This article was originally published on Buzzerilla
There is no right or wrong time to start or grow a family and become a parent. Some people want to start families while they are young, while others choose to wait a little longer. For famous women, the choice is much more difficult. Not only are actresses expected to maintain their figure, but acting is a gig job, meaning that until you make it big and have millions of dollars to your name you are essentially only making a paycheck when you are working. For these superstar moms, they were forced to wait until they finally found Hollywood success before taking that major step forward with their families. See what these queens had to overcome and the pride they have in waiting til later in life to enter parenthood while balancing it with their wildly successful careers.
1. Janet Jackson — 50
According to Janet Jackson, there is never a wrong age to have a child. Right before she turned 50, Jackson announced her pregnancy. She postponed her world tour to start planning a family and she couldn't be happier as a mother.
Getting pregnant at an older age comes with its risks, but Jackson said the pregnancy went smoothly. She kept how she was able to get pregnant a secret, but the media made so many speculations about her pregnancy, it was hard to read all the headlines.
2. Kristen Wiig — 46
We all know Kristen Wiig as this hilarious woman who grew to fame on Saturday Night Live, and she shocked the world when she announced that she and her fiance welcomed twins in June 2020 via surrogate. She was 46 when she became a mom, and they are over the moon.
While she has kept most of the details private regarding her twins, she looks beyond happy about finally becoming a mother. Wiig struggled with fertility for three years before deciding to use a surrogate because it was the best decision for her mental and physical health.
3. Mariah Carey — 42
As one of the most anticipated births of 2011, Mariah Carey didn't have an easy journey to get there. The then 42-year-old suffered a miscarriage before undergoing fertility treatments to conceive her twins, Monroe and Moroccan.
Carey shares her twins with ex-husband Nick Cannon, and she revealed her pregnancy was just as difficult as the fertility treatments. She had to de-stress as much as possible, but it all worked out in the end because she got two bundles of joy.
4. Rachel Zoe — 42
Rachel Zoe might be known for her incredible style and fashion company, but she has the important role of being a mom. She was 42 when she announced she was expecting her second child, Kaius Jagger, with her husband, Roger Berman.
Zoe already had one child before that, and when she found out she was pregnant again, she was excited for her son to have a sibling. Zoe has said that her children are the best thing that has happened to her and her husband.
5. Eva Mendes — 40
Notoriously private, Eva Mendes and her long-term partner, Ryan Gosling, somehow managed to keep her first pregnancy completely private despite living in the age of social media and cell phones. She didn't want anyone but her close family and friends to know, but not for health reasons.
Their first daughter was born in 2014, and they welcomed a second daughter when Mendes was 42 in 2016. She still keeps her children's lives out of the public eye, but Mendes loves being a mom. It changed her life entirely for the better.
6. Halle Berry — 41
Halle Berry might be the only person to say she felt like Superwoman throughout both of her pregnancies. She even said she wished she could feel like that all the time. When Berry was 41, she gave birth to her first child.
When she was 47, she had her second child, and she felt just as amazing. She even said she would love to have even more children. Although she didn't think it was possible to conceive, Berry said she would tell other women to do it because of how rewarding the outcome was.
7. Tina Fey — 41
For comedian Tina Fey, the decision to have another baby in her 40s after welcoming her first child was not an easy one. She had hesitations because "Science shows that fertility and movie offers drop off steeply for women after 40."
Despite her concerns, Fey and her husband welcomed their second daughter when she was 41 because she didn't want to look back in a few years and feel like a piece of their family was missing.
8. Nicole Kidman — 44
Nicole Kidman was very candid about her struggles with fertility. In her first marriage to Tom Cruise, she decided to adopt because she struggled to get pregnant. However, in her second marriage, she decided to try again.
Although she thought it wasn't possible, she had two children in her second marriage when she was 41 and 44. While she would have loved to have more children, she wouldn't want to put herself at risk again because of her previous struggles.
9. Celine Dion — 42
The singing superstar was 42 when she gave birth to twin boys with her late husband. Celine Dion went through multiple rounds of IVF before conceiving. She also had to go to a fertility specialist for her oldest son, who she had in her early 30s.
Dion said having children is priceless, which is why she did everything to conceive again. Despite having a miscarriage and four rounds of failed IVF, she wanted to continue trying, which must have been hard on her mental health, but she got two beautiful rewards.
