10 celebrities with surprisingly large families — and how many kids they have
10 celebrities with surprisingly large families — and how many kids they have
Brianna ZiglerWed, November 11, 2026 at 11:30 AM UTC
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Nick Cannon; Marie Osmond; Marlon BrandoCredit: Derek White/Getty; Adela Loconte/WireImage; Screen Archives/Getty
Joining the Hollywood rat race doesn’t necessarily mean you have to give up on the dream of settling down and having a family. In some cases, it actually means having a larger family than average.
Big families aren’t the norm in show business, but they do happen from time to time. Some stars, like Mia Farrow and Marlon Brando, have adopted children in addition to having biological ones, while others, like Nick Cannon and Mick Jagger, have welcomed children with multiple partners. Still, balancing a large family with a demanding Hollywood career can present challenges, as Brando himself once acknowledged.
“I think that perhaps I failed as a father,” Brando said at a 1991 sentencing hearing for his son Christian. “I’m certain that there were things that I could have done differently, had I known better at the time. But I didn’t.”
Ahead, Entertainment Weekly looks into 10 celebrities with surprisingly large families, how many children they have, and what their kids have said about their famous parents.
01 of 10
Nick Cannon
Nick Cannon attends the 57th NAACP Image Awards Official BET Dinner in Los Angeles on Feb. 27, 2026Credit: Paras Griffin/Getty
Actor, rapper, and The Masked Singer host Nick Cannon has had 12 kids with six different mothers (one child, Zen, died at five months old in 2021 due to a brain tumor). His first kids came from his marriage to pop star Mariah Carey, with whom he shares twins, the eldest of his children and, shockingly, one of two sets of twins he’s fathered — the second with Abby De La Rosa in 2021. In 2022 alone, Cannon welcomed five children with five different women, something he admitted to Vulture in 2025 was “probably careless activity.”
“It was more of being careless, being frivolous with my process because I could do it,” he elaborated on The Breakfast Club in 2025, “because I had the money, because I had the access to whoever and however I wanted to move.”
Indeed, Cannon once acknowledged that balancing a large family with a busy entertainment career weighed on him. “Being a father of multiple kids, it’s always the biggest guilt on me is that I don’t get to spend enough time with all my children,” Cannon explained during a December 2022 episode of The Checkup with Dr. Agus. “One ‘cause I’m constantly working and two because I’m just spread thin.”
In the Vulture interview, Cannon said he wasn’t planning to have any more kids anytime soon — but he didn’t rule out the possibility. “The world is a crazy place. I never say ‘never’!”
02 of 10
Marlon Brando
Marlon BrandoCredit: Herbert Dorfman/Corbis via Getty
Hollywood screen legend Marlon Brando had 11 acknowledged children during his lifetime: eight biological children with four different women and three adopted children. However, not all of them went on to have easy lives.
Though nine of his kids are still alive today, two died prematurely. His firstborn, Christian, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter after killing his sister Cheyenne’s boyfriend in 1990, served nearly five years in prison, and died of complications from pneumonia in 2008. Cheyenne herself had a troubled relationship with her father and struggled with mental health issues, dying by suicide at age 25 in 1995.
Brando’s surviving children largely live out of the spotlight. One, daughter Rebecca, is a clinical psychologist, while some of his children helped establish a luxury resort on the Tahitian atoll of Tetiaroa, which their father once owned.
Though Brando didn’t have the best relationship with all of his kids, some remember their father fondly. In a 2015 joint interview with The Guardian alongside his sister Rebecca, Brando’s son Miko described his father as “a loving, caring, funny father and just a good person to be with.”
Meanwhile, Rebecca acknowledged that her dad “wasn’t perfect” and could be “moody and distant,” but added, “For the most part he was fun and funny. He had such a presence, even his silence was just impactful. You always wanted to know what he was thinking because he was just so charismatic and magnetic — even to his own children.”
03 of 10
Mia Farrow
Mia Farrow attends the 78th Annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on June 8, 2025Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty
Rosemary’s Baby star Mia Farrow was certainly not scared off from having kids after starring in a film about conceiving the spawn of Satan. Her family consists of 14 children, four biological and 10 adopted. She had three biological sons and adopted three daughters with composer André Previn, while she welcomed another biological son, Ronan, during her relationship with actor-director Woody Allen. She adopted several other children on her own.
