Celebs Who Had Children With Their Mistresses

Cheating on one's spouse is fraught with peril, and that's particularly true for celebrities. Not only is there the possibility of being caught — and the potential big-bucks divorce that sometimes follows — there's also the chance that one of these illicit rendezvous could result in an accidental pregnancy, and, nine months later, a problematic little bundle of joy. 

Yet despite the obvious hazards, those Hollywood cheating scandals just keep on coming — as do babies born from these often ill-conceived affairs. The way in which celebs who become enmeshed in cheating scandals wind up handling the news of their paternity can really run the gamut; there have been stars who've denied responsibility, even refusing to acknowledge their offspring, while another may accept the new arrival as part of the family. And while divorce often results, that hasn't always been the case. 

Some celebs' marriages, in fact, have continued to endure long after the unanticipated arrival of a child born out of wedlock. To find out more, read on for a look at some celebs who had love childs with their mistresses. 

Back in the mid-2000s, Tom Brady was on his way to becoming the NFL's GOAT when he was dating "Blue Bloods" star Bridget Moynahan. They broke up in December 2006, at pretty much the same time he began to date his future ex-wife, Gisele Bündchen. The time frame between his split from Moynahan and the beginning of his romance with the Victoria's Secret lingerie model was apparently a very brief one; In February 2007, Moynahan announced that she was pregnant, and that Brady was the daddy. 

This was not ideal for Bündchen, as she wrote in her 2018 memoir, "Lessons: My Path to a Meaningful Life." "Two months into our relationship, Tom told me that his ex-girlfriend was pregnant. The very next day, the news was everywhere and I felt my world had been turned upside down," she wrote, as excerpted by Us Weekly. 

Of course, the whole situation was no picnic for Moynahan, either. "Going through that traumatic time of being heartbroken and then being pregnant turned my whole life upside down and inside out and just knocked the wind out of me," Moynahan told Harper's Bazaar in 2008. "But I got so much out of that ... Now I have a child, and it's the best thing in the world." Brady and Bündchen eventually married, and had two children of their own; they divorced in 2023.

Back in 2002, Lil Wayne popped the question to R&B singer Nivea, but they split up before heading to the altar. She subsequently married — and then divorced — rapper The Dream, then wound up reconnecting with Lil Wayne. In late 2009 they welcomed a son together. While Nivea was pregnant, however, she learned that actor Lauren London was also pregnant with Lil Wayne's child. 

"I found out the day I was confirmed pregnant with our son that he had another one that should be expected three months ahead of ours," Nivea said in an interview with VLADTV. "I'm like 'Wow.' Then my mama died. So yeah, life!"

While a situation like that should understandably pit the women against each other, something very different took place. She and London got in touch with each other, and wound up bonding over their shared public humiliation. The two women grew to become friends and confidantes, and now see themselves joined together as part of one big — albeit admittedly unconventional — family unit. "It's still a testament to the type of man he is because all of his baby mothers, we're all cool with each other. We get now that the children are here, damn it! They're here now. You can't take nothing back," Nivea explained. London agreed, telling Essence, "Real friendships have grown from that foundation, and the result has been more love, less drama, and less trauma for our kids."

In 2013, Ludacris became romantically involved with Tamika Fuller, despite being in the midst of a long-term relationship with Eudoxie Mbouguiengue. Fuller shared her version of events in an essay for MadameNoire, revealing he told her he was newly single when they became intimate. When she learned she was pregnant, Ludacris wasn't exactly overjoyed by the news. "I told him the same day that I found out. He was not happy ..." she said in court testimony, as reported by The Mirror, claiming that Ludacris suggested she terminate the pregnancy. 

Instead, she welcomed their baby in December 2013. Less than two months after the baby's birth, Ludacris sued for full custody. In the midst of that legal battle, he and Bridges wed, in December 2014, with the two getting engaged and married on the same day. Fuller, however, contended that the wedding was a ploy to demonstrate stability in his family life — so he wouldn't be forced to cough up $7,000 per month in child support. Ultimately, the judge in the case awarded Ludacris full custody. 

