In many ways, becoming a parent is the ultimate equalizer. With very few exceptions, it doesn't really matter how rich, powerful, or famous someone is when it comes to the lasting impact of the experience. Becoming a parent may not cause physical changes for everyone (and, WOW, do some celeb moms bounce back from pregnancy in a way that us mere mortals never will), but emotional changes are basically guaranteed for almost all parents. Having a child just has a way of making you see the world a little differently.
For some people, like actor Bradley Cooper, parenting forces us to make better and healthier life choices. Bradley, who recently revealed that becoming a father helped him overcome substance abuse and mental health struggles, is far from being the only celebrity who has gone on record talking about the ways that parenting has changed them.
Other stars have seen their lives radically transformed, too. From prompting changes in how much and where they work to helping them see themselves in a different light, parenting has left a permanent mark on some of our most loved celebs. Read on for 15 surprisingly relatable stories of the impacts of parenting.
Angelina Jolie
George Clooney
For years, George Clooney was famous not only for being an actor but for being very public about his plans to never marry again and to not have kids. And then he met his now-wife Amal, and all bets were off! The two are parents to twins, and George has shared that becoming a dad has shown him that he needs to embrace the unexpected. As he put it, being a father has made him much more flexible. "Don't make plans. You always have to just enjoy the ride," he said.
Katy Perry
Katy Perry thought she was a loving person before she had daughter Daisy, but she gained a completely new perspective after her arrival. "I never truly knew about unconditional love. Obviously my mother has that for me, but I didn't really experience it in the first person until I had my child — and that was just a whole other level," she told Variety in 2021.
Katy also discovered what a lot of us do: Becoming a mother means someone else's needs move to the top of the list. "It's just the biggest life change ever," she said. "You're responsible for someone's well-being who can't even hold their head up. It's a real shift, and you become not No. 1 on the call sheet."
Tom Brady
Sometimes, becoming a parent makes a person realize the real impact that their own parents had on their life. For NFL star Tom Brady, being a dad has made him even more grateful to his own father. He got emotional when talking about his experiences with fatherhood in his ESPN+ docuseries Man in the Arena. "I'm a dad to some amazing children. When I think about being a dad, I think of him because of what my dad meant to me," he said. "I know I'm not as good a dad to my kids as my dad's been to me. I use them as my example of how to keep a family together and to care, to support, and how to love."
Ben Affleck
As an Oscar-winning actor, writer, and director, Ben Affleck has been a very career-driven guy. Having kids, however, has reportedly changed the order on his priority list. He claims that he is "definitely a father first." "My life right now is focused on, for sure, being a dad, and that's the most important thing to me," he told Access Hollywood in 2020.
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez is the mother of twins and on the path to becoming a stepmother when she and Ben Affleck tie the knot (assuming they make it all the way down the aisle this time!). Jennifer has shared that being a mother "completely changed" her life. "It made me not only reflect on the person I wanted to be for them, it also helped me appreciate all the gifts my own mother gave me," she told People.
Prince William
The British may be famous for having a stiff upper lip, but even the royals get more emotional after becoming a parent. "I never used to get too wound up or worried about things, but now the smallest little things, you well up a little more, you get affected by the sort of things that happen around the world or whatever a lot more, I think, as a father," father-of-three Prince William admitted in a 2016 ITV documentary.