10. Madonna — 42
Madonna had her second child, Rocco, when she was 42-years-old. After giving birth to her daughter in her late 30s, Madonna wanted to expand her family. She also adopted four children in her life for a total of six children.
However, having children didn't seem to slow down the pop star. Every time we turn around, Madonna is performing somewhere, and her children are right by her side. She has also let them blossom into whoever they want to be.
11. Brooke Shields — 41
Brooke Shields and her husband Chris Henchy had their second daughter Grier in 2006 when she was 40. In the years before Grier's birth, Shields had trouble conceiving, and they had to do multiple rounds of IVF with no success.
Shields was ready to call it quits but decided to do one more round of the process, and luckily, became pregnant. She is now the spokeswoman for Fertility Lifelines, a resource that provides information to women struggling with fertility.
12. Tamron Hall — 48
Talk show host Tamron Hall gave birth to her first child with her husband Steven Greener when she was 48-years-old. She only announced that she was expecting a child a month before giving birth because it was such a high-risk pregnancy.
After she welcomed her son Moses, Hall said her pregnancy was high risk because of her age and other health factors. She wanted to share her journey, but she didn't want to deal with it publicly in case something went wrong.
13. Naomi Watts — 40
The British actress and producer began building her family in 2007 with now ex-husband Liev Schreiber with the birth of her son Sasha when she was 39. A year later, she expanded her family with another son when she turned 40.
In an interview, Watts said, "Having children later in life is interesting. From an intellectual point of view, you've had a lot of time to research and figure out how you want to raise them." She appreciates all the time she had to learn and couldn't be happier as a mom.
14. Gwen Stefani — 44
We all know Gwen Stefani as the lead singer of No Doubt and the funky woman who brought us so many iconic outfits, but to her children, she is known simply as "mom." When she was married to Gavin Rossdale, Stefani has two children while she was still in her 30s.
In September 2013, the news broke that Stefani was expecting her third child with Rossdale. She gave birth to Apollo in February 2014 when she was 44-years-old and called him her "miracle baby." She had struggled to get pregnant in her early 40s and feels lucky to have given birth to her youngest.
15. Alyssa Milano — 41
After having her first son, Milo Thomas, in 2011, and decided she was ready for another child three years later. When Milano was 41, she welcomed her daughter Elizabella. She went from working on all of her different projects to waiting in line for soccer pick-up like any other mom.
When asked if she wanted more children, Milano once said, "Why push my luck?" She thought about adopting in a few years, but she has a lot going on with work and feels complete with her family as it is.
16. Kim Basinger — 41
Kim Basinger and her then-husband, Alec Baldwin, welcomed their daughter Ireland in 1995 when Basinger was 41, and she was so happy to be a mother. Although the couple filed for divorce five years later, they continued to co-parent.
While Kim Basinger has no regrets about waiting to have children later, Alec Baldwin said he wished he had more time, especially with his younger children that he had with his second wife.
17. Karina Smirnoff — 41
When Dancing With The Stars pro, Karina Smirnoff decided to freeze her eggs when she was 36, she didn't know when she would use them, but she wanted to have a child at some point. Her professional life was on the rise, and it wasn't the right time to start a family.
In December 2019, Smirnoff announced she was pregnant at 41 and welcomed her son in 2020. She did not say who the father was, but she was excited to start a family after being so busy for most of her adult life.
18. Uma Thurman — 42
After having two kids with ex-husband Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman welcomed her third child when she was 42. Her daughter, Rosalind Arusha Arkadina Altalune Florence Thurman-Busson, aka Luna, was everything she had hoped for.
Thurman said in an interview, "When I was younger and became a mother, I didn't think I could do anything else and was completely overwhelmed." Now that she is older, she feels like she doesn't have the "mom guilt" when she has to work.
19. Kris Jenner — 41
It's no secret that Kris Jenner was quite the fertile lady in her day. She had her first daughter, Kourtney when she was just 23 and then had five more children after that. She eventually had Kylie Jenner during her second marriage when she was 41.
Kris Jenner is probably the proudest mom in the world because she gets ten percent of whatever her children do. She has always said that she loved having babies around the house and loved being a mom. It is what made her the famous matriarch.
