Why DO so many men father mega-broods?
Why a mega-brood is the ultimate status symbol for famous men: As it emerges Robert De Niro has welcomed his 7th child at 79, expert reveals how stars see it as proof they’ve ‘still got it’
- Robert De Niro, 79, is now a father-of-seven after welcoming a baby this year
- Read more: FEMAIL lifts the lid on his Robert De Niro’s blooming brood
Robert De Niro has become the latest celebrity dad to welcome yet another baby into his apparently ever growing brood – making him a father-of-seven.
The actor, 79, has joined the club of celebrity fathers with six or more children, including Sir Mick Jagger, 78, Sir Rod Stewart, 78, and David Foster, 73.
Relationship Expert and Founder of Wingman Tina Wilson previously told FEMAIL the trend is driven by a desire for men to ‘prove themselves’ and ‘show the world’ they are still young and virile, especially when they find love with younger women of child-bearing age.
This is particularly pronounced in celebrities because they have a lifestyle that lends itself – or even encourages – multiple marriages or relationships. They also have the funds to sustain large broods of children, both in and outside of wedlock.
‘Dating younger women helps to bring out their personality, stay invigorated and youthful,’ Tina said.
‘Some men, as they go into mid life, feel the need to prove to the outside world they still have everything they did when they were in their 20s and don’t want to be seen as “slowing down” as it can be considered a weakness amongst their peers.
‘Their basic instincts is to carry on the male seed, often mixed with their egos. Most younger women are also wanting to have children and raise a family themselves – they are at the start of the journey which is why perhaps older men gravitate towards younger women on a subconscious level.’
She added: ‘They may love embracing their virility but they might feel that money does not buy you happiness and having more children will give their life meaning.’
Here, FEMAIL looks at the celebrity dads with large broods – from Eddie Murphy’s ten children to Clint Eastwood’s eight kids…
Robert De Niro
Number of children: Seven
Aaron (pictured left) has largely shunned the limelight but over the years De Niro has spoken about raising bi-racial children
Drena De Niro is the daughter of Diahnne Abbott and the adopted daughter of De Niro after the pair married in 1976 (pictured together in New York in 1977)
The Oscar winner was last linked to martial arts instructor Tiffany Chen and in March of this year she appeared pregnant when leaving Giorgio Baldi in Santa Monica, California
Robert De Niro announced this week that he has welcomed his seventh child – but how much do you know about his other kids?
The Godfather actor, 79, was asked by a reporter from ET Canada what it was like to be a father of six children.
He then revealed that he actually had seven as he had, in fact, ‘just had a baby.’
De Niro did not share the name of the youngster or the gender, nor did he reveal the identity of his baby’s mother.
However, the Oscar winner was last linked to martial arts instructor Tiffany Chen.
The pair were photographed holding hands in July 2022 and in March of this year she appeared pregnant when leaving Giorgio Baldi in Santa Monica, California.
De Niro’s rep confirmed to DailyMail.com that he did not make a mistake and that he does indeed have seven children.
He had two children with his first wife Diahnne Abbott before welcoming twins with Toukie Smith.
The actor then married Grace Hightower and they welcomed a son and daughter.
As well as having seven children, Robert also has four grandchildren, all of whom are older than his own youngest child.
Elon Musk
Number of children: Nine
Elon Musk quietly had twins with one of his top executives, weeks before he welcomed a second child with singer Grimes via surrogate. He is pictured with his triplets, who were born in 2006
Musk and his second wife, British actress Talulah Riley, are pictured in 2015 with Xavier and Griffin. The twins are now 18
Musk shares two children with Canadian singer Grimes, a son named X Æ A-12 (pictured together in December 2021) or ‘X’ for short, born in May 2020, and daughter Exa Dark Sideræl, or ‘Y’ for short, who was born via surrogate in December 2021
Musk holding X Æ A-12 following his birth. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO, 51, reportedly had twins with Shivon Zilis, 36, the director of operations at Musk’s brain-machine interface company Neuralink, in November, Insider reported
Elon Musk became a father-of-nine when he quietly had twins with one of his top executives, weeks before he welcomed a second child with singer Grimes via surrogate.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO, 51, reportedly had twins with Shivon Zilis, 36, the director of operations at Musk’s brain-machine interface company Neuralink, in November, Insider reported.
