45+ Celebs Who Have Been Hiding Secret Children

Pauly D of Jersey Shore fame is all about the GTL (gym, tan, laundry) life so fans were shocked to find out that the reality star is actually a father. Recently, Pauly D has clarified that he isn’t ashamed of his daughter at all, and they do spend time together — she simply isn’t a part of his famous lifestyle.

Amabella Sophia Markert lives with her mother, rather than getting involved in her dad’s various reality shows. Pauly D clarified, “I’m proud I’m a father.”

Steve Jobs was far more interested in making Apple into a successful company than he was in being a father to Lisa Nicole Brennan, who was born the same year Apple was founded. Steve denied that he was Lisa’s father, despite a paternity test proving otherwise.

Interestingly, he did name one of Apple’s first computers “Lisa” for the daughter he claimed wasn’t his. Shortly before he passed away, Steve attempted to mend his relationship with Lisa and even — finally — included her in his will.

Tom Hardy is a father of three who seems to have changed his stance on putting his kids in the spotlight. While Tom routinely spoke about his eldest son, Louis Thomas Hardy, the actor has been extremely strict with the press about keeping his younger children a secret.

Tom hasn’t revealed the gender or names of his other two kids. However, rumors speculate that the middle child is a girl and the youngest is a boy named Forrest — inspired by the movie Forrest Gump.

Michael Jackson was no stranger to people claiming to be his offspring. However, the most convincing claim was that of people who knew both the King of Pop and his alleged son, Brandon Howard.

Brandon himself has only addressed the press once on the topic with a statement in which he clarified that he didn’t release the story. That being said, E! News reported that Brandon took a DNA test, which proved that he truly is Michael Jackson’s son.

Tom Jones is worth an estimated $300 million, although his son Jonathan Berkery lives in a homeless shelter. Tom refuses to meet his son as he claims that Jonathan’s mother “tricked” him into fathering a child, a comment that Jonathan said “really hurt.”

Apparently, Tom insists he needn’t take responsibility since the pregnancy wasn’t planned. Not only does he refuse to meet Jonathan but Tom also denied paternity until a court-ordered DNA test proved otherwise.

Gavin Rossdale has always been in Daisy Lowe’s life but not always as a father figure. As a teenager, Gavin was close friends with Daisy’s mother and the two shared a romantic evening together. Daisy was the result of that evening but Gavin had no idea that he was the father.

In fact, he was even given the very ironic honor of being Daisy’s godfather! In 2004, Gavin finally found out that he’s Daisy’s dad and has been trying to work on their relationship ever since.

James Marsden’s son, William Luca Costa-Marsden, was the result of a one-night fling. James kept William a secret throughout the entire pregnancy but later confessed that he had a son when William was born.

It’s unclear why James didn’t want to share the news with the world but given that he’s been extremely involved in William’s life, we can only assume that he just wanted some privacy that there was never any intent of denying paternity.

While it’s not exactly easy for female celebs to keep their children a secret, Minnie Driver did keep the identity of her baby’s father a mystery. It wasn’t until Henry was three years old that Minnie revealed his father was a writer on the show, The Riches.

The actress explained that she had wanted to protect the man’s privacy but she no longer feels that it’s her responsibility. Minnie assured the press, “He’s not famous. There’s no big story.”

When one parent is Eddie Murphy and the other is Spice Girl Mel B, there’s absolutely no chance that the baby will be kept a secret. That’s what happened when these two superstars had a fling that resulted in a pregnancy.

Eddie desperately wanted to keep it a secret from the press but, of course, the public found out. In the end, it took a paternity test and several years for Eddie to admit that he’s the father — though he’s now close with his daughter, Angel.

By now, everyone knows that Steven Tyler is actress Liv Tyler’s father but Liv didn’t know it until she was eight years old. She’d always been told that her stepfather was her biological father.

However, while watching Steven perform on TV, Liv realized how similar they look and she also noticed that she appears to be the visual twin of Steven’s daughter, Mia. Steven himself didn’t know that he was Liv’s father but he got to work the moment he found out, making up for lost time.

Drake’s son was kept a secret for nearly a year but Adonis was thrust into the spotlight when Pusha T revealed that Drake had a child during a public feud. Despite the fact that Pusha T’s feud was with Drake, and not his toddler, the rapper still decided to infringe on Adonis’s privacy as a way of ruining Drake’s reputation.

Since then, Drake has clarified that he kept Adonis a secret so that the toddler wouldn’t suffer the consequences of being famous — not because he was ashamed of him in any way.

Donald Glover a.k.a. Childish Gambino is notorious for being extremely private about his life. Therefore, fans were pleasantly surprised when Donald gave an award show acceptance speech thanking his son and son’s mother for their support.