20. Julianne Moore — 41
Julianne Moore gave birth to her son Caleb when she was in her late 30s and had her daughter five years later when the actress was 41. She and her husband Bart Freundlich were excited to complete their family with their daughter.
Moore's children are now teenagers, and she said she keeps them grounded by making sure they live normal lives. Their family is solid, and it is the most satisfying thing she has ever done in her life.
21. Kelly Preston — 48
After the heartbreaking loss of their son Jett when he was just 16, Kelly Preston and John Travolta announced they were expecting another child in 2010. Shortly after the late star turned 48, she delivered a baby boy named Benjamin.
Preston didn't consider the risks of having a baby later in life, but she knew it would be difficult. She said Benjamin helped her family heal after losing Jett. People sent them letters from all over the world to congratulate them on their newest edition.
22. Salma Hayek — 40
When Selma Hayek was 40-years-old, she gave birth to her daughter Valentina Paloma Pinault in 2007. Hayek said, "I am a more fulfilled human being now than I was ten years ago. She gets a better mother for being born now."
Hayek said her pregnancy had many complications, including extreme nausea for the entirety of the nine months, but she could not have been happier to be a mom. Because she had her daughter later, she doesn't feel like she is missing out on anything now.
23. Susan Sarandon — 45
Susan Sarandon has had an incredible career, and she is even luckier because, during their height of her success, she welcomed three children, two of them when she was over 40. She had her son Jack at 42 and Miles when she was 45.
When she discussed her decision to have children later in life, Sarandon said she was never in a hurry. She was told she would never be a mother, but she got pregnant naturally with all three children.
24. Molly Ringwald — 41
Molly Ringwald is mostly known for her starring role in The Breakfast Club, but in 2009 she got another role as mother to twins. The actress was 41 at the time, and her pregnancy was written into her role on The Secret Life of the American Teenager.
Ringwald wanted to continue working because it was special to her, and she eventually had to go on maternity leave because she was having twins, which made her a high-risk pregnancy. Although she had to take time off work, she said it was obviously worth becoming a mom.
25. Helen Hunt — 40
When actress Helen Hunt was 40 years old, she welcomed her daughter Makena Lei Gordon. However, it didn't come without its challenges. In a 2008 interview, Hunt said, "It turned out to be tougher to get pregnant than I thought it would be."
Hunt also said, "I tried for a long time, and it just didn't happen, to the point where getting pregnant was my greatest wish." She started to consider adoption when she finally got pregnant. She also had a son in 1998.
26. Meryl Streep — 42
Already a mom to two daughters and a son, Meryl Streep gave birth to her fourth child, Louisa Jacobson Gummer, in 1991, right before her 42nd birthday. However, Streep has always been very tight-lipped about her pregnancies.
It is unknown if Streep has any struggles with pregnancy, but one thing we do know is how she is an amazing mom who has always wanted the best for her children. Despite her busy schedule, she is there whenever they need her.
27. Marcia Cross — 45
After marrying Tom Mahoney in 2006, Marcia Cross gave birth to twins in February 2007, right before turning 45. Cross knew her chances of conceiving were a bit lower because of her age, and instead of a honeymoon, the couple began IVF treatments.
Although she couldn't be happier with her two girls, Cross has said that she always regretted not having children earlier in life. She also said motherhood is like being madly in love, like taking the greatest love affair and magnifying it.
28. Jennifer Connelly — 40
When Jennifer Connelly was 40, she and her husband Paul Bettany added a daughter to their family of four. Connelly already had two sons, but she had always hoped for a little girl and felt so lucky to find out she was having a girl.
Besides extreme nausea and strong cravings, her pregnancy went smoothly. Her daughter Agnes is almost ten years old now, and she could not be more excited to continue to watch her grow up. There is nothing more special than being a mother regardless of age.
29. Diane Kruger — 42
Diane Kruger and her boyfriend, Norman Reedus, had their first baby in 2018 when the actress was 42. She kept most of her pregnancy private, but she revealed that she was happy she waited to start a family.
Kruger said, "I didn't want children for a long time. I was too selfish, but by the time I got to about 35, I thought, yes, I probably do want one. But then you have to wait for the right person to come along."