Musk and Zilis filed a petition in April to change the twins’ names in order to ‘have their father’s last name and contain their mother’s last name as part of their middle name,’ according to court documents.
The twins were born in November, just weeks before Musk and Claire Boucher, the musician who performs as Grimes, had their second child via surrogate in December.
It means that Musk now has nine known children with three different women after going through multiple divorces – including two splits from the same wife he married twice.
Musk shares two children with Canadian singer Grimes, a son named X Æ A-12 or ‘X’ for short, born in May 2020, and daughter Exa Dark Sideræl, or ‘Y’ for short, who was born via surrogate in December 2021.
He also has another five children with his ex-wife, Canadian author Justine Wilson.
The couple tragically lost their 10-week old son, Nevada Alexander, in 2002, when he died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
They then welcomed twins Griffin and Xavier, now 17, in 2004, and triplets Kai, Saxon, and Damian, now 15, in 2006; all five of the children were conceived via IVF.
In April, Xavier Musk, 18, filed court documents seeking to legally change from male to female and lose their last name, stating: ‘I no longer live with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form.’
Xavier Musk filed the paperwork in Santa Monica, California, on April 18, seeking to be known as Vivian Jenna Wilson, taking the maiden name of her mother Justine Wilson.
Mick Jagger
Number of children: Eight
Gabriel Jagger, James Jagger, Sir Mick Jagger, Jerry Hall and Georgia May Jagger in 2014
Mick Jagger with four of his children: Karis Jagger (second from left), James Jagger (next to Mick), Lucas Jagger (right) and Jade Jagger (bottom right)
Mick Jagger and daughter Elizabeth Jagger attend The 53rd Annual GRAMMY Awards held at Staples Center on February 13, 2011 in Los Angeles, California
Sir Mick Jagger’s youngest son is five-year-old Devereux, pictured centre in May 2021
Mick Jagger has eight children by five women. His first child, daughter Karis, 51, was a result of a fling with actress and singer Marsha Hunt.
He then went on to have daughter Jade, 50, with his then-wife Bianca. The Satisfaction hitmaker had a further four children with his partner of 22 years Jerry Hall: daughters Elizabeth, 38, and Georgia, 30, and sons James, 36, and Gabriel, 24.
Mick and Jerry split after it was discovered that he had had an affair with Brazilian model Luciana Gimenez Morad, resulting in Jagger’s seventh child, Lucas, now 23.
His youngest child is with partner Melanie Hamrick, five-year-old son Deveraux.
Melanie and Mick have been romantically linked since 2014 and met while they were both touring Tokyo.
The dancer was able to go backstage after one of the rock star’s shows, and became an item before eventually having their son.
At the time of the birth of his eighth child, it was understood Melanie was given a $150,000-a-year maintenance deal to help the ballerina raise their child.
The $150k will reportedly be paid until their child is 18, with school fees also paid for. After secondary school a trust will help cover further education and expenses, which could be as much as £500,000.
Mick has five grandchildren and became a great-grandfather in May 2014 when Jade’s daughter Assisi gave birth to a baby girl. He has three great-grandchildren all together.
Rod Stewart
Number of children: Eight
Family: Rod Stewart and his wife Penny Lancaster pose with their family at Christmas time in 2021. (L-R, Bella Spooner, Liam Stewart, Aidan Stewart, Renee Stewart, Alastair Stewart, Penny and Rod)
Rod and Penny with his children Kimberley Stewart, Sean Stewart, Liam Stewart, Ruby Stewart and Renee Stewart at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California in 2003
Sir Rod Stewart – who has eight children in total – first became a dad at the tender age of 17, when his girlfriend Susannah Boffey gave birth to daughter Sarah Streeter (pictured together)
Sir Rod Stewart – who has eight children in total – first became a dad at the tender age of 17, when his girlfriend Susannah Boffey gave birth to daughter Sarah Streeter.
The 58-year-old was raised by her adoptive parents Gerald and Evelyn Thubron and only learned about Rod when she was 18.
When Rod later married Alana Hamilton in 1979, they had two children together: daughter Kimberley Stewart, 42, and son Sean Stewart, 41. The pair split in 1984.
