These days, large families are definitely not the norm. After all, having lots of kids requires more time and resources than most people today have, so the average American family size has continued to shrink over the years.
But if you're a celebrity with a healthy bank balance and access to plenty of hired help, all bets are off. A surprising number of famous Hollywood stars and musicians have super-sized families — with some spanning huge age gaps among the siblings and multiple partners (taking the concept of a blended family to the next level). Just consider British rocker Rod Stewart, who has eight children who have five different mothers and a staggering 48-year age difference between them.
And who can forget Nick Cannon, who made headlines — and set tongues wagging — for managing to have four children (with three different women) in the span of a single year. He wasn't done, though, because now his total tally of kids will soon be up to 12. His brood went from small to large in seemingly the blink of an eye.
Big families are definitely "in" in Hollywood, and our hats are off to these celebs for being able to juggle it all and even make it look easy. (Seriously, some days, just wrangling one or two kids can seem like a monumental feat to us.)
Scroll on to see 20 celebs with very large families — of all shapes, sizes, and ages.
Alec Baldwin
Alec Baldwin appeared to be done raising children after having his daughter Ireland Baldwin with his first wife, Kim Basinger, in 1995. But he started over after marrying his second wife, Hilaria Baldwin. Since 2013, Alec has added a whopping seven more children to his brood: Carmen, Rafael, Leonardo, Romeo, Eduardo, Lucia (who was born via a surrogate in March 2021, a mere six months after Eduardo's arrival), and Ilaria, who joined the family in September 2022.
Eddie Murphy
Eddie Murphy is another actor with a big gap between his kids. He has 10 children ranging in age from 32 to 2. His oldest, Eric, was born in 1989, and he welcomed his youngest, Max Charles, in 2018. The Coming 2 America star recently opened up about the unique experience of having such a large family and being an older dad.
"I am going to be 60 in April and I have all these babies," he told the Mirror in March 2021, explaining how it's shifted his priorities and made him rethink his demanding work schedule. "The whole idea of being out there and doing three movies a year, that is over. Along the way I realized that if you put your children first, you never make a bad decision."
Nick Cannon
Nick Cannon became a father for the first time in 2011 when his then-wife Mariah Carey gave birth to their twins, Monroe and Moroccan, and he later had a son, Golden Sagon, with Brittany Bell in 2017. But he wasn't done yet. In 2021, he made headlines for becoming dad to four more children in the span of a single year. Brittany gave birth to daughter Powerful Queen in December 2020, and Nick also welcomed sons Zion Mixolydian and Zillion Heir with Abby De La Rosa in June 2021, and son Zen with model Ashley Scott, also in June (though baby Zen died in December 2021 at 5 months old after receiving a brain cancer diagnosis).
As of November 2022, Nick's total is at 12 kids. He and Bre Tiesi welcomed son Legendary Love in July 2022, with his daughter Onyx Ice (with LaNisha Cole) arriving just months later in September 2022. In that same month, baby No. 10 — son Rise Messiah with Brittany was born, and November brought the birth of baby No. 11 (a girl named Zeppelin with Abby). Currently, Nick's expecting his 12th child with Alyssa Scott as their future mother.
Angelina Jolie
Somehow, Angelina Jolie has adopted children and been pregnant at the same time on multiple occasions, so it's no wonder she has a big family. She first adopted Maddox in 2002 and then Zahara in 2005. Later, she gave birth to Shiloh with then-husband Brad Pitt, adopted Pax, and then welcomed twins Vivienne and Knox (also with Brad). Since their divorce, Angelina and Brad have shared parenting duties of all six kids, though they continue to battle it out in court over a formal custody arrangement.
Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson has nine children with three different women, and there's a 37-year age difference between his oldest, who was born in 1980, and his youngest, who arrived in 2017. He shares Hannah, Edward, Christian, William, Louis, Milo, and Thomas with his first wife, Robyn Moore. Then he had a daughter Lucia with then-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva and a son, Lars, with his current girlfriend, Rosalind Ross.
DMX
Troubled rapper DMX, born Earl Simmons, is believed to have fathered 15 children before his death in April 2021. He had four of them — Sean, Praise Mary Ella, Tacoma, and Xavier — with his first wife. Then he had another 11 children with other women. His last child, son Exodus, was with his girlfriend Desiree Lindstrom. DMX once revealed to GQ that he had a tattoo on his neck of the Bible verse Exodus 1:7, which said, "Be fruitful and multiply and your children will inherit the world" — very fitting, considering his large brood.
Madonna
Madonna is a nontraditional mom, with the majority of her children being adopted. She gave birth to daughter Lourdes and son Rocco, then later adopted David Banda, Mercy, and twins Estere and Stelle. Madonna's children frequently appear on her social media, so it's easy to keep tabs on what this large crew is up to these days.
