Stars Who Have Had Rainbow Babies

The following article includes mentions of pregnancy loss and other sensitive topics.

Experiencing pregnancy loss can be heartbreaking. But what can help begin the process of healing and create hope for the future is the possibility of having another baby. While you could never replace the child that was a part of your life for however long they were with you, some are able to keep a place in their hearts for the child (or children) they've lost while also making room for a new member of the family. This little one is sometimes called a rainbow baby.

You might also know a rainbow baby as an angel baby or sunshine baby, according to WebMD. But what does it mean to be a rainbow, angel, or sunshine baby? Healthline Parenthood explains that it is "a name coined for a healthy baby born after losing a baby due to miscarriage, infant loss, stillbirth, or neonatal death." As for the term "rainbow baby," Healthline also notes that it "comes from the idea of a rainbow appearing in the sky after a storm, or after a dark and turbulent time" and "has gained popularity on blogs and social media in recent years," while "[coming] to symbolize hope and healing."

There are a fair share of celebrities who have been open about the fact that they've experienced pregnancy loss as well as famous figures who have gone on to have a child or multiple children. Indeed, keep scrolling to read the stories of stars who have had their own rainbow babies.

Halsey has been open about dealing with endometriosis, a condition that can affect fertility. She's also been open about treatments. "Today I braved multiple terrifying surgeries," she wrote on Instagram in January 2017 in a now-deleted post (via People). Although she explained that "the extremes to which" managing endometriosis "can be mentally exhausting and physically painful," she was still hopeful and passed both that and support along to her fans who might be going through something similar. Beyond that, while Halsey has been open about experiencing a miscarriage during a concert, she told Rolling Stone in 2016, "I want to be a mom more than I want to be a pop star. More than I want to be anything in the world."

That's why Halsey was surely overjoyed when she took to Instagram in January 2021 to share a photo of herself with a bare and visibly bigger belly. Along with tagging her boyfriend, Alev Aydin, per Us Weekly, she wrote a caption telling her fans, "Surprise!" Halsey also confirmed that she was pregnant by adding emojis for a baby bottle, a rainbow, and an angel. Acknowledging her rainbow (or angel) baby with the emojis, she was also wearing a rainbow knitted top in her announcement. 

That was followed by plenty of pregnancy updates as well as a Mother's Day message that told the singer's fans: "They always tell us, 'Oh no! Don't turn into your mother.' They never tell you how awesome it is when you finally do."

Beyoncé and her husband, rapper Jay-Z, are not only icons in the music industry, they're also the parents of three children. Daughter Blue Ivy was born on January 7, 2012, while twins Rumi and Sir joined their big sister on June 13, 2017. All three are rainbow babies.

The singer opened up about experiencing multiple miscarriages while talking to Oprah Winfrey in 2013, saying, "It's one of the reasons I did not share I was pregnant the second time [with Blue Ivy] because you don't know what's going to happen. That was hard because all of my family, my friends knew, and we celebrated. It was hard." However, she added, "In the end, I have my daughter, and there is hope and I feel so fortunate."

Beyoncé also explained to Elle in 2019, "Having miscarriages taught me that I had to mother myself before I could be a mother to someone else." She went on to explain that when she welcomed her first child, Blue, into the world, things changed. "The quest for my purpose became so much deeper. I died and was reborn in my relationship, and the quest for self became even stronger. It's difficult for me to go backwards." The star added that "being 'number one' was no longer [her] priority," saying, "My true win is creating art and a legacy that will live far beyond me. That's fulfilling." That legacy undoubtedly includes her music, her influence, and her (already history-making) children.

Courteney Cox may have made viewers laugh during her run on "Friends," however, there was a time when it was difficult for her to put aside what she was going through in her personal life. "I remember one time I just had a miscarriage and Rachel (played by Jennifer Aniston) was giving birth," Cox told NBC (via The Sun) in 2004. She added, "Oh my God, it was terrible having to be funny." The actor actually had seven miscarriages during her marriage to David Arquette and underwent IVF treatments in order to try to have a child. Then, on June 13, 2004, they welcomed a rainbow baby into the world, daughter Coco Arquette.

In 2020, when the younger Arquette interviewed her mom in a promotion for the Facebook Watch series "9 Months with Courteney Cox," she asked, "describe your pregnancy journey with me in three words." Cox responded with, "exciting, emotional," and "great," which earned a sweet "aw" from her daughter. The actor was then asked what popped into her mind when she hears the words "baby," "pregnancy," and "mother." Cox replied: "Adorable," "hormones," and "love," which pretty much says it all when it comes to how this mom feels about her (now-grown) rainbow baby.

