There are so many advantages that come along with becoming a parent at an older age: Infinitely more patience, a stronger sense of self, and a fuller understanding of the world, to name just a few.
We zeroed in on some celebrities who have become parents in their 40s and beyond to find out what their experiences have been like. From Cameron Diaz to Eva Longoria, these public figures have opened up about the unique joys and challenges that come along with having a child later in life. Hoda Kotb discussed some of the scary mental math she has to do. Diaz really doesn’t mind being the oldest mom in her friend group. And Laura Linney has found herself completely changed in so many wonderful, surprising ways.
Plus, George Clooney is learning the ins and outs of parenting in his 60s and it’s been an exciting ride. “Now my house is filled with the warm sounds of babies crying,” he told The Hollywood Reporterin 2017. “You should see when my friends show up and see me change a diaper, the laughter that comes from them. I go, ‘I know, I know.’ I’ve given them so much sh*t for so many years, I deserve every bit of it.”
Read on for some of our favorite quotes from some of our favorite celebrities on being older parents.
A version of this article was originally published in June 2022.
Mariska Hargitay
Mariska Hargitay told People about why she’s so happy she’s an older mom, saying, “I’m so grateful that I’m an older mom. Grateful that I became successful older. I don’t know if I could have handled it when I was younger.”
She added, “When I was younger I wasn’t as present but as I’ve gotten older I’ve started to accept and appreciate. And now I’m going to savor this moment. I want to share my lessons and where there is pain that I can fix that really inspires me to lighten the load.”
Laura Linney
Becoming a mom at 49 to son Bennett Armistead Schauer has changed Laura Linney in big, important ways.
“In the first year of being a mom, I realized there were muscles in my face that had never been used before. When looking at my son, I was smiling in a way I never had before. My face was sore all the time,” Linney told PEOPLE. “Motherhood changes you on a cellular level. It literally infuses the cells of your body, and they behave differently. Fatigue is different. Joy is different. Fear is different. Anxiety is different. All of your emotions become more potent.”
Anthony Michael Hall
Anthony Michael Hall became a first-time dad in June 2023, and he told People of the experience, “It’s been amazing to really fully be in parent mode. I couldn’t be happier because I always knew, even when I was a young man, that I wanted to get started later. Here I am at 55, and I’m fully committed,” he said.
“I’m excited. My wife and I are really into parenting and diving in,” Hall shared, adding, “We’re enjoying the simple things like taking strolls on the beach, holding him and feeding him.”
Hoda Kotb
Hoda Kotb is mom to daughters Haley Joy and Hope Catherine. The talk show host has been candid about the wonderful highs and some of the scary lows of being an older parent.
“As an older mom, I think there are a lot of beautiful parts and challenges too. I see all the good parts about being an older mom. Like, I’m in my own skin, I know who I am, I’ve got much more patience and love,” Kotb, 57, said during an episode of Today with Hoda & Jenna. “But along with that also comes the fact that you’re an older mother… that is a big thought and worry and you wonder, you do the math a lot and that’s something I don’t like doing because it’s scary.”
On April 15, 2023, she also revealed the terrifying mom-shaming hate mail she gets, and how she works to ignore the hate.
Diane Kruger
Diane Kruger had her daughter when she was 42 years old, and she explained her decision to wait to become a parent until her 40s to the Sunday Telegraph, per PEOPLE.
“I am so glad I did not have a kid at 30,” the actress said. “I think I would have absolutely resented it for all the things that you have to give up, because today I am happy to do so.”
Kruger continued, “I have been to every party, I have been to every country that I wanted to visit. So I’m 100 percent ready and willing to give my kid that attention. But at 30, I know I would not have been ready to do this properly.”
Geena Davis
Of giving birth to her two children in her 40s, Geena Davis told Good Housekeeping, “I felt 100 percent that I would be such a better parent than I would have been even five years earlier and certainly 10 or 20 years earlier. I’m sure there are younger people who have figured things out long before I did, but in my case, I became a parent with exactly the right person, at exactly the right time.”
Salma Hayek
Salma Hayek became a first-time mom in her 40s, and of the experience, she told WebMD magazine, “I’m a more fulfilled human being now, and I probably wouldn’t have been 10 years ago. She gets a better mother for being born now.”
The actress added, “I feel that I’ve done enough things in life where I can appreciate the time I spend with her as my No. 1 priority and not feel I’m missing out on something… I feel I’m a lot more patient. I wouldn’t trade this for anything in the world.”
Uma Thurman
Uma Thurman, who had two kids with ex-husband Ethan Hawke in her late 20s and early 30s, described how different giving birth and raising a child in her 40s was after welcoming her youngest child.