Ronan has gone on to become an accomplished journalist. However, Farrow’s family has frequently been mired in tragedy and controversy. Three of her adopted children — Tam, Lark, and Thaddeus — died prematurely. Daughter Dylan has alleged that her adoptive father, Allen, sexually abused her as a child — allegations Allen has denied. Another adopted child, Moses, defended Allen against the allegations.
Another of Farrow’s adopted children, Soon-Yi Previn, ultimately married Allen. Estranged from her adoptive mother, Soon-Yi and Allen are still together and share two adopted daughters.
Despite her large family, Farrow told Vanity Fair in 2013 that “there were never more than eight children at a time living at home.”
04 of 10
DMX during a live performanceCredit: Prince Williams/Wireimage
Late rapper DMX claimed to have fathered 15 children during his lifetime (once exclaiming during a concert, “I’m gon’ f--- all of you, ‘cause you don’t understand — I got 15 kids!”) though, according to the New York Post, there was some uncertainty surrounding the number of children he may have had through affairs. Coupled with his lack of a will, the number of children claiming to be his heirs complicated an already contentious battle over DMX’s estate after he died in 2021.
He fathered four children with ex-wife Tashera Simmons, but reportedly had children with nine different women. His youngest children, twin boys named Aidyn and K’ydn, were born in 2019, two years before the “X Gon’ Give It to Ya” artist died at age 50 from a heart attack. The twins were also among the children honored during the rapper’s funeral proceedings.
When discussing his many children during a 2016 appearance on The Breakfast Club (via Complex), DMX described himself as “not a total piece of s---” as he explained that some of his kids know each other based on where they lived. “I have kids in the same county. I have a few in New York, a few in L.A.,” he said.
05 of 10
Bob Marley
Bob Marley performing live in concertCredit: Michael Ochs Archives via getty
Iconic reggae artist Bob Marley died in 1981 at age 36 from acral lentiginous melanoma, leaving behind 11 acknowledged children. The “Three Little Birds” singer welcomed three biological kids with his wife, Rita Marley, and adopted two of her daughters from other relationships. However, Marley also fathered six additional children during his marriage to Rita, with six different women.
When asked about her husband’s infidelity, Rita told PEOPLE in 1984 that it didn’t faze her. “It gives me more love for Bob to have him hand these legacies down to me. I never mingled in the other women’s affairs. I was always his very special one,” she said.
Many of Marley’s kids went on to have successful careers in music, entertainment, and sports. In fact, four of Marley’s kids formed a band called Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers, which included arguably the best-known of Marley’s offspring, Ziggy.
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Speaking about his father’s legacy with Rolling Stone in 2014, Ziggy said, “Bob means to to them according to the impact he had on their lives. For some of us, he will be a friend, a father, a brother. For others, he would be a legend, a king, a prophet. He was all of those things, but not all of those things all the time. Sometimes he was just a regular person just having fun.”
06 of 10
Eddie Murphy
Eddie Murphy attends the 51st AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute To Eddie Murphy on April 18, 2026, in HollywoodCredit: Savion Washington/Getty
Funnyman Eddie Murphy began his long fatherhood journey in 1989 when he welcomed his firstborn, Eric Murphy. That journey continued as recently as 2018, with the birth of his 10th child with his current wife, Paige Butcher. Murphy has welcomed children with five different women over the years, including former Spice Girl Mel B. He’s also incredibly grateful for all of his kids.
“I am so blessed with my kids,” he said on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast in March 2021. “I don’t have one bad seed. I don’t have any like, ‘Oh, you are the one.’ I don’t have any of that. My kids are so great, normal people — and nobody is like the Hollywood jerk kid.”
While some of Murphy’s kids prefer a low profile, others caught the acting bug. However, Murphy has a hard-and-fast rule for the aspiring performers in his family: no acting before their 18th birthday.
“I would always ask my dad, ‘Can I please be an extra in this movie, please?’” Bella Murphy, who appeared in the Netflix comedy Roommates (2026), told PEOPLE in May 2026. “He’d always say, ‘No.’”
When asked about the reason for the rule, Bella explained that her dad wanted his kids to have “a normal childhood,” which she was ultimately “very appreciative of.”