Beyond that, in the trailer "9 Months," Cox explains that while her series addresses "infertility, illness," and "disability," there's something that "compels" all those who are featured: "a life," meaning a baby of their own.

If you've ever listened to Pink's song "Happy" from her 2019 album (with a seemingly revealing name) "Hurts 2B Human," then you'll know that she sings, "Since I was 17 / I've always hated my body / And it feels like my body's hated me." She later explained to USA Today the significance of that age, saying, "The reason I said (that) is because ... at 17 I had a miscarriage."

Going on to say that she intended "to have that child" and that she's "had several miscarriages since," she explained, "But when that happens to a woman or a young girl, you feel like your body hates you and like your body is broken, and it's not doing what it's supposed to do."

At the same time, Pink also explained to the Today show, "I didn't really want to be a mom. I didn't not want to be a mom. But it just wasn't ... on my list of to-do's." Yet, after eventually seeking out therapy to work through her experiences, per USA Today, Pink and her husband, Carey Hart, became parents of two rainbow babies. They welcomed a daughter, Willow Sage Hart, into the world in 2011, and a son, Jameson Moon Hart, who was born in 2016. The singer told Today, "I had Willow and, man, that saying of 'watching your heart go walking outside of your body.' It's truly how it feels."

In Gabrielle Union's 2017 memoir, "We're Going to Need More Wine" (via People), she revealed that she had experienced "eight or nine miscarriages" while trying to have a baby with her husband, former NBA player Dwyane Wade. While the couple raises his three other children and nephew, they were eager to have a baby together. However, in her book, Union explained, "For three years, my body has been a prisoner of trying to get pregnant — I've either been about to go into an IVF cycle, in the middle of an IVF cycle, or coming out of an IVF cycle."

Things finally changed for Union and Wade when their family grew by one more member. Taking to Instagram in 2018 to announce the birth of their daughter, Kaavia James Union Wade, the star wrote, "We are sleepless and delirious but so excited to share that our miracle baby arrived last night via surrogate and 11/7 will forever be etched in our hearts as the most loveliest of all the lovely days. Welcome to the party sweet girl!"

It didn't take long for little Kaavia to get her own Instagram account and earn a massive fanbase. As of writing, she has well over 1.7 million followers who enjoy posts that show her wearing fabulous outfits, flashing her fierce attitude, and simply being adorable. This rainbow baby also has her own book, "Shady Baby," which was written by her parents and is "based on their famous baby girl."

When Mariah Carey announced in 2010 that she was pregnant during an interview with Access Hollywood (via ABC News), she also revealed that she had experienced a miscarriage two years earlier. Saying that what she and her then-husband, Nick Cannon, had been through made her want to keep their next pregnancy private, she explained, "It kind of shook us both and took us into a place that was really dark and difficult." She added, "When that happened ... I wasn't able to even talk to anybody about it. That was not easy."

It also turned out that Carey had a miscarriage just weeks after a controversial interview with Ellen DeGeneres which involved the host trying to force the singer to admit that she was pregnant by offering her a glass of champagne to drink while the cameras were rolling and a live audience was watching, according to the Mirror. Although Carey made it known that she wasn't happy with what was happening, DeGeneres persisted and Carey tried to fake a sip. It was an incredibly unfortunate situation that never should have happened.

As for Carey, she welcomed two rainbow babies — daughter Monroe and son Moroccan — into the world in April 2011, per People. In 2020, while talking to Oprah Winfrey for "The Oprah Conversation" (via Today), the singer opened up about her twins, saying, "They help to heal me every day. Every time we have a moment that feels real and authentic and genuine and it's them loving me unconditionally."

Carrie Underwood and her husband Michael Fisher became parents of a son, Isaiah (pictured above), in 2015. The couple was eager to continue to expand their family, however, as the country music star explained, "I'd kind of planned that 2017 was, you know, going to be the year that I work on new music, and I have a baby. We got pregnant early 2017, and [the pregnancy] didn't work out" (via CBS News). Revealing that she'd had two additional miscarriages, she also recalled, "I was like, 'Why on Earth do I keep getting pregnant if I can't have a kid? Like, what is this? Shut the door. Like, do something. Either shut the door or let me have a kid.'"

In 2019, Underwood was surely overjoyed when she welcomed a second son, Jacob, into the world. That same year, she talked to The Guardian about both her miscarriages and her rainbow baby, saying, "I will always mourn those children, those lives that were a shooting star, a breath of smoke, but I have Jacob, and he is incredible, he is the sweetest little baby. At the time it was awful, and it still hurts, but it's kind of like okay, I have this."