He went on to father daughter Ruby Stewart, 34, following a relationship with Texas model Kelly Emberg.
He then welcomed daughter Renee Stewart, 29, and son Liam Stewart, 27, with actress Rachel Hunter. Rachel and Rod were married from 1990 until 2006.
The rock star is now married to Penny Lancaster and the couple have two sons together, Alistair, 16, and Aiden, 11.
Rod – who has before been snapped in photographs with some of his ex partners and children together – and Penny wed in 2007 in La Cervara, Italy, in an intimate ceremony.
Penny said in a previous interview ‘Two kids are the perfect number for me, although I always think of us having eight children because all Rod’s kids are so much a part of our lives, like one big extended family.’
She added: ‘[Rod] has learned to compromise. He has become a lot softer and his elder children will even admit he’s a better parent who gives them more time.’
David Foster
Number of children: Six
David Foster with wife Katharine McPhee (left) and daughters (second left to right) Jordan Foster, Amy Foster and Erin Foster at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival
David pictured with daughter Allison on June 7, 2008 in Los Angeles, California
The 72-year-old also shares one-year-old son Rennie with his current wife Katharine McPhee, 38, who he married in 2019
In 1991, David married Linda Thompson (pictured) and became stepfather to her children, Brody and Brendan Jenner (pictured), who she shares with Caitlyn Jenner
He then took on stepchildren Gigi, Bella and Anwar Hadid during his six-year marriage to Yolanda Hadid from 2011-2017. Pictured, with Gigi, Bella and Yolanda in May 2011
Five-times married David Foster has five biological daughters – including one he gave up for adoption when he was 20 and four from his first two marriages – as well as a baby son and five famous stepchildren over the years.
His first child, Allison Jones Foster was born in 1970 when David was just 20. He subsequently placed her up for adoption, but reconnected with her when she was 30 and she now works for the David Foster Foundation, and has two children.
The music executive then welcomed a daughter, Amy Skylark, in 1973, during his first marriage to singer B.J Cook when he was 24.
He was then was married to Rebecca Dyer for four years, and the pair welcomed Sara in 1981, Erin in 1982, and Jordan in 1986, before their divorce.
In 1991, he married Linda Thompson and became stepfather to her children, Brody and Brendan Jenner, who she shares with Caitlyn Jenner.
He then took on stepchildren Gigi, Bella and Anwar Hadid during his six-year marriage to Yolanda Hadid from 2011-2017.
However his daughters have been outspoken about him, with Sara previously saying on the Sibling Revelry podcast: ‘Our dad was raising other children – he wasn’t raising us – he was raising Brandon and Brody.
‘So, for Erin, what weighed so heavily on her, was me. I was dealing with my whole own emotional turmoil, which was watching my father raise other children. That kept me up at night.’
Writer Erin said: ‘They had a very different life. But, out in the world, people would be like, “You guys are spoilt brats, you have it all”.
‘And we would be like, “Yeah, but we don’t live there. We don’t have the gate code. We don’t have a room there. We’re not really a part of that world”.’
The 72-year-old also shares one-year-old son Rennie with his current wife Katharine McPhee, 38, who he married in 2019.
Rupert Murdoch
Number of children: Six
Rupert Murdoch has six children to three different women: Prudence MacLeod, 64, Elisabeth, 53, Lachlan, 50, James, 49, Grace, 21, and Chloe, 19. Pictured, with sons Lachlan (left) and James at his wedding to Jerry Hall in March 2016. They are the product of his second marriage
Rupert’s eldest child is daughter Prudence, left, who is the daughter of flight attendant Patricia Booker. Right, daughter Elisabeth, whose mother is Rupert’s second wife Anna Torv
Rupert Murdoch with his children Grace Murdoch, Chloe Murdoch, and their mother Wendi Murdoch at an event in November 2019
Rupert Murdoch has six children to three different women: Prudence MacLeod, 64, Elisabeth, 53, Lachlan, 50, James, 49, Grace, 21, and Chloe, 19.
He was first married to Patricia Booker, a former flight attendant and department store model from Melbourne. The couple wed in 1956 in Australia, when he was 25.
They had a daughter, Prudence, together but split in 1966 after 11 years of marriage, nine years after the birth of their only child.