Meanwhile, Mbouguiengue — who took her husband's last name, Bridges — addressed why she chose to say with Ludacris after he fathered a child with another woman. "Many people did tell me but I listened to my heart and it's the best decision I've ever made," she wrote, responding to an Instagram comment, as reported by OK!

Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina was seen as a serious contender for the 2008 Democratic nomination before dropping out of the race. A few months later, rumors began emerging that he'd fathered a baby with his mistress, Rielle Hunter — while his wife, Elizabeth Edwards, was in the midst of a very public battle with cancer.

In June 2008, Edwards paid a clandestine visit to Hunter and their baby (who'd been born in February), at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in L.A. As he snuck out, a National Enquirer reporter spotted him, resulting in a bizarre situation when he panicked, ran, and barricaded himself inside a restroom. Edwards eventually fessed up to the affair, but denied fathering a child. "I was and am ashamed of my conduct and choices, and I had hoped that it would never become public," he said in a statement, agreeing to submit to a paternity test to prove he wasn't the daddy.

Despite his denial, evidence to the contrary kept popping up, including the kid's birth certificate. Finally, in 2010, he admitted the truth. "I am Quinn's father," he said in a statement to NBC News. "I will do everything in my power to provide her with the love and support she deserves." He was subsequently charged with violating campaign finance laws for allegedly funneling nearly $1 million in hush money to Hunter, through his campaign.

Everyone remembers Hugh Grant's 1995 arrest for purchasing the services of a Los Angeles sex worker. Nearly as scandalous, however, is the time he fathered two children, with two women, within the span of a mere three months. To recap: Grant's first child arrived in November 2011. "I can confirm that Hugh Grant is the delighted father of a baby girl," Grant's rep confirmed in a statement to People. "He and the mother had a fleeting affair and while this was not planned, Hugh could not be happier or more supportive." The woman's identity wasn't known at the time, but was eventually revealed to be TInglan Hong when she was granted an injunction to prevent paparazzi from staking out her home. 

That affair was apparently not as fleeting as described. In 2012, he and Hong welcomed their second child. However, Grant's burgeoning parenthood  became infinitely more complicated when, just three months later, he welcomed another baby — this time with his girlfriend, Anna Eberstein, whom he'd been dating for more than a year. "They were pregnant with Hugh's children at the same time," a source told The Sun, as reported by People. "It's an unusual arrangement."

Whatever took place, Grant managed to smooth things over with Eberstein. In 2015, they welcomed another baby, their second together. In May 2018, they tied the knot, and in December of that same year welcomed another child — Grant's fifth overall.

In May 2011, Arnold Schwarzenegger and wife Maria Shriver announced they were separating after 25 years of marriage. Days later, the reason for the separation emerged: Schwarzenegger had fathered a child with the family's housekeeper, Mildred Baena, more than a decade earlier. "There are no excuses and I take full responsibility for the hurt I have caused," Schwarzenegger said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times. A few months later, Shriver filed for divorce. 

The love child was eventually revealed to be Joseph Baena, who bears a striking resemblance to his own man. Like his father, Baena also developed an interest in bodybuilding — as well as showbiz, launching a career as an actor and even tripping the light fantastic on "Dancing With the Stars." While it was his increasing resemblance to his dad as he grew older that initially raised Shriver's suspicions, Baena himself had a very unique reaction when he learned the truth. "When [Joseph's] grandmother sat him down to explain that Arnold Schwarzenegger was his father, he exclaimed, 'Cool!'" Mildred Baena told Hello!(as reported by Men's Health).

"I think that I have caused enough pain for my family because of my f*** up," Schwarzenegger said in the 2023 Netflix docuseries "Arnold," as reported by People. "Everyone had to suffer. Maria had to suffer. The kids had to suffer. Joseph. His mother. Everyone."