07 of 10
Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson in Los Angeles on Sept. 24, 2024Credit: Chelsea Lauren/Shutterstock
With three different partners, Braveheart star Mel Gibson shares nine children, seven of whom he fathered with his first wife, Robyn Moore, during their nearly three-decade marriage. After the two separated in 2006, Gibson had one daughter with then-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva and eventually welcomed his ninth and most recent child with ex-partner Rosalind Ross in 2017.
Two of Gibson’s adult children, Hannah and Christian, have worked in the film industry, including on their dad’s movies. Meanwhile, Louie Gibson is a horror filmmaker and married to The Americans actress Annet Mahendru.
Ahead of the birth of his ninth child, Lars, Gibson told ABC News’ “Popcorn with Peter Travers” that he was looking forward to welcoming another baby. “It’s good” having so many kids. “I dig it. You know, it’s a blessing — another life. I look forward to it. … I’m getting better at it. As you go, you get better.”
08 of 10
Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger attends the 2026 New York City Ballet Spring Gala on May 7, 2026, in New York CityCredit: Theo Wargo/Getty
Rockers have a certain rep for siring lots of kids with lots of different women, and the same can certainly be said of Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger — who welcomed his eighth child at the age of 73 in 2016 with his current fiancée, 39-year-old Melanie Hamrick. His eight kids come from relationships with five different women, and their professions are as varied as their backgrounds, ranging from musician and model to filmmaker and jewelry designer.
Speaking about her bond with her famous family in a 2018 essay for British Vogue, Jagger’s second-oldest child, Jade, wrote, “The ties that bind us are stronger than ever, not just within our immediate family, but the Jagger clan as a whole.”
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“My father now has eight children with five partners — a globetrotting support network that seems to be ever expanding,” Jade continued. “In any given year, the whole lot of us might decamp to the Caribbean for a holiday or hit the road in Europe for a Rolling Stones tour — family gatherings where traditional roles lose all meaning amid the chaos and laughter.”
She added, “As a general rule, we’re too busy trying to find a restaurant that will accommodate several dozen screaming Jaggers for the evening to worry about someone’s place in the family tree.”
09 of 10
Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder performs in Chicago on the third day of the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 21, 2024Credit: SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty
Stevie Wonder wrote the hit 1976 song “Isn’t She Lovely?” after the birth of his first child, daughter Aisha, with then-girlfriend Yolanda Simmons. Since then, Wonder has welcomed eight more children — and one wonders whether any of them ever wished for an original song to celebrate their own birth.
In any case, Wonder welcomed his nine children with several women, including ex-girlfriend Simmons, ex-wife Kai Millard, current wife Tomeeka Robyn Bracy, and vocalist Melody McCully. The identities of the mothers of two of Wonder’s kids, Sophia and Kwame, have remained private.
Wonder has expressed gratitude to the mothers of his kids. “I give a lot of credit to the mothers of my children,” Wonder told O, The Oprah Magazine in 2004. “They’ve raised the children well.”
The “Superstition” singer also emphasized that he was not an absent parent, despite his large family. “I’m not one of those fathers who just send money,” he said. “I guide them as a father and talk to them as a friend. I always want my children to feel they can tell me anything.”
10 of 10
Marie Osmond
Marie OsmondCredit: Gabe Ginsberg/FilmMagic
One of nine children in the famous Osmond family, Marie Osmond went on to have a large family of her own. The singer and actress has had eight kids: her firstborn, Stephen Jr., with her first husband, Stephen Craig, and seven with her second husband, Brian Blosil, two biological and five adopted. In 2011, Osmond remarried Craig, and the two have remained married ever since.
The family has also experienced tragedy. In 2010, Osmond’s 18-year-old adopted son Michael died by suicide.
Osmond told PEOPLE in 2019 that her kids are “all really hard workers,” in addition to being good people. “They are kind to each other and try really hard to be kind to people,” she said. “Some of my kids are adopted and I can’t remember which ones, but some of them are more like me than my biological and I’m like, ‘I know why God sent you to me!’”
In a 2021 discussion with The Saturday Evening Post about her large, blended family, Osmond expressed gratitude for her children’s differences. “I believe that the greatest growth in my life came from having children ... They’re the ones that fill my heart full of joy and love.”
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