Their daughter Prudence worked for her father’s News of the World tabloid newspaper.
A year after the divorce, he married Glasgow-born journalist Anna Torv, who he met when she was working with a newspaper in Sydney and had the chance to interview him.
The couple had three children together and were married for more than 30 years before ending their relationship in 1999. The shared daughter Elisabeth and sons Lachlan and James.
Details are sparse but it has been reported that the divorce cost him $1.7 billion, including $10 million in cash, according to CNBC.
Just weeks after his divorce from Anna, Murdoch married Wendi Deng, a businesswoman from China, who he met while she was an intern at a TV station owned by News Corp.
She was 38 years his junior at 30 years old and had previously been married to a man 30 years older than her.
The couple shared daughter Grace, now 21, and Chloe, now 19, together.
That marriage lasted 14 years, before it was announced that the pair were divorcing, with a News Corp spokesperson revealing in June 2013 that their union had been ‘irretrievably broken for more than six months’.
They divorced after an audit of Miss Deng’s email account uncovered memos to herself about Tony Blair’s ‘good body’ and ‘really, really good legs butt [sic]’. She denied accusations that she had become close to the former prime minister.
He remained single until news of his relationship to former model Jerry Hall – 25 years his junior – was announced in 2015. They have since split, according to reports.
Clint Eastwood
Number of children: Eight
Kathryn Eastwood, Clint Eastwood, Alison Eastwood, Francesca Eastwood, Morgan Eastwood and Francis Fisher on October 2, 2017 in West Hollywood
Pictured left to right: Graylen Spencer Eastwood, Stacy Poitras, Alison Eastwood, Scott Eastwood, Christina Sandera, Clint Eastwood, Maggie Johnson, Kyle Eastwood, Cynthia Ramirez
Clint Eastwood has never officially confirmed how many children he has fathered but he is thought to have at least eight children to six different women.
During his first marriage to secretary and model Maggie Johnson, from 1953 to 1984, Eastwood had several affairs, two of which resulted in children.
A daughter, Laurie, was born in 1954 and adopted by a couple in Seattle. His second child, Kimber Lynn Eastwood, was born 10 years later to a stuntwoman he met on the set of his TV series Rawhide.
Eastwood found out about Laurie, his eighth child, when she investigated her real birth parents about 30 years ago.
Johnson reportedly tolerated their open marriage and the couple welcomed two children together, Kyle, born in 1968, and Alison, born in 1972.
In 1975, Eastwood began living with married actress-director Sondra Locke but had an affair with flight attendant Jacelyn Reeves while living with actress Sondra Locke, which resulted in birth of their son Scott Eastwood in 1986 and daughter Kathryn Eastwood in 1988.
The couple reportedly ended their relationship in 1990 after it came out in an expose published by The Star.
The same year that Eastwood broke things off with Reeves, he fell for a woman named Frances Fisher. The pair lived together for five years and Frances gave birth to their daughter Francesca Fisher-Eastwood in 1993.
Shortly following his split from Fisher, Eastwood fell for TV news anchor Dina Ruiz after she was assigned to interview him about the film Unforgiven.
The pair married three years later in 1996 and Dina gave birth to their daughter Morgan that same year. The couple filed for divorce after 17 years of marriage in 2013.
Eastwood’s children have followed him into the film industry; Kathryn is an actress and writer, while Scott is also an actor and model. Francesca has had TV roles and a small part in the 2014 remake of Jersey Boys, which her father directed.
Kyle had a role in Eastwood’s film Honkytonk Man but has made more of a mark as a jazz musician.
Eddie Murphy
Number of children: Ten
Eddie Murphy pictured in 2018 surrounded by all his ten children, as well as his fiancée, Paige Butcher, along with her mother and his mother, Lillian. The image was posted on Instagram by his eldest daughter, Bria
Murphy (third form right), Paige (fourth from right) and his children attend the premiere of Mr. Church on September 6, 2016 in Hollywood
Eddie Murphy has ten children. Most recently the 61-year-old actor and his Australian fiancée Paige Butcher, 43, welcomed son Max, four, in November 2018. They also have a six-year-old daughter called Izzy.