Legendary NFL quarterback Dan Marino played 17 seasons for the Miami Dolphin before retiring in 2007. In 2013, Marino — who, at the time, had six adult children with his wife of nearly three decades, Claire — issued a statement admitting he was actually the father of seven, not six. The statement came in conjunction with a report from the New York Post, alleging that Marino — who had been employed as a pregame NFL analyst for CBS since 2003 — had an affair with CBS producer Donna Savaterre that resulted in a love child. According to the Post, Marino allegedly paid her millions to stay quiet about it.

"This is a personal and private matter," Marino said in a statement to the Post, addressing the 2005 birth of his daughter with Savaterre. "I take full responsibility both personally and financially for my actions now as I did then. We mutually agreed to keep our arrangement private to protect all parties involved." Meanwhile, Marino insisted that his marriage remained intact, despite everything that had taken place. "My wife and I have been married for almost 30 years and have six children together," he added. "And we continue to be a strong and loving family."

Subsequent reports revealed that Savatarre had gotten married in 2009, and had welcomed another child — this time, with her husband, not Marino.

Mel Gibson and wife Robyn Moore separated in 2006, just one month after his infamous arrest. Moore filed for divorce in 2009, with the ensuing settlement said to be quite possibly the most expensive in the history of Hollywood. 

In between the beginning of the separation and the divorce filing, Gibson hooked up with Russian musician Oksana Grigorieva. She became pregnant; about six months after Moore filed for divorce, the two welcomed their daughter, Lucia. While Gibson's marriage endured for nearly 30 years, his relationship with Grigorieva imploded far sooner. Shortly after the birth, the two parents were battling it out in court, with Grigorieva accusing Gibson of domestic violence and even seeking a restraining order against him. Things really went off the rails, however, when RadarOnline published some leaked voice messages Gibson had left for her, in which he threatened her with violence, demanded oral sex and shared his hope that she would be sexually assaulted by a "pack" of Black men, using a highly unacceptable word to describe people of color.

As their ugly split grew increasingly contentious, Grigorieva learned a tough lesson in the art of negotiation when she turned down a $15-million settlement offer in hopes of landing more — and wound up being paid just $750,000.

Like many Hollywood stars, Owen Wilson keeps in shape with the help of a personal trainer. Apparently, Wilson's definition of working out may vary a bit from the norm, which became clear when E! News reported in 2013 that he and his trainer, Caroline Lindqvist, were expecting a baby together. Somewhat inconveniently, Lindqvist was married at the time, with Wilson said to be supporting her as she went through the process of divorcing her husband. 

"They get together for dinner and see each other fairly often," a source told the outlet. "Owen has shown a desire to be involved with ultrasounds and doctor appointments. He's definitely invested in their unborn child." However, that source also indicated that Wilson and Lindsqvist weren't actually a couple, per se, but were on good terms and enthusiastic about welcoming a little one into the world. 

"She is just happy that Owen is helping her out any way that he can," the source explained. "They have an amicable relationship and [care about] what's best for their unborn child. They are both excited to have a baby." Another wrinkle in the story emerged when the Daily Mail reported that Lindsqvist hid her pregnancy from her husband for as long as possible, and didn't file for divorce until she was already with child. The baby was born in January 2014; as of 2019, she remained Wilson's personal trainer.

From a musical perspective, guitarist Ted Nugent is best known for his suggestive 1977 hit "Cat Scratch Fever," although he's since carved out a niche as a right-wing gun enthusiast who was investigated by the Secret Service when some comments he made about then-President Barack Obama in a radio interview were perceived as a threat.

Back in 2004, Nugent made an entirely different type of headline when he was sued by Karen Gutowski, who wanted him to pay child support for her eight-year-old son, whom she claimed that Nugent had fathered. Nugent acknowledged that he was the father of the boy, born in 1995, but he claimed that he'd never seen the child. Suffice it to say, that acknowledgement likely sparked some awkward conversations with Nugent's wife, Shemaine, whom he married in 1989.

Meanwhile, Gutowski wanted a lot more than the pittance that Nugent had allegedly been sending her when she took the matter to court. "Given the fact he's worth millions and millions of dollars, he's paying the amount someone making about $20,000 per year would pay," her lawyer said, via UPI. After the dust settled, Nugent was ordered to pay $3,500 per month in child support. 

