Andy Cohen, Angelina Jolie, Other LGBTQ Celebrity Parents We Love
Historically, it has been very difficult for many members of the LGBTQIA+ community to have children, from facing legal discrimination in the adoption and fostering process to stigma on the playground. That’s why we’re grateful and happy to see so many celebrities who identify as gay, fluid, pansexual, asexual, intersex, genderqueer, and nonbinary, start their families in any way they choose.
From adoptive parents to couples who welcomed children via surrogate, we’ve rounded up some of our favorite Hollywood parents who have spoken openly about their sexual identities — to their fans and their kids — and been roll models to so many.
White Collar star Matt Bomer, who is married to publicist husband Simon Halls, joked that one of their sons once “came out to us as straight.” And Westworld actress Rachel Evan Wood shared what happened when she once asked her son if he would feel comfortable if she dated a woman, “He was like, ‘I think that would be amazing. That would be so cool!'” she told Self.
So let’s take a moment to celebrate all the queer parents in the spotlight who are living their truest lives and paving the way for future generations. (Oh, and we’re also pretty obsessed with the celeb parents who are so supportive of their LGBTQ+ kids too!)
A version of this story was originally published in June 2020.
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Jesse Tyler Ferguson & Justin Mikita
When we spoke to Jesse Tyler Ferguson — who shares sons Beckett (b. 2020) and Sullivan (b. 2022) with husband Justin Mikita, we asked him what his “parenting superpower” is. And his answer had us wiping away tears.
“I think it’s Justin, to be honest,” he told SheKnows exclusively when partnering with Enfamil’s Enspire Optimum baby formula. “He’s definitely the buttress that’s keeping the family together. I just reap the benefits of having someone who’s super organized and great at schedules. The scheduling literally gives me a headache. My mind spins with Beckett. He has a whole schedule of things to do. And then Sully is on his own sleep schedule and eating schedule. It’s a lot. So to have someone who’s so good with managing that is a true gift.”
Nate Berkus & Jeremiah Brent
Interior design power couple Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent are dads to Poppy (b. 2015) and Oskar (b. 2018). In 2023, the dads — who have hosted shows on both TLC and HGTV — appeared on The Today Show, and Berkus talked about how emotional it was to be in Poppy’s nursery while awaiting her arrival.
“You and I were standing in front of this little closet and you opened the door and the light went on automatically and I’ll never forget it,” he said. “…There was a crib set up and there were little dresses hanging there, and it was the start of our life as we know it. It was such a poignant moment and I burst into tears. And everyone knows I’m not a crier.”
The couple also talked about how fatherhood was not something they pictured for themselves when they were growing up. When Brent was a teen, gay marriage wasn’t legal, and “surrogacy didn’t exist in anything that’s recognizable to how it exists today.”
“As we stood in the rooms with the surrogates when they were born, we looked at each other and we knew that it was the convergence of social change, climate, political change, science and opportunity,” Brent said.
Tan France & Rob France
Tan France and his husband Rob share two sons — Ismail (b. 2021) and Isaac (b. 2023) — who were born via surrogate. When Tan announced Baby No. 2 was on the way, he said he was so excited for the boys to have each other
“We wanted [Ismail] to have someone that will be his person that he’s tethered to,” the Queer Eye star said. “I’m really close with my siblings and my husband is really close with his, so we wanted to create a family where [our child] would have more support other than just Rob and I … the most exciting part is that he will have somebody hopefully for the rest of his life that he gets to call his person.”
Cheyenne Jackson & Justin Landau
Cheyenne Jackson and Justin Landau’s twins Ethan and Willow (b. 2016) had an important conversation with their dads in Jan. 2023.
“Our kids came out,” Jackson said. “As straight. We were eating dinner and out of the blue, Willow says, ‘I don’t think I’m gay.’”
The American Horror Story actor and his husband were in full support of their son, saying they love him no matter what.
“Then, Ethan, without missing a beat and without looking up from his food goes, ‘Yeah, I’m not gay either… but I want to go to the parade.’”
Queen Latifah
Queen Latifah and her partner Eboni Nichols are notoriously private and have been extremely intentional about keeping their son Rebel out of the limelight. In 2022, the then-3-year-old was photographed for the first time.
Jodie Foster
Jodie Foster shares sons Kit (b. 2001) Charles (b. 1998) with ex wife Cydney Foster, and she has always been candid about how thankless it can be to be a mother. And honestly, someone had to say it.