Since then, it’s been revealed that Donald’s son is named Legend and the singer/actor is now a father of three. Donald’s second son is named Drake and the youngest boy is named Donald — after Childish Gambino’s late father.

Alexis Bledel is another celebrity who isn’t interested in pushing her family into the spotlight. The actress had managed to keep her motherhood a secret for several months until a co-star accidentally let it slip.

Scott Patterson spoke about Alexis in an interview by saying, “We’re comparing notes because my son is about a year and a half older than her young son. I’m showing her photos and videos and what to expect. We’re just really enjoying each other’s company.” However, Alexis herself hasn’t revealed anything about her child nor have we seen any photos to prove he exists.

It’s unclear if Hugh Grant kept his children a secret for the sake of his reputation, or in an attempt to prevent his babies’ mothers from finding out about each other. What is clear, though, is that Hugh had three children with two different women and there was a definite pregnancy overlap.

It’s worth noting that both women are significantly younger than the then-53-year-old actor. Hugh tried various tactics to keep the press out of the loop, including secretly buying one of the baby mama’s a house, but the media still figured it out.

DMX had four children with his wife, Tashera Simmons. However, it came to light that DMX had several affairs and he even admitted such. According to The Daily Mail, the rapper was paying over one million dollars a month in child support and went to prison for failing to pay all of it.

While it’s unclear exactly how many children DMX had, he said that the number was around 15. Needless to say, Tashera divorced DMX in 2012.

Charlie Heaton of Stranger Things fame has a son who was a total secret for a whopping three years! Charlie has made it clear that intends to see more of Archie when his work schedule calms down but that didn’t stop the public backlash.

However, it’s worth pointing out that Charlie was 16 when he met Archie’s mother, Akiko Matsuura, who was in her 30s at the time. While that relationship was legal, it was certainly unethical on Akiko’s part.

Francois-Henri Pinault was already famous in his home country of France, due to his billionaire businessman status. However, he became famous around the world when he married actress Salma Hayek.

Several months before meeting Salma, Francois had a fling with another woman, which resulted in a child — Augustin “Augie” James Evangelista. Francois didn’t want anything to ruin his relationship with Salma, so he denied being Augustin’s father until a DNA test proved otherwise. Salma and Augie seem to be close as the actress often posts photos of them together.

Jude Law has a whopping six children, ranging from newborn to 25 years old. While the actor is often seen with his kids — some of whom are famous in their own right — one of his offspring is noticeably missing from Jude’s spotlight.

Sophia Law was the result of a two-day fling, so when it was confirmed that he was the father, Jude agreed to financially support the baby. Unfortunately, he didn’t make it out for Sophia’s birth due to work, but he did meet her when she was five weeks old.

Flo Rida has kindly displayed the exact opposite of what a man should be when he denied that he’s Zohar Paxton’s father, despite the proof of a paternity test. The rapper has been paying child support but Zohar’s mother claims that the amount she’s received has been less than what the courts require.

To make matters worse, Flo Rida referred to Zohar as an “evil […] child.” Given that Flo Rida has never met Zohar, he wouldn’t know if the beautiful child is “evil” or not, would he?

Everyone knows that Elon Musk has taken it upon himself to single-handedly raise the global birth rate. What many don’t know, though, is that he fathered twins with one of his top executives at Neuralink.

Elon never publicly announced his twins’ birth, rather, it was discovered via a court document in which they were given their father’s last name. Perhaps the reason for the secrecy is that the twins were born just a few weeks before another one of Elon’s children was born — to a different mother.

Bow Wow managed to keep his daughter Shai Moss a secret for roughly a year. However, the rapper had to tell the public about Shai when tabloids started to snoop around about her.

Bow Wow explained, “I waited so long to tell y’all the truth because I was nervous on how y’all would look at me. Y’all know everyone makes a big deal out of everything I do. I wanted to be first n let y’all know the real. Yes! I change diapers. Ain’t as bad as I thought hahaha.”

Chuck Norris was just as surprised as the rest of us to find out that he was a father. Unfortunately, the martial artist missed out on Dina’s childhood but made up for lost time as soon as he met her.

In fact, Chuck didn’t even ask for a paternity test as he said that Dina felt like someone he’d always known. Apparently, Chuck had been unfaithful to his wife with Dina’s mother and was unaware that she became pregnant until 26 years later when Dina wrote him a letter.

Ludacris has four children, however, one of them was a bit of a secret for quite some time. Apparently, Ludacris and his wife Eudoxie were “on a break” (think, Ross and Rachel from Friends) when the rapper/actor impregnated another woman.

