Halle Berry became a mom in her forties, welcoming her two children. This makes her one of many celebrities who become moms later in life due to some form of hurdles.
Like most celebrity moms who welcomed Children later in life, Halle Berry has a touching story behind her late motherhood.
The actress, who has experienced several scandalous relationships since her rise to fame, had to decide at some point that neither marriage nor kids were in the books for her.
Who could blame the star, who went through everything, from domestic violence and obsessed exes to post-divorce dramas and the resulting loss of a significant part of her fortune?
Thankfully, her appearance in the superhero flick, “Cat Woman,” changed her views on men and relationships. Halle Berry went on to pursue other relationships, leading to the births of her two children.
Interestingly, both arrived when the star already breached the forties. She has revealed she has no regret about becoming a mom later in life.
Both pregnancies went without complications, which many considered a miracle given how advanced she was in age. Speaking about her kids and pregnancy experiences in a 2021 interview, Halle Berry divulged:
“I felt sexy every single day of every single one of my two pregnancies. I was walking around naked, I was like, ‘Bam! Look at this. Oh, look at this.’”
Notably, the 55-year-old isn’t the only celebrity to experience late motherhood and survive the pregnancy phase in one piece.
For most, it was due to fertility struggles, while others attribute it to their decisions to focus instead on successful careers. Here is a list of eight celebrities who pulled through that feat in their forties and the story behind their late motherhood.
1. Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman has been open about her struggles with infertility, which prevented her from having biological kids earlier in life.
Notably, this inability to conceive prompted the star and her first husband Tom Cruise to adopt their two children Isabelle and Connor. When she eventually conceived, she sadly lost the baby to miscarriage, leaving the star more distraught.
Yet, she never gave up on motherhood. Following her divorce from Cruise, Kidman tied the knot with husband Keith Urban.
The two became parents when Kidman took in at 41 and welcomed daughter Sunday Rose. Three years later, they welcomed another daughter, Faith Margaret, via surrogacy.
2. Salma Hayek
Salma Hayek became a first-time mom when she welcomed her only daughter Valentina at 41. The star admitted the pregnancy came as a surprise, as she always thought she would need help conceiving.
While becoming pregnant was seemingly seamless, she openly struggled throughout her pregnancy due to complications of gestational diabetes. Her journey paid off with the birth of her daughter in 2007. Hayek believes giving birth in her forties only made her a better mom.
3. Tamron Hall
Television personality Tamron Hall announced the birth of her first child, Moses Greener with husband Steve Greener. At the time, the star was 48, making the revelation a shocking one.
The star has been open about her struggles with infertility for years, even turning to IVF on occasions with no success. Hence, she was more than willing to go through her high-risk pregnancy much later in life, resulting in the birth of a healthy son.
4. Kim Basinger
Kim Basinger is a mother of one, having welcomed her only daughter Ireland in 1995 with then-husband Alec Baldwin. At the time, the actress was already 41 years old but was glad to have a child following a long battle with infertility.
Her marriage with Baldwin ended five years later, leaving her to care for her daughter as a single mom.
5. Janet Jackson
Perhaps the oldest on this list, Janet Jackson became a medical miracle when she announced she was pregnant at the age of fifty.
While the actress has kept mum about the circumstances of her pregnancy, she ended up welcoming her son, Elissa in 2016 with then-husband Wissam Al Mana. Both mother and child survived the experience, and the singer has continued enjoying her motherhood.
6. Eva Mendes
At forty, Eve Mendes shocked the world with the announcement of her first-ever pregnancy. She and partner Ryan Gosling welcomed their daughter Esmeralda in 2014, three years into their marriage.
Two years later, the actress and her husband tried for a child again, and successfully welcomed their daughter Amanda Lee Gosling.
7. Geena Davis
Actress Geena Davis had her first taste of motherhood at forty-six when she welcomed daughter Alizeh Jarrahy with ex-husband Reza Jarahy.
Prior to that, she remained focused on her career, never feeling ready to take on parenthood. She once revealed:
“I felt 100 percent that I would be such a better parent than I would have been even five years earlier or certainly 10 or 20 years earlier.”
According to the Oscar Award-Winner, she had no regrets as she became a parent, with the right person at the right time.
8. Halle Berry
For Halle Berry, welcoming children later in life was a decision she never regretted, as she never felt ready to take on motherhood until then. The “Kidnap” star once explained:
“If I hadn’t been busy trying to make movies, I would have been the perfect surrogate.”
She welcomed her first child Nahlah Ariela Aubrey at forty-one, with then partner Gabriel. Six years later, the Oscar-Winning actress became a mom again with the birth of her son, Maceo Robert Martinez.
She welcomed the child during her marriage to Oliver Martinez, whom she divorced in 2016. Berry was 47 at the time and has described her second conception as a geriatric pregnancy.
Aside from Halle Berry and other strong women on this list, several other celebrities have welcomed children in their forties. Despite their daunting journeys, these women found light at the end of the tunnel, becoming moms when they least expected it.
Be it due to infertility issues or simply out of a decision to focus on their careers as with Halle Berry, one thing remains certain: These celebrities were ecstatic to finally welcome children into their lives at the appointed time.