“Every once in a while I’ll have one of those days when I’ve fed the fish, cleaned 10 poops from the patio, taken the cat to the vet, sewn my son’s stupid karate stars on until my fingers bleed and made sure that [Charlie] has everything, and he wakes up and goes, ‘Oh, what’s for breakfast?’” the actor said. “He doesn’t know, and why should he? Right? But there’s absolutely no sort of acknowledgment or reward for this — except for the intangible of my kids growing up to be wonderful people…The only thing about having kids that I miss is being alone.”
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie — who shares kids Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, Knox, and Vivienne with ex-husband Brad Pitt — has never made her bisexuality a secret. The A-lister dated model Jenny Shimizu in the 1990s and has said that she fell in love with her the first second she saw her. She admitted that one of her biggest childhood crushes was Michelle Pfeiffer, and told Barbara Walters in 2003, “‘I consider myself a very sexual person who loves who she loves, whatever sex they may be.”
“I wasn’t looking to have a relationship with a woman. I was surprised when I suddenly found myself having these feelings I always had for men, but for a woman, and wanting to kiss her and wanting to touch her.”
Andy Cohen
Andy Cohen welcomed his first child, Benjamin Allen, in 2019 via surrogate; his second, Lucy Eve, followed in 2022. “When I was growing up and when we were growing up … I just never thought it would be possible, as a gay man, to grow up and have a family,” the Bravo host told Anderson Cooper.
Megan Fox
“Putting the B in #LGBTQIA for over two decades,” actress Megan Fox shared on Instagram in July 2021 adding three selfies in which she showed off a rainbow manicure. Fox, who is currently dating rocker Machine Gun Kelly, shares three sons with actor Brian Austin Green: Noah (born in 2012), Bohdi (2014), and Journey (2016).
Amber Rose
Model and television personality Amber Rose is the mom of two sons — Sebastian (b. 2013) who she shares with ex-husband Wiz Khalifa and Slash (b. 2020) who she shares with ex Alexander Edwards. In 2011, Rose reflected on her sexual evolution in an interview with Curve. “I’ve always been attracted to girls ever since I was little, and I like boys too,” she said. “But as I got older in my teenage years a lot of the, you know, ‘freaky girls’ who were doing all kind of nasty stuff would say they were bisexual so I never wanted to, because I wasn’t into those things.”
She added, “It was a weird moment in my life when I didn’t know how to like explain to myself I wasn’t gay, but I wasn’t straight…For me, if I was in a relationship with a woman then I was just with her and vice versa.”
Fortunately, Rose had family support. “When I had my first girlfriend—me and my mom are best friends — I just told her and my mom was like, ‘Whatever makes you happy girl,” she explained. “Whatever you like, that’s your business, I don’t care.’ It was really easy for me.”
Evan Rachel Wood
In 2019, actress Evan Rachel Wood spoke to Self reflecting in part on her bisexuality, which she previously hadn’t felt comfortable confronting. However, in talking with her son Jack (who was born in 2013), Wood was surprised by the number of his peers who were open about their sexuality. “That just blows my mind,” she told the outlet. “I can’t even imagine how different my life would’ve been if I could have just been who I was.”
The actress said she has even asked her son whether he would feel comfortable if she dated a woman. “He was like, ‘I think that would be amazing. That would be so cool!’'”
Maria Bello & Dominique Crenn
Actress Maria Bello, who is engaged to French chef Dominique Crenn, opened up about her sexuality in a 2013 New York Times article. Specifically, the process of explaining her romantic life to her then-12-year-old son Jackson, whom she shares with ex-husband Dan McDermott.
“I was with someone romantically and I hadn’t told him,” she wrote of Jackson. “I had become involved with a woman who was my best friend, and, as it happens, a person who is like a godmother to my son,” she explained, referring to her then-partner Claire Munn.
Jackson’s response? “Mom, love is love, whatever you are.”
Drew Barrymore
“Do I like women sexually? Yeah, I do. Totally,” Barrymore told Contact Music way back in 2003. “I have always considered myself bisexual … I love a woman’s body. I think a woman and a woman together are beautiful, just as a man and a woman together are beautiful.”
Barrymore is the mother of daughters Olive (born in 2012) and Frankie (born in 2014), whom she shares with ex-husband Will Kopelman.