The only reason anyone found out was that the baby’s mother sued Ludacris for child support. Thankfully, Eudoxie and Ludacris managed to work things out and even gained full custody of Cai in 2015.

Carmelo Anthony’s relationship with his alleged daughter has been extremely hot and cold over the years. Allegedly, Carmelo’s daughter is the result of an affair the NBA player had with Mia Angel Burks. While Carmelo never publically claimed Mia’s daughter as his own, he has been in touch with Mia on and off over the years.

Mia also publicly displayed a DNA test, which she claims proves that Carmelo is the father. One thing’s for sure, Carmelo’s ex-wife LaLa Anthony seems convinced, as she divorced him after 11 years of marriage.

The famous father of the Jackson 5, Joe Jackson, has long been rumored to have had several affairs that resulted in numerous secret children, but there’s one that the world seems to be sure of…

Joh’Vonnie Jackson is allegedly the product of a 25-year-long affair between Joe and her mother. Joh’Vonnie claims, “I was very aware that I was in the Jackson family growing up … But I was hidden away, kept secret for years, not able to become part of that family. It was hurtful.”

P. Diddy a.k.a. Sean Combs was desperate to keep his daughter, Chance, a secret as he was expecting twins with his then-partner at around the same time. He even paid Chance’s mother one million bucks to keep quiet about the paternity of the baby.

However, Diddy denied that he was the father altogether, which prompted the mother to demand a paternity test. Afterward, Diddy turned things around. Although he missed out on Chance’s first year, Diddy now insists, “I will take care of her for the rest of her life.”

Bill Cosby is hardly an example of what a man should be and this is just further evidenced by the fact that he had an alleged secret child.

In all fairness, Autumn Jackson refused to do a paternity test to confirm that Bill really was her father. Instead, she extorted the comedian for millions of dollars and eventually went to prison for it. No, the irony is not lost on us.

Dadager (yes, we’re stealing Kris Jenner’s term, Momager) Matthew Knowles has two of the most famous daughters in the world — Beyoncé and Solange. However, he also has a third child named Nixon.

Nixon is the result of an affair that Matthew had, and it became public after he allegedly fell behind on paying child support. Once the news broke out, Matthew’s wife of 29 years, Tina, filed for divorce. To add insult to injury, Beyoncé fired Matthew as her manager — stripping him of his Dadager status.

It’s unclear exactly how many children 50 Cent has, but it’s clear that he’s only ever a father to one kid at a time. 50 Cent has disowned his eldest child, Marquise, due to a very public feud between the two.

The middle child, Sire, seems to get along beautifully with his father. There’s also a boy named Davian who many believe is also 50 Cent’s child but the rapper/businessman insists that Davian is simply his mentee.

Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher recently met his then-19-year-old daughter, Molly Moorish, for the very first time. Liam has several children from various affairs but only has a relationship with some of them.

When asked why Liam hadn’t met Molly in the past, he answered, “I’ve just never got around to meeting her. I’ve heard she’s all right, though. She’s doing all right.” Um, ok, who’s that busy?!?! Liam’s next goal is to meet his youngest daughter, Gemma, but he says there are no plans for that yet.

January Jones doesn’t have any plans to reveal who’s the father of her son, Xander, and she’s managed to keep this secret for over 10 years and counting! The actress insists that Xander’s dad’s identity will remain a secret for “personal reasons,” although she often teases fans by naming various male celebrities as the potential father.

January has expressed that she believes Xander is better off without a father and she prefers to surround him with “strong women.” Does one really negate the other?

Clint Eastwood didn’t have a secret child that he hid from the world — he had a secret child that was hidden from him! The actor had no idea that his then-girlfriend (he was engaged to someone else at the time) was pregnant and had given the baby up for adoption.

Thankfully, when that baby grew up, she decided to find her biological father. That’s how Clint finally met his daughter, Laurie, and the pair are now extremely close.

Chris Brown’s trouble with women continues, as he was dumped by his fiancée, Karrueche Tran after he confessed to fathering a child with Nia Guzman. It appears that Chris was trying to hide his paternity of baby Royalty from Karrueche, who found out along with everyone else when Nia accused Chris of not paying child support or showing up to court.

Karrueche responded by publically posting, “Listen. One can only take so much. The best of luck to Chris and his family. No baby drama for me.” Fair enough.

Nick Young attempted to keep his child, Navi, a secret from his then-fiancée Iggy Azalea. Navi’s mother, Keonna Green, warned the basketball player about being dishonest with Iggy.

“We got caught up in the moment and it just happened. I would be like, ‘Nick, you cannot be sloppy. You need to be honest.’ He would say, ‘I don’t want to hear it.'” In the end, Iggy caught Nick cheating on her with someone else and broke up with him anyway.

