her and they lost communication.
As of 2014, the two had apparently begun speaking again, but have remained off the radar.
2.
Rod Stewart - This superstar singer and songwriter was born in London and is best known for his
numerous hit records.
He’s released albums from the late 1960s to 2010s including Gasoline Alley, Blondes
Have More Fun, and Another Country.
He’s won several awards and was even listed as one of the “greatest singers of all time”
by Q Magazine and Rolling Stone.
But Rod Stewart is also known for his rekindled relationship with his daughter, Sarah Streeter.
When he was just a teenager, he and Susannah Boffey had the little girl, and they gave
her up for adoption, thinking it was the best idea.
They were both still young, and Susannah’s father didn’t approve of the pregnancy,
so they didn’t feel as if they had a choice.
But, years later the two reunited and Stewart introduced her as his eldest daughter backstage
at a concert.
Sarah and her father have remained in touch and continue making up for a lot of the time
they lost during the years they were apart.
1.
Albert Einstein - Who hasn’t heard of this German-born genius?
We all know of his scientific work, like the development of the theory of relativity and
his creation of the formula for mass-energy equivalence, or E=mc^2.
He made numerous leaps in the world of science and research, and was awarded the Nobel Prize
in Physics in 1921.
People even use his name as an adjective for other intelligent people!
But, there may be some things you don’t realize about this brilliant man.
Albert Einstein gave one of his children up for adoption in the early 1900s.
He and his first love, Mileva Maric, had a child in 1902.
She gave birth to the little girl at her parents’ house in Serbia after hiding the pregnancy
from friends and family for the entire nine months.
The baby’s name was Lieserl, and the truth of what happened to her is unknown, just that
Einstein and Maric didn’t raise her.