Fergie
Singer Fergie, formerly of the band Black Eyed Peas, told The Advocate in 2009 that her bisexuality was nothing new — at least to her. “The funny thing is that I was very open and honest about that from the very beginning, and everyone was acting like it was some new trend. Go back four or five years, people, and you’ll see the same answer,” she told the publication.
Fergie shares her son Axl Jack (born in 2013) with ex Josh Duhamel.
Tess Holliday
Tess Holliday is the proud mom of two sons, Rylee (b. 2005) who she shares with a “one night stand,” and Bowie (b. 2016) who she shares with her ex-husband Nick Holliday. She told Nylon in 2019 that she identifies as pansexual. “…I’ve been thinking a lot about my relationship to my own queerness, and I think the word pansexual speaks to me more than bi does,'” she explained.
Later, the author and model added of her sexuality, “I feel like a lot of stuff in my life now makes sense. A lot of the things that I felt when I was younger make sense.”
“I definitely have a sense of relief,” she told the outlet. “I can connect with people on a more intimate level than I was before, because I don’t have to pretend to be someone I’m not.”
Billie Joe Armstrong
“I think I’ve always been bisexual. I mean, it’s something that I’ve always been interested in,” Billie Joe Armstrong told The Advocate in 1995 (per Us Weekly). “I think everybody kind of fantasizes about the same sex. I think people are born bisexual, and it’s just that our parents and society kind of veer us off into this feeling of ‘Oh, I can’t.’ They say it’s taboo. It’s ingrained in our heads that it’s bad, when it’s not bad at all. It’s a very beautiful thing.”
The Green Day singer has two sons, Joey (born in 1995) and Jakob (born in 1998) with wife Adrienne Armstrong.
Wanda Sykes & Alex Sykes
Comedian Wanda Sykes and wife Alex Sykes have the cutest meet-cute story ever: They met on the Fire Island ferry and started spending time together because Sykes was remodeling her kitchen and Niedbalski sold granite countertops. The rest, as they say, is herstory.
“Something really said to me — like, audibly — ‘Wow, that’s what you need, Wanda,'” Sykes told The Guardian of seeing her now-wife for the first time on that ferry. The couple welcomed twins Lucas Claude and Olivia Lou in 2009.
Jillian Michaels
Former BlogHer speaker Jillian Michaels tells SheKnows that while she thinks “it sucks that my kids don’t have a dad,” she makes sure to remind them they are loved.”
“It’s like, hey, some people have one mom, some have one dad — I don’t think we’re special or better than any other family. My kids are loved; that’s what I try to make sure they’re aware of at all times.”
Michaels shares two kids — Lukensia who was born in 2010 and Phoenix who was born in 2012 — with her ex Heidi Rhoades.
Ricky Martin
Ricky Martin came out as gay in 2010, an experience he reflected during the COVID-19 pandemic during an interview with People. Reflecting on the women he previously dated, the singer mused, “A lot of people have said, ‘Rick, you were trying to prove yourself, because of fame and being a sex symbol.’ Well yeah, it could be. I don’t know.” He added, “Everyone knows you don’t have to be a gay man to know that love is complicated. Or to know how confusing attraction can be.”
Today, Martin shares four children with ex-husband Jwan Yosef. Their daughter Lucia was born in 2018, twin sons Matteo and Valentino were born in 2008, and son Renn was born in 2019.
Cynthia Nixon
Actress Cynthia Nixon shares a transgender son named Seph (who was born in 1996) and a son Charles (born 2002) with ex-husband Danny Mozes. Nixon also shares a son Max (born in 2011) with her wife Christine Marinoni.
In 2019, the Sex and The City star said, “I’m very proud of him. It’s one of those things. I felt really weird using the other pronoun in public, but people didn’t know it yet. He was good with it, and it was really nice, actually, when we announced it. There was some general, you know, voicings of support but generally it was not a big deal… I was kind of shocked at what a non-event it was, which is just how far we’ve come in such a short amount of time.”
Anna Paquin
Actress Anna Paquin found herself defending her sexuality — and her marriage to actor-director Stephen Moyer — when critics questioned why she would marry a man. “I’m a #proudbisexual who is married to a wonderful human who happens to be a man,” Paquin wrote on Instagram in May 2021. She added in the caption: “If he doesn’t have a problem with it why should anyone else?” The two welcomed twins Poppy and Charlie nearly a decade earlier in 2012.