He also has a son Eric, 34, with Paulette McNeeley; five children with Nicole Mitchell Murphy: Bria, 33, Myles, 30, Shayne, 28, Zola, 23, and Bella, 21; a son, Christian, 32, with Tamara Hood; and a daughter, Angel, 15, with Spice Girls star Mel B.
After divorcing Nicole Mitchell, Murphy dated British singer and TV personality Mel B. He then began dating model Butcher in 2012, after having a short-lived ‘symbolic union’ with film producer Tracey Edmonds.
In 2021, he sang the praises of his sizeable brood of ten children, as he has expressed pride at none of them turning out to be ‘Hollywood jerks’.
The Coming 2 America star, who boasts five sons and five daughters – ranging in age from two to 31 – from five relationships, revealed that he has a good relationship with every single one of them.
‘I have all these babies, I love fatherhood. That is the centre of everything,’ he told The Mirror. ‘The whole idea of being out there and doing three movies a year, that s*** is over. I have got all these babies.
‘I found it over and over again and along the way I realised that if you put your children first you never make a bad decision. When you hit a crossroads moment or you have got some s***, you think, “Well, what is best for my children?”‘
He added: ‘I am so blessed with my kids. 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. My kids are smart and are trying to do stuff. I am blessed with my kids. I really, really got lucky.’
Kevin Costner
Number of children: Seven
Hollywood star Kevin Costner has seven children, ranging in age from 12 to 38, from three different women. He shares children Hayes, 13, Cayden, 15, and Grace, 12, with his wife of 18 years Christine Baumgartner (pictured in 2019)
Kevin with his wife Christine (centre) and his children Lily, Joe and Annie in 2008
Hollywood star Kevin Costner has seven children, ranging in age from 12 to 38, to three different women.
He shares children Hayes, 13, Cayden, 15, and Grace, 12, with his wife of 18 years Christine Baumgartner.
Costner is also father to Annie, 38, Lily, 35, and Joe, 34, from his 16-year marriage to Cindy Silva, and Liam, 26, with ex-girlfriend Bridget Rooney.
He started dating Cindy back in 1975 when they were both students. They went on to marry three years later before divorcing in 1994.
Meanwhile, Costner and Baumgartner were married in a ceremony set against a backdrop of snow-capped mountains at his ranch in Colorado, in 2004.
The couple had been dating for five years and celebrated their big day with a romantic canoe ride.
Costner is regularly pictured alongside both his adult children and his kids with Baumgartner during his various red carpet appearances.
Alec Baldwin
Number of children: Eight
Alec Baldwin, 64, and his wife of 10-years Hilaria Baldwin, 38, share seven children. Their children include daughters Lucía, one, and Carmen Gabriela, eight, and sons Rafael Thomas, six, Leonardo Ángel Charles, five, Romeo Alejandro David, three, and Eduardo ‘Edu’ Pao Lucas, one, pictured together
Ireland Baldwin and Alec Baldwin attend the Comedy Central Roast of Alec Baldwin at Saban Theatre on September 07, 2019 in Beverly Hills, California. Ireland’s mother his Alec’s ex, Kim Basinger
Alec Baldwin, 64, and his wife of 10-years Hilaria Baldwin, 38, share seven children.
Their children include daughters Lucía, one, and Carmen Gabriela, eight, and sons Rafael Thomas, six, Leonardo Ángel Charles, five, Romeo Alejandro David, three, Eduardo ‘Edu’ Pao Lucas, one, and Ilaria Catalina Irena, six months.
Alec also has a daughter Ireland Baldwin, 26, with ex wife Kim Basinger.
In 2021, Hilaria and Alec shocked their fans by announcing the arrival of their sixth child, Lucía, via surrogate just six months after the yoga guru gave birth to her fifth baby Edu following two miscarriages.
She shared her devastating news in April 2019, when she took to social media to document her miscarriage in a series of very candid photos and videos, the first of which showed her posing in her underwear, alongside a caption which read: ‘I want to share with you that I am most likely experiencing a miscarriage.’
Hilaria went on to document subsequent doctors’ appointments, and even shared selfies from her D&C procedure.
In November of that same year, she revealed that she’d had a second miscarriage, four months into her pregnancy, once again sharing the news on Instagram alongside an image of herself and daughter Carmen.
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