17 Celebrity Moms Who Are Single by Choice

Since news first broke that Mad Men star January Jones was expecting her first child, the actress has remained tight-lipped about the identity of her now 10-year-old son Xander's father. But she has been very outspoken — especially lately! — about not needing a partner to raise her little boy.

"It's good to have strong women around a man," the 44-year-old told Red magazine. "To teach him to respect women. He doesn't have a male person in his life saying 'don't cry' or 'you throw like a girl.' All those s-—-y things dads accidentally do."

Miss Congeniality star and Academy Award winner Sandra Bullock is mom to two adopted children, daughter Laila and son Louis. Sandra feels like her family of three was always meant to be.

"When I look at Laila, there's no doubt in my mind that she was supposed to be here," she told People. "I can tell you absolutely, the exact right children came to me at the exact right time."

Mad Max star Charlize Theron always wanted to adopt, telling Australian magazine Madison in 2012, "My mother found [a letter I wrote]. It said, 'Would you please take me to an orphanage so that I can go and adopt a baby?'" I always knew I would adopt. Always."

Now mom to adopted daughters Jackson and August, Charlize also shared, "You know, I don't think any mother aims to be a single mom. I didn't wish for that, but it happened."

Good Will Hunting star Minnie Driver gave birth to her son, Henry, in 2008, but the actress didn't reveal his father's identity until 2012.

"We weren't together and he wasn't directly in the business, so I chose to protect him and not have a rain of publicity," she told the Observer at the time. "He's not famous. There's no big story." At the time, Minnie admitted that he had increased his involvement in their son's life, but she's still credited with being a predominantly single mom.

Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi welcomed her daughter, Krishna, in February 2010, but at the time, she didn't reveal the identity of her little girl's father. Reports later confirmed that venture capitalist Adam Dell is both the reality star's ex and Krishna's dad, but Padma has been vocal about embracing single motherhood, telling the New York Post in 2015: "It's the only way of life I've known. 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."

Mindy Kaling welcomed her first baby — a girl named Katherine — in December 2017. "It's so unknown to me," she told Willie Geist. "I have a lot of control over a lot of aspects of my life, and this is one where I'm like, 'Okay, it's out of my hands,' which is kind of a fun feeling."

Since then, Mindy has welcomed another child — a son named Spencer — and has maintained that she will not reveal anything about her family's journey until her children are old enough to consent to that information being shared.

Musician Sheryl Crow famously split from ex Lance Armstrong in 2006 when it turned out that the two weren't on the same page about marriage and having kids. The "Soak Up the Sun" singer went on to adopt two boys, Wyatt and Levi, in 2007 and 2010, respectively.

Mary Louise Parker shares her eldest son, William, with her ex Billy Crudup, but the Weeds actress adopted her daughter, Ash, on her own in 2007.

"I finally just decided, 'Okay, I'm going to do this, and it's going to be really hard because I'm single, and I'm going to do it anyway," she told People in 2009.

After splitting with ex Charlie Sheen — with whom she shares daughters Sam and Lola — Denise Richards adopted a baby girl named Eloise in 2011. Of adopting as a single mom, she told People, "I felt like I wasn't done having children, and I've always wanted to have a large family. And so after my divorce I felt like, 'Oh well, I'm sure I'll soon enough get remarried and have my family [grow],' and that wasn't in the cards at the time, so I decided to expand my family on my own."

Sopranos alum Edie Falco sat down with Anderson Cooper in 2012 to explain what inspired her to adopt son Anderson and daughter Macy as a single mom. "At that time, I was single and the idea to adopt came to me," she noted. "I just knew at a certain point it was time to raise kids."

Mia Farrow is well-known for her large family. The Rosemary's Baby star raised 14 kids — both adopted and biological — though three of her children have since died.

"[Our mom] was very open about what each one of us is and where we came from. We got used to that as soon as we were old enough to understand some of us have physical or mental disabilities — so what?" son Isaiah Farrow once told Vanity Fair. "We are defined by more than just blood; we are brought together by love."

Rom-com queen Meg Ryan was with actor Dennis Quaid for many years, and the two share a son, Jack Quaid. But following their split, Meg adopted daughter Daisy on her own in 2006.

Of the experience, she told Redbook: "I am convinced, completely convinced that there was nothing random about it. She is the daughter I should have. I never felt like I was on a rescue mission or anything like that. I just really wanted a baby; I was on a mission to connect with somebody, and Daisy and I got to meet each other this way at this time.

"We are so compatible," she added. "And also having the experience of having had Jack and now to have Daisy in a different way — there's no difference in the love you feel."

In her book Then Again, Diane Keaton — who famously dated Warren Beatty and Al Pacino — explained that after "a lifetime of avoiding intimacy," she feels like she came into her own in an emotional way.

"My old boyfriend, Warren Beatty, used to say I was a late developer," she wrote. "He was right. It took me 50 years to find motherhood and unconditional love." Diane was in her 50s when Diane adopted daughter Dexter followed by son Duke.

Sex and the City star Kristin Davis adopted her little girl, Gemma, in 2011, telling Anderson Cooper at the time, "It is terrifying, partly because with adoption you always know there's the chance that it won't work. So you're on pins and needles. I had always thought in the back of my head that I would adopt — that it was a possibility. So I started the process, but it's quite confusing. There are all these different rules and if you're single, it's harder."

A few years later, Kristin went on to adopt a son named Wilson.

Mortality is what motivated Nashville star Connie Britton to adopt her son, Yoby, from an Ethiopian orphanage. "My parents passed away within three years of each other," she told Redbook in 2012. "Right after that, a lightbulb went off in my head and I thought, 'What am I waiting for?' I wasn't in a relationship at the time, but I thought, 'This is something I want to do. I can do it.'"

In 2021, Amber Heard took to Instagram to surprise fans with the news that she had welcomed a baby girl named Oonagh.

"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 at the time. "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."

Lucy Liu decided to become a mom via surrogate all on her own in 2015, though she told CBS News that she doesn't really raise son Rockwell without her village by her side.

"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," she admitted.