Whether you’re somebody’s parent, somebody’s child, or both, we don’t have to tell you that these types of relationships can often be really complicated. Everyone’s family is different in its own way, and sometimes even the bonds that should be the strongest don’t end up holding up so well over time. In fact, not even celebrity parents and their children are immune to this fact of life.
And while we may never know what’s really going on in a celebrity’s life or family behind the scenes, many of them have given us a glimpse of when things haven’t been so rosy in their own parent-child relationship. The sad reality of the situation is that there are a lot of celebrity kids out there who are growing up or who have reached adulthood without being in touch with their parents, and we can’t imagine how difficult that must be for everyone involved.
From Tom Cruise to Bill Hudson, here are 15 celebrities who don’t speak to their children.
More from CafeMom: 15 Wealthy Celebrities Who Won’t Be Leaving Their Children an Inheritance
Brad Pitt
During Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s drawn-out, contentious divorce, it became clear that he didn’t have the best relationship with his kids — at least, not all of them. Their son Maddox testified against Brad in Angelina’s case against him after Angelina accused her ex-husband of abuse.
“He doesn’t use Pitt as his last name on documents that aren’t legal and instead uses Jolie. Maddox wants to legally change his last name to Jolie, which Angelina has said she doesn’t support,” a source told Us Weekly in 2021.
Billy Ray Cyrus
Though Miley Cyrus and her dad, Billy Ray Cyrus, were once very close (they did star together in Hannah Montana on the Disney Channel), reportedly they’ve been estranged for a while now. And according to what an insider told E! News, it all started when her parents split up.
“The divorce between her parents put a strain on her relationship with her dad, and it’s been hard to connect with him. She hopes they can eventually work on their relationship,” the source said.
3/15
Tom Cruise
It’s been years since Tom Cruise was actively involved in daughter Suri’s life, and the now-16-year-old spends her time with mom Katie Holmes. Recently, a source told Page Six that Tom has “no part” in Suri’s life anymore, and there has been speculation that it’s because Suri and Katie are no longer part of the Scientology religion.
Jon Gosselin
When Jon and Kate Gosselin’s marriage imploded in the early 2000s, so did Jon’s relationship with his children. Though he eventually did get sole custody of kids Hannah and Collin, Jon is still estranged from the other six children he shares with his ex-wife, though he has been vocal that he hopes that changes soon.
Anthony Hopkins
Actor Anthony Hopkins has been estranged from his daughter, Abigail Hopkins, for years, and had a rather blunt take on the situation when he talked to Radio Times about their relationship in 2018.
“People break up. Families split, and you get on with your life. People make choices. I don’t care one way or the other,” he said when he was asked if he had any grandchildren.
More from CafeMom: Hollywood Kids Who Are All Grown Up: Then & Now Photos
6/15
Jackie Chan
In late 2022, reports surfaced that Jackie Chan’s 22-year-old daughter, Etta Ng Chok-lam — whom he shares with ex Elaine Ng — was spotted in line for free food, which revealed that she is living in poverty in Toronto, Canada. Reportedly, Jackie and Etta have never had a relationship.
Woody Allen
Over the years, Woody Allen has been at the center of some controversy when it comes to the children he shares with ex Mia Farrow, including Ronan and Dylan Farrow — neither of whom talk to their father today. Ronan was outspoken about his support of his sister after she came forward to accuse their father of sexual abuse.
Caitlyn Jenner
It’s hard to tell where Caitlyn Jenner stands with the daughters she shares with Kris Jenner (Kendall and Kylie, of course), but when it comes to her Kardashian stepdaughters and stepson, it seems like she’s cut them all off completely — or is it the other way around?
“I don’t talk about that side of the family. I spent 23 years of my life with those kids — it’s difficult to talk about it, terribly terribly sad,” she said in an interview with Piers Morgan, via Grazia.
More from CafeMom: 15 Celebs Not Afraid To Show the Unglamorous Side of Parenting
Bill Hudson
Bill Hudson — the ex of Goldie Hawn and the father of their children, Oliver and Kate Hudson — has been open about the fact that he has disowned his kids. After Oliver made an Instagram post in 2015 wishing Bill a “happy abandonment day” instead of a “happy father’s day,” Bill told The Daily Mail that he was officially done.
“If what he wanted was me out of their lives, then he’s succeeded. I don’t want to see either of my eldest children ever again. It’s over,” he said, adding, “I would ask them to stop using the Hudson name. They are no longer a part of my life.”
50 Cent
50 Cent’s son, Marquise Jackson, told TMZ that he wanted to have a sit-down conversation with his dad in 2022, but the rapper didn’t believe that his motives were genuine.
“You don’t call TMZ to say you want to sit down. Think about it, man. He wants some attention, and it’s okay — he can have as much of that as he wants,” 50 Cent later told The Breakfast Club.
Cher
Cher is a mom of two, but one of them — her son Elijah — just isn’t feeling the love, and admitted to Entertainment Tonight that she’d made him feel like he was being “shunned” as a child.
“When you go to boarding school at 7 years old, it’s kind of hard to feel like you’re not being shunned,” he said. “But I’m at an age where I’m making peace with it because you just have to. But I still … it doesn’t mean it’s right. It’s still wrong to do that.”
Elon Musk
Twitter CEO Elon Musk has no relationship with his daughter Vivian Jenna Wilson, and now that she’s all grown up, she’s even gone so far as to change her last name so she won’t be connected to her biological father. According to the court paperwork she filed, she asked for the name change due to her “gender identity and the fact that I no longer wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape, or form.”
Mia Farrow
Mia Farrow no longer speaks to her daughter Soon-Yi Previn (who is now married to Mia’s ex, Woody Allen), or her son Moses Farrow, as she shared in the 2021 documentary Allen v. Farrow.
“They are all people I loved with all my heart. They are all people I would’ve laid down my life for,” she said. “I love Soon-Yi. It took me six years to throw away the Christmas stocking I knitted for her thinking she would come back, but she didn’t.”
14/15
John Barrymore
Drew Barrymore hasn’t been shy about the complicated relationship she had with father John Barrymore growing up, especially after he died in 2004.
In an Instagram post in 2020, Drew wrote, “He was a mad poet hedonist man child. But I understood that as a kid. Somehow I have zero baggage or dad issues. I think I would have liked to have a dad who didn’t look so out there. Or who stayed. Or was capable of anything really. But his wildness runs through me. His gifts are here. His demons to overcome are mine to break
Nancy Dow
Jennifer Aniston and her mom, Nancy Dow, also had a complicated relationship, though they were able to make amends before Nancy died in 2016.
“It’s toxic to have that resentment, that anger. I learned that by watching my mom never let go of it. I remember saying, ‘Thank you for showing me what never to be,'” she told Allure. “So that’s what I mean about taking the darker things that happen in our lives, the not-so-happy moments, and trying to find places to honor them because of what they have given to us.”