Karamo Brown
Queer Eye‘s Karamo Brown once told Parents that he came out as “a proud, gay man” back in high school. Ten years later, he learned that he had a son named Jason, a product of a teenage relationship. “I was confused, sad, angry, and weirdly excited to be a dad, but felt lost nonetheless,” Brown told the outlet. “We were both kids and don’t blame her for the decision she made because the choice was not hers, it was the adults around us.” Brown then learned that Jason had a half-brother named Chris, whom he later adopted.
However, the reality star leaned on this advice, he said: “Take it one day at a time, never lose your cool and do just as much listening as you do talking.”
Simon Halls & Matt Bomer
Simon Halls and Matt Bomer share three sons, Kit, Walker, and Henry. Bomer told RuPaul that his eldest actually “came out” to him: “Our oldest came out to us as straight [when he was 14]. He said, ‘I love and respect that you guys are who you are. I’m straight; that’s how I identify.’ And it was a big nice, sweet moment,” Metro News UK reported.
Neil Patrick Harris & David Burtka
Actor Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka welcomed twins Harper and Gideon via surrogate in 2010. “We inserted one of my sperm and one of David’s sperm into two eggs with the hope that they would both take, just because we both wanted to be dads biologically. And both took, miraculously,” the How I Met Your Mother star told CTV News. “I have no interest in [finding out who is related]. We are their parents and I love them both implicitly.”
Although, he adds: “We certainly have suspicions just based on their behavior.”
Anderson Cooper
Journalist Anderson Cooper shares two sons with ex-boyfriend Benjamin Maisani. They welcomed their oldest, Wyatt Morgan Cooper in May 2020, and Sebastian Luke Maisani, in Feb. 2022.
“As a gay kid, I never thought it would be possible to have a child,” Cooper wrote on Instagram after Wyatt was born. “I’m grateful for all those who have paved the way, and for the doctors and nurses and everyone involved in my son’s birth. Most of all, I am grateful to a remarkable surrogate who carried Wyatt, and watched over him lovingly, and tenderly, and gave birth to him. It is an extraordinary blessing — what she, and all surrogates, give to families who can’t have children.”
Perez Hilton
Perez Hilton is a dad of three kids born via surrogate: Mario (born in 2013), Mia (born in 2015), and Mayte (2017)
When Mayte was born, Hilton used his birth announcement on Instagram as an oppportunity to advocate for surrogates give much to families that can’t expand their families in traditional ways.
“Most importantly, thank you to the surrogate who gave me the greatest gift anyone could ever receive,” he wrote on Instagram. “And thank you to the other two surrogates who helped us as well! And thank you to all the surrogates who give so selflessly and whose kindness is inspiring! There are still many states in America that, sadly, prohibit surrogacy and I hope to use my voice to advocate for making it legal across the country!”
Mel B
Former Spice Girl Melanie Brown, (AKA Mel B) opened up about her bisexuality in her 2018 memoir Brutally Honest, noting that prior to dating Eddie Murphy, “I’d come out of a very beautiful, loving, five-year relationship with a woman (one I will never, ever discuss because she was extremely private and I will always respect that).”
Mel B’s three kids are huge fans of their mom. She shares daughter Angel (born in 2007) with Murphy, daughter Phoenix (born in 1999) with Jimmy Gulzar, and daughter Madison (born in 2011) with Stephen Belafonte.
David Furnish & Elton John
Singer Elton John told Today in 2016 that his children were his proudest achievements. “That was the greatest decision I’ve made — well — we’ve made, in the last six years, is to have those boys,” he said. “They’re our primary concern. They’re the things that come first and foremost.”
John and filmmaker David Furnish welcomed their sons via the same surrogate; Zachary in 2010 and Elijah in 2013.
Amber Heard
In 2019, actress Amber Heard wrote a powerful piece for Teen Vogue reflecting on how she struggled to define her sexuality while growing up. “There wasn’t a single person I could reference who was openly queer, so I had no idea how to make sense of my feelings,” she wrote. “Like many children, I longed for someone to say: ‘Amber, you’re not broken. You’re beautiful just as you are.'”
In April 2021, the actress welcomed a daughter named Oonagh Paige Heard. “Four years ago, I decided I wanted to have a child,” she shared on Instagram.” I wanted to do it on my own terms. 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. I hope we arrive at a point in which it’s normalized to not want a ring in order to have a crib.” Heard added of her daughter, “She’s the beginning of the rest of my life.”
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