Christine's blogs

In May 2023, the headlines gave us a surprising announcement: Robert De Niro, at the age of 79, welcomed his seventh child. Just weeks later, his Godfather Part II co-star, Al Pacino, topped the entertainment news cycle by becoming a father again at 83. While the public often reacts to these stories with a mix of awe and humor, they highlight a growing trend in Hollywood.

From Janet Jackson giving birth at 50, to Cameron Diaz having a baby at 47, to Mick Jagger welcoming a son at 73, celebrities are increasingly redefining the biological timeline of parenthood. However, behind the magazine covers and the resources of the ultra-wealthy lie ethical, physical and psychological realities that can be overlooked.

For the Hollywood elite, aging is buffered by extreme wealth. Unlike the average person who might worry about retirement savings versus paying their children’s college tuition, celebrities like Steve Martin (who became a first-time father at 67) or George Lucas (a father again at 69) have the financial means to hire 24-hour assistance.

This is outsourced parenthood that can prevent the fatigue that breaks many older parents. When you have night nurses, private chefs, and personal assistants, the three am feeding for a 60- year- old father is a sentimental choice rather than an exhausting necessity. For many celebrity men, late-life fatherhood is also often portrayed as a testament to their enduring vitality.

The media portrayal of celebrity mothers over 40 and 50 often borders on the miraculous, sometimes dangerously so. When Naomi Campbell announced her first child at 50 or Brigitte Nielsen had a daughter at 54, the headlines didn’t really delve into the clinical realities.

Medical experts warn that these stories can create a false sense of security for women. In reality, most pregnancies in the 50s and beyond involve:

Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART): Specifically, in vitro fertilization (IVF), and a strong possibility of using donor eggs. This process leaves a number of embryos or tiny human beings left over and relegated to cryopreservation tanks, research, donation or medical waste.

Gestational Surrogacy: Used by stars like Nicole Kidman and Hoda Kotb, another woman carries the baby in utero to term.

Egg Freezing: A biological insurance policy many younger stars now use.

Because the Hollywood elite employ the use of these technologies, besides creating excess embryos, they’re likely participating in things like sex selection of their children. Here is a partial list of celebrities who had twins of opposite sexes:

Beyoncé and Jay-Z
George and Amal Clooney
Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt
Julia Roberts and Danny Moder
Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka
Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon
Gordon Ramsay and Tana Ramsay
Kristen Wiig and Avi Rothman
Hillary Swank and Philip Schneider
Lance Bass and Michael Turchin
Wanda Sykes and Alex Sykes

This list goes on and seems to be more than coincidental. 

A number of them have undoubtedly used selective reduction. This is a clinical term for abortion. Should more embryos attach to the uterus than are wanted, some are killed. Even your average non-celebrity mother is pressured by a doctor to reduce the number of babies she carries when it’s more than twins. It does increase chances for a greater high-risk pregnancy, particularly if she’s over the age of thirty-five. But I believe doctors should implant only as many children as the mother and/or father want to raise.

While celebrities beam on the red carpet, some are navigating high-risk pregnancies that carry increased odds of serious complications like preeclampsia. This condition might present itself as high blood pressure and high levels of protein in urine indicating possible kidney damage. If left untreated it can lead to death for mother and baby. There’s also the possibility of gestational diabetes. These risks for the older celebrity are managed by world-class medical teams inaccessible to most of the rest of us.

While women face a clearer biological wall, men like Richard Gere (father at 70) and Alec Baldwin (father to seven children in his 50’s and 60’s) operate under the virility myth. However, science is beginning to catch up with the sentiment.

Research indicates that advanced paternal age (typically over 45) is linked to a higher risk of:

Genetic Mutations: Older sperm is more likely to pass on mutations associated with autism, bipolar disorder, pediatric leukemia and schizophrenia. This is due to the accumulation of  spontaneous mutations in sperm over time (National Library of Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information).

Health Risks for the Mother: Studies show that older fathers can indirectly increase the risk of pregnancy complications for their partners. Older paternal age is linked to a higher risk of spontaneous miscarriage and stillbirth, as well as pre-term labor.

The ethical pitfall here is the early loss of parents for the children of these stars. When a man has a child at 80, the statistical likelihood of him seeing that child reach age 20 is low to nil. This creates a psychological burden for the child. They live with the anticipation of grief, knowing their father is more like a great-grandfather in age and health.

Growing up as the child of a living legend or household name is difficult enough; growing up as the child of an elderly living legend is a different beast entirely. Children in these families often face becoming caregivers by their early 20s, looking after an ailing 80-year-old father while their peers are just starting their careers. Whether their father can hire doctors, nurses, nutritionists, and a whole host of others in a caregiving role, the child still may feel obligated to be a larger presence in his life and look after him. Activities they can partake in together may be rather limited.

The child might be treated as a curiosity or a punchline in late-night monologues, which can impact their sense of privacy and normalcy.

"I have much more time to devote... I’m not worried about my career anymore." — Steve Martin, on the benefits of being an older father.

There is, of course, an upside to being older and wiser. Older parents often report being more present, less temperamental, and more focused than they were in their twenties and thirties. For stars who spent their younger years in a blur of filming and fame, a child in their 50’s offers a second chance at a grounded, quiet life.

The celebrity trend of late-life parenthood can be an inspiration, but it’s also a cautionary tale. It proves that love and family aren't restricted to a single decade, but it also glosses over the biological and ethical costs. For the Robert De Niros of the world, a new baby is a joy. For the children of these stars, it is a life of incredible privilege shadowed by the reality that their time with their parent(s) is short.