The story of Eric Clapton's forbidden love for Patti Boyd, wife of his best friend, Beatles guitarist George Harrison, has become a legendary rock 'n' roll love story, forming the basis for what is arguably Clapton's crowning artistic achievement, the Derek and the Dominos album "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs." Their love story took another twist when she eventually divorced Harrison and married Clapton. During the course of their marriage, Boyd told the Telegraph, she and Clapton had struggled to have a child, even undergoing IVF treatments, but to no avail. 

That made it all the more painful for her when, in 1986, Clapton became a father when his mistress, Lory Del Santo, gave birth to their son, Conor. "Because he loved me, he believed I would be pleased and happy for him that he had a baby," she explained. "It was as if I was his best friend; that he could tell me everything without realizing how deeply painful this was for me." That baby proved to be the final straw for her, and they divorced in 1988.

However, tragedy struck in 1991, when four-year-old Conor was killed when he fell from the window of a Manhattan high-rise. His son's death inspired Clapton to co-write the song "Tears in Heaven," which wound up becoming one of his biggest hits.

Chuck Norris had already tasted fame as a martial arts icon when Hollywood beckoned, leading to starring roles in films such as "Missing in Action," and "Delta Force," and the long-running TV hit "Walker, Texas Ranger." 

In 2004, Norris released his memoir, "Against All Odds: My Story." Easily the biggest revelation was that he'd cheated on his first wife back in 1962, while serving in Air Force, and had fathered a child. However, as Norris recounted, he remained blissfully unaware of his love child until decades later, when he received a 1993 letter from a woman who claimed to be his biological daughter.  

According to an excerpt of the book published by Contact Music, Norris was both shocked and elated to discover he had a daughter, and set up a meeting with the woman, Dina, and her mother, Johanna. "I didn't need DNA or blood tests," Norris wrote. "I went to her, wrapped my arms around her, and we both started crying. At that moment, it was as if I had known her all my life."

Evander Holyfield is the only boxer in the sport's history to have been the world heavyweight champion four separate times. In 1998, he and his second wife, Janice, had recently welcomed their first child together when he made an awkward confession: during the previous year, he'd fathered two more children, with two different women.

Those births, noted the Buffalo News, made him a father of nine: his newborn son Elijah Jedidiah; his three children shared with his first wife, Paulette; the two love children that had recently arrived; and three more who were also born out of wedlock. All those visits from the stork had clearly brought Holyfield to an epiphany about himself.

"It took me a long time to figure this out," he said. "How come I keep making bad decisions? How come I can make good decisions in a boxing ring but not in my life? When I'm in training, I do exactly what I'm told to do. But in my personal life, I think that if I don't do what I want, it'll be all right." Holyfield went on to have two more children, ultimately fathering 11 kids with six different women.

Welsh singer Tom Jones was married to wife Linda from 1957 until her death in 2016. He not always a faithful husband; in fact, he once claimed that at the height of his fame he slept with as many as 250 women a year. When one of those affairs made headlines, his wife responded with her fists. "I stood there and took it," he admitted in a 2015 interview with the Times. "She chinned me. She punched and shouted."

Another affair, with a young American woman named Katherine Berkery, resulted in a son, born in 1987. When Berkery told Jones that he was the father, he denied it; a court-ordered DNA test in 1989 proved his paternity, and Jones was ordered to pay $3,000 a month in child support. However, for many years he refused to acknowledge the child as his. Finally, in 2008, he conceded he was the father, but implied that he'd been conned into the sexual liaison. "It wasn't something I had planned," he said, as reported by Wales Online. "I was tricked, really. I just fell for it ... I just fell for the seduction."

In a 2018 interview with the Daily Mail, Jones' son revealed that he'd never met nor spoken with his father. "I'd like to talk to him about normal stuff, like: 'How's your life been? This is mine,'" he said. "I want to see him before it's too late."