30. Jane Krakowski — 42
Although the 30 Rock alum welcomed her son at 42, her pregnancy was not written into the show. Jane Krakowski said, "No one thinks my character Jenna would be a fit mother." Although her character wasn't meant to be a mom, we can't say the same about Jane.
Since her son was born, she has been nothing but a doting mother. When she was 39, Krakowski realized she might have missed the opportunity to have a family because it was never a priority, but she is happy to be a mother now.
31. Jane Seymor — 44
At 44 years old, the British actress gave birth to twins Johnny and Kris with her ex-husband James Keach. The actress struggled to add to her family, so she had to go through ICF treatments to have her twins.
It was hard for her to think she wouldn't be a mother, but she finally got pregnant. Seymor could not have been happier to be a mother because it was what she wanted for so long. She wished she tried earlier, but she believed that everything happened for a reason.
32. Christie Brinkley — 44
After suffering three miscarriages, the model and her now ex-husband, Peter Cook, went through IVF to conceive their daughter Sailor when she was 44. She already had two children prior, but she wanted to expand her family.
Brinkley and her daughter could not be more alike, and they are extremely close. When she finally gave birth to Sailor, it was magical because of the struggle she went through to bring her into the world.
33. Iman — 45
Iman first gave birth to her first daughter when she was in her 20s and still married to former NBA star Spencer Haywood. Almost 25 years later, Iman married the late David Bowie and became pregnant again when she was 45.
Iman said her second daughter was a miracle. She had tried IVF, and it didn't work, so the couple started to think about adoption. However, she became pregnant by chance, and all her wishes came true to be a mom again.
34. Mary Stuart Masterson — 44
Mary Stuart Masterson and her husband, actor Jeremy Davidson gave birth to their first child when she was 43. To their surprise, 17 months later, Masterson announced she was pregnant again with twins at 44.
Masterson said that balancing a family and work was a challenge, especially with three children under the age of 2. Although it was a huge life change, it was the best surprise they could have received.
35. Marcia Gay Harden — Early 40s
The First Wives Club actress was in her early forties when she had her first child. Her daughter Eulala Grace was a miracle, and she had wanted to become a mother for a while.
A few years later, she wanted to expand her family, and she gave birth to twins Hudson and Julitta. She went through IVF to have her twins, and it was rewarding to go from a family of three to a family of five overnight.
36. Beverly D’Angelo — 49
In 2001, actress Beverly D'Angelo gave birth to twins Anton and Olivia with her husband, Al Pacino. Although she was approaching 50, and the risks were high, D'Angelo decided to go through the IVF process, and it was a success.
D'Angelo was nervous because of her age, and she was extremely uncomfortable at the end of her pregnancy. However, she gave birth to two healthy babies, which is what she had hoped and prayed for during the entire process.
37. Annette Bening — 42
While sharing ice cream at the end of their first official date, Warren Beatty asked Annette Bening if she wanted to have children with him. She said yes, and they eventually had four children together, the youngest when Annette was 42.
Bening was happy she waited to have children so she could focus on her career and make sure she was with the right man. If there is any man to have children with, it is the legendary bachelor Warren Beatty.
38. Courtney Cox — 40
Courtney Cox was just shy of her 40th birthday when she gave birth to her daughter Coco with her then-husband David Arquette. Like her character in Friends, Cox struggled to get pregnant and decided to go through IVF.
Cox struggled but eventually got pregnant during the final season of the show. In the last episode, you can kind of see her bump. After miscarriages and two IVF rounds, she finally had her daughter, who she calls her best friend.
39. Jill Wagner — 42
The Hallmark Channel star, Jill Wagner, debuted her baby bump in April 2021 and recently gave birth at 24. She wrote in a post on Instagram, "We are blessed with another bundle of joy and overwhelmed with love."
When she discovered she was pregnant, she was training for an upcoming role, and she felt amazing. Wagner said she was in the best shape of her life and better shape than she was when she had her first child.
40. Mena Suvari — 42
In October 2020, the American Beauty star announced she was expecting her first baby with her husband, Michael Hope. Just a few days ago, she posted her first picture with her son who was born at the end of April 2021.
Suvari is 42, but she didn't think there was a right or wrong time to start a family. Before having her son, she was focusing on work and building a career, and now she is ready to take some time off to be a mom.