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Sarah Keenlyside

As we all know (but occasionally need reminding), celebrities are people too, as keen to start a family as the next person when the time is right. For many, adoption was a choice made after struggles with fertility; for others, it was something they wanted to do because they had the resources to make a difference to a child’s life.
These big-hearted stars clearly loved adopting their first child so much that they did it again and again – and again. Meet the celebrities who have been public figureheads for adoption.
Sharon Stone

Basic Instinct actress Sharon Stone was leaving hospital after having a stillborn child when her adoption lawyer called her. “I felt as if God was throwing me a life raft,” she told Vogue in 2019. She has since adopted three sons: Roan in 2000, Laird in 2005 and Quinn in 2006.












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“When you adopt, you realise any child could be your child, any person could be your relative. After that you never see the world in the same way again. I’m connected to everyone on this planet. And that’s a miracle in and of itself.”
Hugh Jackman

Hugh Jackman and ex-wife Deborra-Lee Furness adopted two children in the early 2000s: son Oscar, now 24, and daughter Ava, now 19. Oscar is part Bosnian while Ava is part Mexican. “Our motivation behind adopting was, ‘Where is the need?’” Jackson told People in 2017. “And we just knew from talking with people in that space, when we were looking around, that the biggest need is in mixed-race kids.”
Angelina Jolie

Hollywood’s most famous family began to expand after Angelina Jolie met Brad Pitt on the set of Mr & Mrs Smith in 2004. When they met, she was already the mother of Maddox, whom she’d seen in a Cambodian orphanage and felt compelled to adopt. Next came Zahara, reports People, adopted from Ethiopia in 2005, then Vietnamese Pax, in 2007. The three have three siblings in the actress’ biological children: Vivienne, Knox and Shiloh.
Madonna

Madonna has been open about the difficulties she’s encountered in adopting four of her six children from Malawi. She adopted David Banda in 2008 after seeing him in a Lilongwe orphanage suffering from pneumonia and malaria, but was slammed by the press for her efforts. “Every newspaper said I kidnapped him,” she told People. “I did everything by the book. That was a real low point for me. I would cry myself to sleep.”

Bringing home Estere and Stella in 2017 was no easier. “Because I’m a public figure, people don’t want to be perceived as giving me any kind of special treatment, so I get the hard road,” she said, adding, “it’s so worth it”.
Rosie O’Donnell

Comedian and actress Rosie O’Donnell adopted five children from 1995 to 2013 and has said she has always kept their birth mothers in mind. “[Giving up a baby] is the biggest act of generosity I think that humans can do,” she told People. “I’ve been the benefactor of their selflessness, and it made my life worth everything.”
Charlize Theron

Growing up in apartheid-era South Africa made Charlize Theron “hyper-aware of equality and human rights”, she told Elle in 2018, and was the reason she had wanted to adopt children since she was young. “This was definitely not a second option for me. It was always my first,” she told People. She has two African-American daughters, August and Jackson.
Mia Farrow

Actress Mia Farrow, 80, is best known for Rosemary’s Baby and her roles in numerous Woody Allen films. Married twice – first to Frank Sinatra, then to André Previn – she was in a relationship with Allen from 1980 to 1992. She adopted three children with Previn: Lark and Daisy from Vietnam and Soon-Yi from South Korea. Farrow also adopted Moses from South Korea and Dylan from the US, who were later co-adopted by Allen.

However, she and Allen split after it was revealed that the controversial director was in a romantic relationship with Soon-Yi. Allen and Soon-Yi married in 1997 and remain together. Farrow has also adopted two more children from Vietnam, Tam and Isaiah; Thaddeus from India; and Americans Isaiah and Quincy, making 10 in all.


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7 celebrities who have adopted numerous children: from Angelina Jolie and Madonna to Sharon Stone and Hugh Jackman – but which actress’ adopted daughter controversially ran off with her adoptive dad?

Stars including Madonna and Sharon Stone have been public figures for adoption. Photos: @madonna/Instagram; @sharonstone/Instagram

Sharon Stone adopted Roan in 2000. Photo: @sharonstone/Instagram

Hugh Jackman and ex-wife Deborra-Lee Furness adopted two children. Photo: @thehughjackman.wolverine/Instagram

Angelina Jolie on the red carpet with her six children in 2017: Maddox Jolie-Pitt, Pax Jolie-Pitt, Vivienne Jolie-Pitt, Knox Leon Jolie-Pitt, Shiloh Jolie-Pitt and Zahara Jolie-Pitt. Photo: Reuters

Madonna and her family. Photo: @Madonna/Instagram

Madonna sitting among Malawian children during a visit to Mkoko Primary School in 2014, one of the schools her Raising Malawi charity built with US organisation buildOn. Photo: AFP

Rosie O’Donnell and her five adopted children. Photo: @rosie/Instagram 

Jackson (left) with sister August and mother Charlize Theron. Photo: @charlizeafrica/Instagram