When the singer also took to Instagram to mark her little one's second birthday, she wrote, "Jacob, we longed for you. We prayed for you. We walked a long, hard road in order to one day hold you."

Along with being an award-winning actor, Nicole Kidman is the mother of four children, two who are now adults themselves and two who are still young. The star "adopted son [Connor] and daughter [Isabella] with ex-husband Tom Cruise," per E!, before having two daughters with country music singer Keith Urban. Kidman gave birth to Sunday Rose in 2008 at the age of 41, and two years later welcomed Margaret Faith, who was born to a gestational carrier.

However, during an incredibly personal 2007 interview with Marie Claire (via E!), Kidman revealed that while she was still married to Cruise, she had experienced both a miscarriage and an ectopic pregnancy. The latter is "a life-threatening condition in which a pregnancy occurs outside the woman's uterus and must be terminated."

Although Kidman eventually welcomed four rainbow babies into her life in various ways — and clearly loves making "wonderful memories" with her children that will last them a lifetime — she opened up in 2016 about having her two younger children later in life. "It makes me sad — I would just like to be here long enough to have my children grow up and for me to see them thriving," she explained, according to CBS News. While getting emotional and tearing up, she continued, "Just wanting to be here. I'm an older mother, so, you know ... Oh, please [let me be here]. Please, please. But, hey, what will be, will be."

Peek at Chrissy Teigen's Instagram account and you'll see that it's filled with photos and videos of her two children, Luna and Miles. While the star was expecting a third child, Jack, in 2020, People reported that Teigen and her husband, John Legend, were left "mourning the loss of their son one month after announcing their pregnancy." That wasn't the first time the couple faced a potentially heartwrenching occurrence.

Teigen revealed in 2017 (via E!) that she and Legend had tried to have children for nine years before seeking help through IVF. She also told InStyle (via E!) that although she had 20 embryos, only three were viable. Because the couple knew the sex of each embryo, they chose to have a daughter first. However, Teigen revealed, "The first little girl didn't work..." Despite the fact that it surely wasn't an easy experience to go through, Teigen went on to say that the second embryo that was implanted ended up being her first rainbow baby, Luna.

In 2021, while reflecting on past mistakes, Teigen wrote a blog post and told readers, "John tells me almost every day how much our daughter Luna reminds him of me. Every day, I try to make sure she's all the best parts of me, all the things I aspire to be all the time..." While she admitted that she sometimes fails, she added, "My goal is to be so good that my kids will think this was all a fairy tale."

While Michelle and Barack Obama are famously the (seemingly very proud and obviously incredibly loving) parents of two daughters, Sasha and Malia, what most people didn't know in the past is that the pair of parents faced fertility issues before having their children. Beyond that, during a special interview with "Good Morning America" anchor Robin Roberts (via ABC News), Michelle addressed the fact that she had experienced a miscarriage when she was younger. Recalling that she felt "lost and alone" at the time, she explained, "I felt like I failed because I didn't know how common miscarriages were because we don't talk about them. We sit in our own pain, thinking that somehow we're broken."

By the time the woman who would go on to become the first lady was in her mid-30s, she realized that "the biological clock is real" and "egg production is limited." That's why she and Barack decided to pursue using IVF treatments in order to have their two rainbow babies.

Years later, in 2019, Michelle appeared on the "Today" show and opened up about her daughters getting older and maturing into young women. "I'm excited for my girls to grow up and become independent," she said. However, she also added, "But you feel a little melancholy that they will never be the little ones that sit on your lap and listen to your every word and look at you adoringly. Those days are over."

In 2019, Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, and her husband, Prince Harry, welcomed their first child, son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, into the world. It was just the next year that Meghan revealed in an incredibly honest and open piece for The New York Times that she had experienced a miscarriage.

Recalling the moment that it had happened, Meghan explained that she had been holding Archie when she "felt a sharp cramp" and fell to her knees. Humming to her son "to keep [them] both calm," she admitted that the uplifting melody of the lullaby was "a stark contrast to [her] sense that something was not right." She continued by saying, "I knew, as I clutched my firstborn child, that I was losing my second."

While that experience was undoubtedly heartbreaking for the parents, in 2021, their rainbow baby, Lilibet "Lili" Diana Mountbatten-Windsor, joined the family. Named after her great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II ("whose family nickname is Lilibet," according to the official birth announcement), as well as her late grandmother, Princess Diana, Lilibet is clearly treasured by her mom and dad. While announcing her arrival, Meghan and Harry released a statement regarding their little girl, saying, "On June 4th, we were blessed with the arrival of our daughter, Lili. She is more than we could have ever imagined, and we remain grateful for the love and prayers we've felt from across the globe."