Mick Jagger
Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger has had eight children with five women, and there's a massive 46-year age difference between the oldest and youngest. His children — Karis, Jade, Lizzy, James, Georgia, Gabriel, Lucas, and Deveraux — were born between 1970 and 2016.
Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro's blended family includes six children with an age range of 40 years. He adopted his oldest child, daughter Drena, in 1971, and he later welcomed a son, Raphael, with his first wife. He had sons Julian and Aaron with a longtime girlfriend, and two more children, Elliot and Helen, with his second wife, Grace Hightower.
Kris Jenner
If you think of big celeb families, the Kardashians most certainly come to mind. Kris Jenner is famously a mom — and momager — to six children, Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, Rob, Kendall, and Kylie. And now that her kids are all having kids of their own — Kris is a grandmother of 12 so far — this family just keeps getting bigger and bigger.
Clint Eastwood
Acclaimed actor-director Clint Eastwood has seven confirmed children, but there are rumors he may have more kids who were put up for adoption. His oldest was born in 1964 and his youngest in 1996, creating a 32-year age gap between the siblings. Clint's known children are Kimber, Kyle, Alison, Scott, Kathryn, Francesca, and Morgan.
Rod Stewart
Rod Stewart has quite the blended family. He has eight children by five different women, and with a 48-year age gap between the siblings. His first, Sarah, was born from his childhood sweetheart and was put up for adoption. Later, Rod and his first wife, Alana Stewart, welcomed Kimberly and Sean. He then had Ruby with Kelly Emberg; Reneé and Liam with supermodel Rachel Hunter; and Alastair and Aiden with current wife Penny Lancaster.
Kevin Costner
Kevin Costner has seven children from a few different relationships. Daughters Annie and Lily and son Joe are shared with his first wife, Cindy Silva Costner. He later had son Liam after a brief fling with socialite Bridget Rooney, and then three more children — Cayden, Hayes, and Grace — with his current wife, Christine Baumgartner.
His youngest is 10, and the actor once spoke to Good Housekeeping about the reality of being an older dad. "I don't kid myself about certain realities: I won't be around to see as much of [my younger children's lives] as I'll get to see of my older kids' lives. So I really want to be there for every single moment that I can."
Duane 'Dog the Bounty Hunter' Chapman
Duane "Dog the Bounty Hunter" Chapman has 12 children with lots of personality and quite a bit of blending, which makes this family larger than life. His first son, Christopher, was put up for adoption. Later, he had Duane Jr., Leland, Zebediah (who died shortly after birth), Wesley, James, Baby Lyssa, B.K. (who died in 2006), Tucker, Bonnie, and Garry. He also adopted his fifth wife's daughter, Cecily.
Marie Osmond
Marie Osmond came from a large family herself (she has eight siblings), so it's no surprise that she eventually had a sizable one of her own. The singer and TV personality has three biological and five adopted children. She began parenthood in 1983 with her son Stephen (shared with her first husband, Stephen Craig). After marrying Brian Blosil in 1986, she gave birth to Rachael and Matthew, and adopted Jessica, Brianna, Abigail, Brandon, and Michael (who died in 2010).
Fetty Wap
Fetty Wap now has seven children with a few on-and-off flames from his past. He welcomed Aydin, Khari, Amani, Lauren, Zaviera, Zy, and Alaiya. Both Zy and Alaiya were born in 2018, just two months apart, so it's been a busy few years for the rapper. Sadly, his daughter Lauren died in 2021 at the age of 4, reportedly due to a fatal cardiac arrhythmia.
Lauryn Hill
Lauryn Hill and Bob Marley's son, Rohan Marley, are parents to five children: Zion, Joshua, John, Selah, and Sarah. Later, the former Fugees member welcomed a sixth child, Micah, with another partner who has yet to be identified.
Taylor Hanson
Taylor Hanson — of '90s pop group Hanson fame — and his wife have seven children. Starting with Jordan, the couple then had Penelope, River, Viggo, Wilhelmina, Claude, and most recently, Maybellene. One day, they could start a whole family band just like Taylor did with his brothers.
Ginuwine
Ginuwine has nine children in his brood. His oldest, son Elgin Jr., was born in 1992. Later, he had two daughters, Story and Dream, with his former wife, rapper Solé. Ginuwine also raised her two daughters from a previous relationship as his own, De'Jan and Cypress. Later, Ginuwine had Tajhair, Ginel, Tiffany, and Romanda. And we're guessing they all keep him very busy.
Future
Rapper Future — who has never married but was briefly engaged to Ciara — has seven children and a rumored eighth child who has not been confirmed by him. His personal life is kept very private, with some of the mothers' names never made public. Future is father to Jakobi, Londyn, Prince, Future Jr., Hendrix, Cash, and Paris.