Ronan Farrow is the son of Mia Farrow and Woody Allen — or so we’ve been told… Many believe that Frank Sinatra was actually Ronan’s real father. Mia and Frank used to be married, Ronan and Frank were extremely close, and the two men look strikingly similar.

However, no credible sources have confirmed the rumors… as of yet. If you’re wondering where you’ve heard the name Ronan Farrow before, he’s the journalist who outed a very prominent Hollywood producer for his inappropriate behavior toward multiple actresses.

Mindy Kaling has been enjoying single motherhood and is, clearly, unphased by fans’ curiosity as to who baby Katherine’s father is. Not only is she leaving the public in the dark, but Mindy won’t even tell her closest friends who the baby daddy is for fear that someone will leak the information to the press.

Many fans believe that Katherine’s father is Mindy’s ex-boyfriend/colleague, B.J. Novak but the actress is neither confirming nor denying that.

Director/screenwriter Sacha Gervasi had a baby with Spice Girl Geri Halliwell but he didn’t know it. Geri had intended to raise Bluebell Madonna on her own but was convinced to give the father a chance to be a dad.

Unfortunately, Sacha didn’t want to take advantage of that opportunity, as he had already moved on from his and Geri’s brief fling. On the plus side, Geri was prepared to be a parent without him anyway, so she got what she originally wanted!

Jack Nicholson is one of those celebrities who’s continuously accused of having various secret children. However, the most convincing is that of model/actress Tessa Gourin. Allegedly, the actor has been financially supporting Tessa and her mother since the day she was born and Jack footed the hospital bill.

Jack also has a son Caleb, whom he now acknowledges after years of adamantly never speaking of him. It’s further rumored that Jack has a handicapped son but there’s yet to be any evidence of that child.

In a rare twist of roles, Christiano Ronaldo was the one to keep the baby’s mother’s identity a secret, rather than wanting his paternity to be kept under covers. For $15 million and a promise to never reveal the mother’s name, Christiano got full custody of his son, Christiano Jr.

The athlete explained, “As agreed with the baby’s mother, who prefers to have her identity kept confidential, my son will be under my exclusive guardianship.”

NFL player Dan Marino went to great lengths to keep his daughter a secret. Dan didn’t want the public to find out that he’d cheated on his wife, so he paid his baby mama several million dollars to relocate.

The football player claims that he did tell his wife about his secret child, as he was trying to hide the truth from the public — not his spouse. Apparently, Dan has spent time with his daughter Chloe but she hasn’t met her half-siblings/Dan’s other six kids.

At a time when acting “unladylike” could ruin one’s Hollywood career, Loretta Young hid the fact that she had been intimate with co-star Clark Gable. That fling resulted in their child, Judy Lewis, who went on to become an actress in her own right.

In order to protect her reputation and career, Loretta had Judy in secret and then proceeded to pretend to adopt her own child. It’s worth noting that it’s highly debatable (at best) whether or not Loretta’s romance with Clark was consensual.

Ray Charles had a very busy life — in more ways than one! The musician was only married twice but he fathered at least 12 children (that he knew of) from nine different women. Not all of those children knew who their famous father was, which created a bit of a sticky situation when Ray passed away.

While he was alive, he offered $500,000 to each child who’d be willing to forgo any further money. However, seven of them still tried to get some form of inheritance from their biological father.

Eric Clapton had two secret love children, due to infidelities while he was married to Pattie Boyd. Tragically, one of the children Conor passed away at the age of four. The second child, Ruth, and the general public seem to disagree as to when Eric entered her life.

The general consensus is that Eric only became a father to Ruth after Conor passed away. However, Ruth claims that Eric was always present in her life. Perhaps he was always there for her but only let the public know later on?

Owen Wilson has three children from two different women but is only interested in being a father to his two boys. Owen’s daughter, Lyla, has never met the actor and it seems that she never will.

While he does pay child support, Owen has made it clear that he has no intention of being a parent to the little girl. Interestingly, he’s managed to keep this part of himself pretty quiet and is still largely regarded as an unproblematic celeb.

Jay-Z’s alleged son is following in his father’s footsteps by becoming a rapper himself. Rymir Satterthwaite claims to be Jay-Z’s offspring and says that his father has even prevented Rymir from becoming too successful in the music industry, as he wants his paternity to remain a secret.

Rymir’s mother has requested a DNA test but Jay-Z has consistently declined. It’s also worth noting that La’Teasha Macer, who’s unrelated to Rymir, claims to be Jay-Z’s secret daughter. Jay-Z has routinely denied both Rymir’s and La’Teasha’s claims.