Mia Farrow pictured in 1996 with children Thaddeus (left), Frankie-Minh, Isaiah, Tam and Eliza. Photo: AP

Director Woody Allen and wife Soon-Yi Previn at the opening of the Cannes Film Festival, in 2016. Photo: EPA

Meet Renée Zellweger’s partner Ant Anstead’s children: Amelie and Archie play rugby and make red carpet appearances with the actress, and she’s tight with 5-year-old Hudson

Oscar-winner Renée Zellweger is close to partner Ant Anstead’s children. Photo: @archoanstead/Instagram

Renée Zellweger’s partner, Ant Anstead, attending the London premiere of Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy with his children Archie and Amelie. Photo: @ant_anstead/Instagram

Ant Anstead has three children from his previous marriages. Photo: @ant_anstead/Instagram

Amelie Anstead started her sporting career with netball before moving to rugby. Photo: @amelieanstead/Instagram

Archie Anstead also plays student rugby. Photo: @archoanstead/Instagram

Ant Anstead shares his youngest child, Hudson, with ex-wife Christina Haack. Photo: @ant_anstead/Instagram

Meet Nanette Mirkovich, Erik Estrada’s wife of almost 3 decades, whom the CHiPs heartthrob – thrice married with 3 children – credits with helping rebuild his life and career

Meet Nanette Mirkovich, Erik Estrada’s wife of almost three decades. Photo: @erikestradaofficial/Instagram

Erik Estrada and his wife, Nanette Mirkovich. Photo: @erikestradaofficial/Instagram

Nanette Mirkovich is a film sound technician. Photo: @erikestradaofficial/Instagram

Nanette Mirkovich is Erik Estrada’s third wife. Photo: @francesca_estrada/Instagram

Erik Estrada with wife Nanette Mirkovich and their daughter Francesca. Photo: @erikestradaofficial/Instagram

Erik Estrada and Nanette Mirkovich at the Annual Nosotros Golden Eagle Awards in 1992, before they were married. Photo: Getty Images

Who is Tim Allen’s wife of almost 2 decades, Jane Hajduk? An actress with credits including Monk and NCIS, she’s also appeared alongside the Home Improvement star in Joe Somebody and The Shaggy Dog

Who is Jane Hajduk, Tim Allen’s wife of almost 2 decades? Photo: Getty Images

Jane Hajduk is an actress. Photo: @thatgaffergirl/Instagram

Jane Hajduk and Tim Allen at the 2012 Vanity Fair Oscar party. Photo: WireImage

Tim Allen and Jane Hajduk share a daughter named Elizabeth. Photo: Getty Images

Jane Hajduk and Tim Allen at the A Tale of Two Sisters premiere in 2018 in Los Angeles. Photo: Getty Images

Tim Allen and Jane Hajduk at the 24th annual Elton John Aids Foundation Oscar viewing party in 2016. Photo: Getty Images

Jane Hajduk and Tim Allen at the 77th Annual Golden Globe Awards in 2020. Photo: Getty Images

Meet Wheel of Fortune host Vanna White’s lookalike daughter Gigi Santo Pietro, who just gave her mum her first tattoo: the young artist left photography for ink artistry and is a big Snoop Dogg fan

Gigi Santo Pietro attends The Paley Center For Media Presents: Wheel of Fortune: 35 Years As America’s Game in New York in 2017 with her brother, Nikko and parents Vanna White and George Santo Pietro. Photo: Getty Images

Who was The White Lotus star Walton Goggins’ first wife, Leanne Knight? After she died in 2004, Goggins took a trip to Asia, visiting Thailand 20 years before he returned to film the hit TV show

Walton Goggins, who lost his first wife to suicide and sought peace of mind in Thailand decades before his turn in The White Lotus. Photos: @waltongogginsbonafide/Instagram, TNS

Walton Goggins and Aimee Lou Wood in The White Lotus season three as Rick and Chelsea. Photo: TNS

Walton Goggins, who was married to Leanne Knight from 2001 to 2004. Photo: @waltongogginsbonafide/Instagram

Walton Goggins with wife Nadia Conners and son Augustus. Photo: Living Inside

Walton Goggins plays Rick Hatchett in season three of The White Lotus. Photo: IMDb

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Entertainment

For Madonna and Angelina Jolie, encounters with orphaned children during their travels changed their lives forever – but Charlize Theron knew from early in life that she wanted to adopt


For Madonna and Angelina Jolie, encounters with orphaned children during their travels changed their lives forever – but Charlize Theron knew from early in life that she wanted to adopt.


7 celebrities who have adopted numerous children: from Angelina Jolie and Madonna to Sharon Stone and Hugh Jackman – but which actress’ adopted daughter controversially ran off with her adoptive dad?

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Sharon Stone