Single Mom Minnie Driver Had Her “Miracle” Son at 38, Proving That Life Is a Journey We Can’t Plan For

Hollywood actress Minnie Driver is a proud, hands-on mama to her 14-year-old son, Henry. The now 52-year-old star had him at age 38 after being told that she could never bear a child, and she decided to raise her “miracle” son as a single mom. Her journey proves to us that life is an unpredictable and challenging adventure, where the unconditional love we have for our kids is the fuel that gives us the force to move forward and thrive.

She was told at 18 that she was barren.

Just as she was becoming a young woman, Minnie Driver was told that she would never be able to have a child. The actress revealed that an insensitive doctor told her at 18 that nothing’s “going through” her uterus, and that she couldn’t get pregnant. She recalls, “So I believed him and I believed him through my whole life.”

This is why when her sister suspected one day that she could be pregnant, the actress replied, “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m barren.” In fact, Driver explained that she woke up with the flu on January 1, and she felt bummed. She said, “I had just recently broken up with someone who was nice but wasn’t my partner. I didn’t have kids. I didn’t have a job.”

Yet to her huge surprise, it turned out that those were pregnancy symptoms, and the young woman was about to become a mother. She exclaimed, “This is a miracle,” adding, “I always loved an adventure, and here was this great late-stage adventure.”

She kept the dad’s identity a secret.

On September 2008, a delighted 38-year-old Minnie Driver welcomed her baby boy, Henry, to this world. However, she preferred to keep the identity of the dad a secret, saying, “I’m not getting married to this person.” And the new mom already had plans on how she’d spend her one-on-one time with Henry, including spending a lot of time on the beach. She admitted, “I love the ocean, and this baby will probably be surfing and swimming before it can walk.”

However, 4 years later, the actress was ready to reveal the identity of the dad, explaining, ’’I don’t need to protect him anymore.’’ She said that he was a writer on her former television show, The Riches. The actress explained, ’’We weren’t together, and he wasn’t directly in the business, so I chose to protect him and not have a rain of publicity.’’

And when asked if he was a good dad, the single mom replied, ’’He’s figuring it out." She added, "I mean, he hasn’t been that involved, his choice.’’ She then assured, ’’But he is now.’’

Single motherhood is like an insane earthquake.

No one can say that raising a child all alone is an easy thing. In fact, back in 2012, Driver explained that she would love to have more children. But she insisted that if she one day has a second child, the father should be involved in the child’s life. She opened up, explaining, ’’I couldn’t do 2 as a single mum, I really couldn’t. It would be too much.’’

The actress shared that being a single mom is like an “insane earthquake.” She explained how overwhelming and intense her life is, admitting “If he’s sleeping, I’m trying to sleep, and when you’re breastfeeding, you’re the milk machine.”

Yet, the fulfilled mama says that her son is worth the effort, and that she wouldn’t change being a mother for the whole world. She added, “There’s no amount of hassle that could be bigger than my love for Henry and the hilarity and joy that he has brought into my life.”

Finally finding love

Today, Henry is a teenager, and the doting mama was able to build a special bond with her only child. For a long time, it was mainly just the 2 of them, and Driver was super judicious about who she would introduce to him. In fact, the protective mama refused to allow men that she was seeing into her son’s life. She once explained, ’’I don’t believe children should meet someone who you’re just casually dating.’’

However, things seem to have changed these past few years, and everything appears to be falling into place in Driver’s personal life. In fact, the 52-year-old actress seems to have finally found happiness with 43-year-old filmmaker Addison O’Dea, who she’s been with since 2019. She also shared a cute photo of her son and partner together on her Instagram.

Life never goes as planned.

Driver’s “miracle” pregnancy is a great example of how the universe can always surprise us when we least expect it. In fact, the actress once shared, “I thought that love would come first and then a baby.” She was also quick to add, “But it’s only us that apply all of our strictures and dogma to what it should look like.” She also recalls her mom telling her, “You should bury the word ’should’ in the backyard and forget about it.”

After all, we can’t control life or predict it, and that is what makes it so beautiful and exciting. And there is no right or wrong way to do things or a time schedule we need to stick by, we only have to trust the journey and see where it takes us.

What do you think of Minnie Driver’s journey through single motherhood? Do you agree that life will surprise us when we don’t see it coming?