How 15 Celebrities’ Kids Found Out Their Parents Were Truly Famous
When we are children, we don’t have a very complete perception of what is going on around us, especially with our parents. We tend to call them “dad” or “mom” and think that those are their names, and we are not even entirely clear about what they do for a living. This also happens with the children of celebrities, who, when they find out how famous their parents are, are usually very surprised.
Bright Side found the stories about the “surprises” that the children of 15 celebrity couples got when they realized how popular their parents are.
1. Ricky Martin’s sons Valentino and Matteo
In an interview, Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin commented that whenever his twins traveled to concerts with him, he kept them backstage. When they were old enough to see one of their dad’s shows, they got a surprise.
“One day, when the kids were old enough, I told them to go to the front of the house. After they saw the lights and the whole show, they came up to me and said, ’Daddy, you’re Ricky Martin!’ I replied: ’I’m not Ricky Martin, I’m your father! And they immediately replied with ’No, no, no, no, you’re Ricky Martin,’ and everything changed.”
2. Lincoln and Delta, the daughters of Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell
On The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, comedian Dax Shepard shared what happened when his daughters found out that he and his wife Kristen Bell were famous.
One of the girls asked him if people listen to his podcast because of him or because of his co-host. Dax explained that they initially started listening because of him. His daughter asked him, “But why?” and he said, “Well, baby, because daddy is famous!” His daughter was completely shocked and asked, “Does Mom know?” and Shepard replied, “Of course, my love, your mom is more famous than I am!”
3. Kaia Gerber, daughter of Cindy Crawford
In 2017, supermodel Cindy Crawford’s daughter Kaia Gerber shared with Teen Vogue magazine how she first learned about her mother’s fame. “I think it was on my eighth birthday at Disneyland when I started to understand what was going on. I wanted to take pictures with the princesses, and everyone wanted to take pictures with her,” the model said.
4. Brooklyn Beckham, son of David Beckham
In 2017, Victoria and David Beckham’s son, photographer Brooklyn Beckham, told Wonderland magazine how he discovered at age 13 that his father was a sports celebrity. “I went to a soccer game and people were shouting my dad’s name and my reaction was, ’What, oh my gosh, I don’t see it that way.’”
5. Moses, son of Gwyneth Paltrow
In 2013, Gwyneth Paltrow discussed in an interview what happened to her son Moses when he found out about her fame. They were going to go see Justin Bieber and immediately her son made the connection: Justin Bieber and the other people he thought were so cool actually knew who his mom was because she appeared in the Iron Man movie. Considering this was all a recent thing for him, he concluded, “Ah, you’re in the movie!”
6. Brandon and Dylan, sons of Pamela Anderson
Pamela Anderson revealed how her sons, Brandon and Dylan, questioned her when they found out about her fame.
“They came up to me and said, ’Mom, are you Pamela Anderson!’ and I said, ’Yes!’ And they were like, ’What?’ They were like, ’What? Why are people saying that? Are you really Pamela Anderson?’ and I said, ’Well, yes!’”
7. Luca Comrie, son of Hilary Duff
Hilary Duff said that her son Luca Comrie gradually became aware of her celebrity status. At first, the little boy saw his mother on magazine covers and assumed it was just something moms do. That was until a classmate revealed his mother’s name to him (or so Hilary believes). She clarified that Luca, at first, didn’t even know her name, he simply called her “mom,” and one good day, her son told her: “I know your name, Hilary Duff.”
8. Jack Quaid, son of Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid
Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid’s son, Jack Quaid, opened up about what it was like to grow up with famous parents.
"I fully recognize that the way I grew up wasn’t normal, but at the same time, despite what my parents did, they’re still mom and dad. It’s not like sitting around with some characters at dinner, my dad was never Jerry Lee Lewis at my graduation, and nothing was handled that way. From my perspective, if the other kids I grew up with had had famous parents as actors, then they would have thought, ’That’s the way of the world!"’
9. Georgia May, daughter of Mick Jagger
Georgia May Jagger, the youngest daughter of Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall, was asked in an interview if she was aware as a child that her parents’ jobs were not ordinary jobs, to which she replied:
“Not really, when I went on tour with my dad, I knew he was a musician, but they were my parents. I still think of my mom as kind of a clown, a cool one, but still a clown.”
10. Alexa Ray, daughter of Christie Brinkley and Billy Joel
When she was little, Christie Brinkley and Billy Joel’s daughter, Alexa Ray, didn’t know her parents were 2 international stars. While growing up on Long Island, they tried to hide from her how famous they were, so she had no idea. Christie commented that when everyone would wave at them, Alexa just thought they were popular in the neighborhood.
11. Michael Joseph, son of Michael Jackson
In an interview with Good Morning America, Michael Jackson’s son, Michael Joseph Jackson, said it never occurred to him or his siblings that their father was a pop star.
“I think when we first realized it, was when we saw videos of him performing. Then I thought, ’OK, it’s normal to see women fainting at concerts.’ But what surprised me the most was when I saw big-muscled men fainting, so I thought, ’There’s something else going on here,’” he laughed.
12. Luca Dotti, son of Audrey Hepburn
Luca Dotti, Audrey Hepburn’s youngest son, commented in an interview for People that he didn’t know his mother was a world-famous movie star.
“She was just a simple country girl.” When reporters would ask Luca about Audrey Hepburn, he would say, “I don’t know who you’re talking about, you must be mistaken, my mother’s name is Dotti.” “I didn’t know she was Audrey Hepburn until I was 6 years old,” Luca added.
13. Caleb and Liv, children of Julianne Moore
Julianne Moore expressed that her children, Caleb and Liv, never thought their mother was so famous.
“A few years ago, when I won an award, they were at one of those film clubs. They had seen one or 2 of my films, but they didn’t know about all of them — so they came to me, amazed and shocked. First, they were shocked that I had made so many movies, and then because I was doing scandalous scenes,” Moore added.
14. Hazel, daughter of Emily Blunt and John Krasinski
Emily Blunt shared that she and her husband, John Krasinski, never used the word “famous” in their home so their daughters would remain oblivious to the fame. One day their oldest daughter, Hazel, came up to mom and asked, “Are you famous?”
Emily assumed someone at school had told her, and asked her, but the girl lost interest on the spot and said no more. “What I don’t want is for my daughters to feel important or special or for there to be the slightest glimmer of them feeling different from other kids. If they can ignore the fame for as long as possible, that would make me happy,” added Blunt.
15. Rumer, daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore
Rumer Willis is the eldest daughter of actors Bruce Willis and Demi Moore. She mentioned that she didn’t understand how famous her parents were. “We would go to Disneyland and people would come up and try to get their picture taken and I didn’t understand,” Rumer said.
What do you think about these celebrities hiding their fame from their children for as long as possible?