Celebrities Who Had Kids After 40

In 2022, the US Census Bureau published a study that found over the course of 30 years, from 1990-2019, birth rates among women ages 35 to 39 increased by a whopping 67%. The government agency isn't the only one to have noticed the trend. Many news outlets and medical organizations have been pointing out that birth rates among 20-year-olds have been steadily declining as women have been waiting until later in life to start families.

There are a myriad of reasons behind this change, from the increase in the cost of living and suppressed wages to prioritizing careers, relationships, and self-development to more and more women struggling to conceive naturally. But whatever the reason, the choice to wait to have a baby is always a valid one. It's also one you aren't alone in.

A number of celebrities have welcomed babies in their 40s, and many of them had wildly different reasons for waiting. Some weren't emotionally ready to be parents, while others had wanted to have kids for years but physically hadn't been able. Read on to hear their stories and to be reminded that whatever your reason for not wanting kids just yet, you're not alone and it's never too late.

In an exclusive February 2023 interview with People, Da Brat revealed she was expecting a baby at age 48. This is her first child; Da Brat's wife, Judy Harris-Dupart, has three kids from a prior relationship.

The "Funkdafied" rapper, who married Harris-Dupart a little over a year earlier, told the magazine that up until recently, she didn't really consider having kids. "I just thought it wasn't in the cards for me. I've had a great career, a full life. I felt like, because I didn't get pregnant earlier on, then it just wasn't going to happen for me," she said. But then there was a change of heart. "I started looking at life so differently. I was like, I want a little me with [her]. Something special from the both of us that we can share and raise and love unconditionally," she told the outlet. 

The road to motherhood wasn't an easy one. As Harris-Dupart shared on a 2022 episode of "The Tamron Hall Show," "We haven't spoken much about it on social because we have had some ups and some downs on our journey, some complications." Da Brat had to have fibroids and polyps removed early on in the process, and then suffered a miscarriage not long after the embryo was transferred. Thankfully, the second transfer has gone smoother, and the couple (who were in their second trimester when they spoke to People) are hoping to welcome their bundle of joy sometime in the summer of 2023.

Salma Hayek feels similarly to Halle Berry about becoming a mother later in life. The "Magic Mike's Last Dance" actor, who welcomed her daughter Valentina just days after her 41st birthday, once told WebMD, "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'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." She shared the same sentiments with Glamour, discussing how having a successful career before she had her daughter kept her from feeling as if she was missing out on opportunities while she was home changing diapers.

But, as is the case for many of the other mamas on our list, the actual pregnancy itself wasn't a breeze. She told WebMD that while conceiving was easy, she struggled through the following nine months thanks to a difficult case of gestational diabetes (a condition whose risk increases proportionately to a mother's age). The nausea, swelling, and food aversions brought on by her complication made the pregnancy uncomfortable on the best days. Still, she told the outlet, she was open to going through the whole thing again if that's what the universe had in store for her.

Much like Nicole Kidman, Celine Dion has been incredibly vocal about her struggles with fertility. The "My Heart Will Go On" singer welcomed her first son, Rene-Charles, when she was 33, but it would take nine years and several rounds of IVF before her twins were born.

According to The Mirror, Dion once revealed that she had six rounds of IVF before finally conceiving the twins. "I thought as long as my health permitted me and unless my doctor thought physically I couldn't do it, then I would go on with the IVF until someone told me to stop," she said. Noting that although the journey was a difficult one, she was more than willing to do it all again if it meant she could have more children. "There's nothing that can top being a mother. I'd like more but I don't know. It's selfish to keep ­wanting more – although I would love a girl."

The Canadian songstress also told ABC News that being a mother has been her most challenging and rewarding job, by far. "I think we are very blessed to have the opportunity and a blessing to be a mother. I think when you are — when you have a child, it's like there's another heart that grows inside of you. You have this like second heart," she told the outlet.

For years, actor Eva Mendes was one of Hollywood's premiere bachelorettes. Like George Clooney, she dated and even had a couple of long-term partners, but she seemed to be in absolutely no rush to ever get married or have babies. Then she met Ryan Gosling and everything changed overnight.

The couple, who have been together since 2011, have a relationship that appears to be more committed and stronger than many of the marriages in Tinseltown. In 2014, not long after Mendes turned 40, the couple welcomed their first daughter, Esmerelda. Then, in 2016, they completed their family with a second daughter named Amada. When asked by Women's Health about her journey to motherhood, the actor said having kids was the furthest thing from her mind before she met Gosling. "Falling in love with him [was the turning point] ... Then it made sense for me to have...not kids, but his kids. It was very specific to him," she said.

The decision, it turns out, is one of the best she's ever made. In an interview on "Today," Mendes called motherhood the most creative thing she's ever done. She told host Hoda Kotb that she's loved parenting so much that she's taken an unofficial break from acting so that she could be home with them full-time, and is completely obsessed with her new role.

Like Iman, Janet Jackson has been incredibly famous for decades. Her career may have her in the studio far more often than on a runaway, but both women are alike in that they have spent years pouring themselves into their craft. Often to the exclusion of other major life milestones, like marriage and motherhood.

It wasn't until 2017, when she was 52, that Jackson welcomed her first baby, a son named Eissa. Despite not ever being sure that having a child was in the cards for her up until that point, the "Rhythm Nation" singer took to parenthood like a fish to water. In a letter she penned for Essence, she wrote, "The height of happiness is holding my baby son in my arms and hearing him coo. Or when I look into his smiling eyes and watch him respond to my tenderness. When I kiss him. When I sing him softly to sleep. During those sacred times, happiness is everywhere." She also shared similar sentiments with 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."

Jackson also shared in an interview with "Good Morning America," she's decided to do the whole parenting thing on her own, without the help of around-the-clock nannies and caregivers, as she knows this may be the only shot she gets at being a mom given her age.

Laura Linney's decision to not have children until she was in her 40s was a mix of struggling to conceive earlier on and being uncertain she was ready to slow down — and perhaps sacrifice career opportunities — for a child. When she finally did get pregnant, at 49 years old, she kept it a secret until her son Bennett was born. As recapped by ET, she explained her decision to do so on a 2016 episode of "Live! With Kelly." As she pointed out, it had taken her a long time to actually get pregnant and she wanted to make sure she was able to carry the pregnancy to term before she shared it with the world.

But once Bennett arrived, all bets were off. "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," she told People. She added, "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... I'm so happy that I have a child. He's been such a gift."