9 Celebrity Moms Who Welcomed Children After 50

These Hollywood stars prove it’s never too late to start your motherhood journey

Hollywood boasts accomplished stars, many of whom have decided to become mothers later in life.

Janet Jackson and Madonna are among the celebrity moms who have welcomed children in their 50s. Notably, Cameron Diaz announced the birth of her third child in May 2026 at age 53.

“Half the world was saying [I’m ‘too old’] when I got pregnant at 55 — including my four older sons,” actress Brigitte Nielsen told PEOPLE after giving birth to daughter Frida at age 55 while her four sons were in their 20s and 30s. “But … there’s no such thing as ‘too old.' ”

Similarly, Diane Keaton and Hoda Kotb became mothers via adoption in their 50s, while Annie Leibovitz used surrogacy to have two of her three daughters.

Here are nine celebrity moms who welcomed children after age 50.

01 of 09

Janet Jackson

On Jan. 3, 2017, Jackson became a mother for the first time at 50 when she welcomed her son, Eissa Al Mana, with then-husband Wissam Al Mana.

“Janet had a stress-free healthy delivery and is resting comfortably,” her rep told PEOPLE in a statement at the time.

Since then, Jackson has continued celebrating her child's arrival.

“3 yrs ago today God blessed me, at the age of 50, with the greatest gift of all. My baby!" she wrote on Instagram. "Happy Bday sweetheart. Mama loves you more than anything else in this world!”

02 of 09

Brigitte Nielsen

While Beverly Hills Cop II star Nielsen first welcomed four sons, she gave birth to her only daughter, Frida Dessi, with husband Mattia Dessi, when she was 54 years old.

“The doctor warned me to be realistic about my chances. He told me I had a two and a half percent chance of getting pregnant,” Nielsen told PEOPLE in November 2023. “So when it finally happened, it was just amazing. And then there was fear, because I was such high-risk, being 54.”

Frida was born on June 22, 2018, weighing 5 lbs., 9 oz.

“We are overjoyed to welcome our beautiful daughter into our lives,” the pair told PEOPLE exclusively. “It’s been a long road, and so worth it. We’ve never been more in love.”

Five years later, Nielsen reflected on how motherhood felt different.

"When I was a younger mom, I was often juggling being single, being on a plane, on a movie set,” she told PEOPLE. “Now Frida comes first.”

03 of 09

Naomi Campbell

Campbell became a mother for the first time at age 50, welcoming her daughter in May 2021 and her son in June 2023 when she was 54.

"I always knew that one day I would be a mother, but it's the biggest joy I could ever imagine. I'm lucky to have her and I know that," Campbell told British Vogue in February 2022.

She said embracing motherhood gave her a new “completely selfless” attitude, and she encouraged all her older friends who want to be mothers to do the same.

"I'm telling them all, do it! Don't hesitate!” Campbell shared.

04 of 09

Cameron Diaz

Already the mom of daughter Raddix with husband Benji Madden, Diaz was 51 years old when her son, Cardinal, arrived.

“We are blessed and excited to announce the birth of our son, Cardinal Madden. He is awesome and we are all so happy he is here!” Madden wrote on Instagram at the time. “We are feeling so blessed and grateful.”

After having Raddix at 48, Diaz was motivated to become a mother again because it changed her "whole concept of aging."

"It's totally opened up. I'm excited. I've got 50 or 60 years to go — I want to live to be 110, since I've got a young child," she told Goop. “I think you have this amazing moment in your 40s where you appreciate who your parents are, and I want to have that moment with her — be there with her in her 40s.”

More recently, in May 2026, Diaz and Madden announced the birth of their son, Nautas, on Instagram.

05 of 09

Diane Keaton

Diane Keaton welcomed her children, daughter Dexter and son Duke, via adoption as a single mother while she was in her 50s.

"I didn't think that I was ever going to be prepared to be a mother,” she told Ladies' Home Journal in 2008. "Motherhood was not an urge I couldn't resist, it was more like a thought I'd been thinking for a very long time. So I plunged in."

When her kids made a rare public appearance to support her as she got her hand and footprints at Hollywood’s iconic TCL Chinese Theatre in 2022, she said it meant “everything” having them by her side.

Keaton died of pneumonia at age 79 on Oct. 11, 2025.

"In her final months, she was surrounded only by her closest family, who chose to keep things very private,” a source told PEOPLE.

06 of 09

Hoda Kotb

Kotb became a mother on her own terms when she welcomed her daughters, Haley Joy and Hope Catherine, in 2017 and 2019, respectively, via adoption with her ex-fiancé Joel Schiffman.

She was 52 and 54 at the times of their births.

"I tell them they were adopted, and I'm not sure if they 100 percent know what that means," Kotb shared in a 2021 episode of PEOPLE's Me Becoming Mom podcast. "I always say, 'You didn't come from Mommy's tummy, you came from my heart.' And they understand that."

In September 2024, she decided to shift her focus, so she could be more present with her kids.

"My daughters and my mom need and deserve a bigger slice of my time pie," Kotb wrote in a letter to her NBC colleagues while announcing her departure as a Today co-host after 17 years. "I’ll be around. How could I not? Family is family and you all will always be a part of mine."

07 of 09

Madonna

Madonna is the mother of six children: Lourdes, Rocco, David, Mercy and twins Stella and Estere. She was 50 when she welcomed Mercy, and 58 when her 5-year-old twins joined the family.

The “Material Girl” singer had spent time with Stella and Estere at the Home of Hope during trips to Malawi, and after two and a half years, had an epiphany that they had to come home with her.

“Sometimes I would just close my eyes and just think, ‘Why isn’t my kitchen filled with dancing children?’ There’s so many children that need a home,” she told PEOPLE in September 2017. “I thought, ‘What am I waiting for? Just do it.’ ”

“It’s like they were always here,” Madonna continued. “It didn’t take long for them to get acclimated.”

08 of 09

Annie Leibovitz

Leibovitz became a mother for the first time at age 51 when she welcomed her daughter Sarah in 2001. Her twins, Susan and Samuelle, came via surrogate four years later when she was 55.

All of their births were documented in her 2006 photographic memoir, A Photographer's Life.

Leibovitz said that her longtime partner, author Susan Sontag, "wasn't interested in children,” and after her 2004 death, Leibovitz feared it was too late for her to conceive.

"[My doctor] said to me, 'You can do it.' I said, 'Really?' And I did it," she told Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

Now, in her 70s, her girls encourage her to take the best care of herself that she can.

“My older daughter gets mad at me if I don't take care of myself,” Leibovitz shared. “'Mommy, I want you to live longer.' And you worry about that."

09 of 09

Sophie B. Hawkins

Singer Sophie B. Hawkins welcomed her son Dashiell when she was 44, and it was her desire to give him a sibling that made her decide to welcome daughter Esther Ballantine Hawkins via frozen embryo in 2015. Sophie was 50 at the time.

“My son has one parent who’s 50. I want him to have a family of young people too!” she told PEOPLE when she announced her pregnancy.

“Even my mother thought I was a cockeyed optimist,” she wrote in a PEOPLE blog. “When I was in Los Angeles … to have the thawed embryo transferred into my womb, I knew she would come, if I could get out of her way. That was my struggle, not the question, but the surety.”

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