The actress said, “When I was younger and became a mother, I didn’t think I could do anything else; I was completely overwhelmed. I felt guilty and afraid about working, guilty and afraid about not working. It’s very overwhelming for a younger person, which is why it’s awesome to get to have another baby when you’re grown up.”
Nicole Kidman
During an interview on CBS Sunday Morning, Nicole Kidman explained that her status as an older mom is not lost on her. The actress, who had issues with infertility before becoming pregnant with her youngest two daughters, tearfully explained, “It makes me sad. I would just like to be here long enough to have my children grow up and for me to see them thriving. That’s all I ask.” She added, “I’m an older mother, so, you know… It’s that prayer of, ‘Gosh, let me be here.'”
Halle Berry
Halle Berry welcomed her first child at 41 and her second at 47. Of waiting until her 40s to become a mother, she told Us Weekly, “You’re so much more ready to be a parent after 40 than when you’re 20. You know yourself better. You’ve done a lot of things for yourself, selfishly. When you wait later in life, you can really put your kids forward I think in a more meaningful way.”
David Foster
David Foster welcomed a baby boy with his wife, Katharine McPhee, in his 70s. The music producer had five adult daughters by the time his youngest arrived, and of parenting a toddler so many decades later, the music producer told PEOPLE, “I was not patient when I was young. I still work, I’m still gone a lot, but maybe the time is a little more precious to me, because I got more runway behind me than I have ahead of me now.”
While Foster knows he won’t be able to be around for his son in the ways younger parents are able to be for their kids, he mused, “I think that I can offer one thing to Rennie even though I won’t be around when he’s 50 or 40 even, or 30 maybe. I think I can offer him wisdom from my 72 years on the planet. And maybe that’s not a bad trade-off. I hope so.”
Naomi Watts
Of waiting until she was 38 and 40 when giving birth to her sons, Naomi Watts explained, “I had a lot I wanted to do when I was younger, and perhaps I wouldn’t have been as focused. I got a lot out of the way in terms of my own dreams. You grow up and hopefully become more self-aware. I think I’m a better parent.”
George Clooney
George Clooney, 61, has nothing but wonderful things to say about raising his twins Ella and Alexander.
“They’re funny, and they pull pranks on me,” Clooney said during an episode of WTF with Marc Maron.”I just look at them thinking, I couldn’t be happier and I couldn’t be more surprised at how happy I am.”
Diane Keaton
Diane Keaton adopted her kids Dexter and Duke later in life — and couldn’t be happier.
“My life went a certain way and suddenly I was 50 with no purpose and I wanted a family,” Keaton dished toLadies’ Home Journal. “In some ways my children are lucky because I’m much less self-involved now. But they know they have this older parent, and that must be odd for them.”
Janet Jackson
In 2017, Janet Jackson welcomed her son Eissa Al Mana at age 50. She’s been open about the incredible experience becoming a parent has been.
“My son has shown me that love, no matter how deeply you believe you have experienced that emotion, can always go deeper. Love is limitless. And for someone like me, raised in show business where self-concern is always a priority, how fortunate I am now to be concerned, first and foremost, with the welfare of someone else,” Jackson revealed to Billboard. “Day after day and night after night, holding my baby in my arms, I am at peace. I am blessed. I feel bliss. In those moments, all is right with the world.”
John Stamos
John Stamos, 58, is so glad he waited to become a dad. The papa, who welcomed son Billy into the world in 2018, toldTODAY that he “couldn’t have handled” a kid earlier in life.
“It just takes so much to be a good parent,” he said. “It’s about sacrifice, it’s an enormous amount of love, an enormous amount of patience, common sense, teaching them values and what’s right and wrong… and everything’s expensive.”
Now, he’s in a really good place to be there for his little one. “I am so grateful that I’m settled, and I’m cool, and I’m sober, and I’m happy with myself,” he said. “I’m happy with my wife, my wife is content, too, and she’s confident. We’re at a place in our life where we should have eight kids.”
Eva Longoria
Longoria has zero regrets when it comes to having her son Santiago when she was 43.
“Santi was meant to be with me at this stage in my life,” she explained to Parents. “I’m patient, I don’t work as much—even if it doesn’t seem that way! It’s the right time.”
Cameron Diaz
Cameron Diaz, 49, doesn’t mind being the oldest parent in her friend group.
“I’m lucky to be my age, lucky to have those girlfriends, lucky to have my daughter, lucky to have all the support I do raising her,” Diaz told Gwyneth Paltrow on the Goop podcast.
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