Did You Know This? 18 Stars Who Gave Up Their Children For Adoption

1. Kate Mulgrew

Orange Is The New Black actress Kate Mulgrew became pregnant in 1977, just when her soap acting career was taking off, and she didn't want to marry the baby's father.

She decided to give her daughter up for adoption, and the two weren't reunited until 2001. 

2. Roseanne Barr

Roseanne gave up her baby for adoption at the age of 18, in 1971. She initially hoped to keep the baby but realized that she didn't have the money to care for a child.

While she was pregnant she lived in a Salvation Army home for unwed mothers. She was reunited with her daughter, Brandi Brown, 17 years later when the girl was discovered by a tabloid.

3. Duane Lee Chapman AKA "Dog the Bounty Hunter"

When Chapman was a teen, his girlfriend had a baby without ever telling him she was pregnant. She committed suicide soon after the birth and the baby was given up for adoption.

Chapman didn't learned that he had a son, Christopher Hecht, until his son was an adult.

4. Ted Nugent

Gun-loving NRA spokesman Ted Nugent gave up his son Ted for adoption in 1968 after his girlfriend became accidentally pregnant.

Father and son were reunited in 2010, along with another child whom Ted had given up for adoption, a daughter named Louisa.

5. Linda Lovelace

Adult film star Linda Lovelace became pregnant with her son at age 19, and was pressured by her mom into giving him up for adoption.

Lovelace was never reunited with her son.

6. Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein's first daughter with his wife Mileva Mari, named Lieserl, was born out of wedlock in 1902.

She is believed to have been put up for adoption because of the shame of an illegitimate child. Either that, or she died from scarlet fever.

7. Joni Mitchell

Joni Mitchell gave up her baby for adoption at the age of 21, before she'd made it as a rock star. This was back in 1965, and as an unwed mom with no financial security Mitchell was trying to do right by her child.

The singer was finally reunited with her daughter Kilauren Gibb in 1997, after publicly announcing that she was searching for her.

8. Hank Williams, Sr.

Hank Williams' daughter Jett was born out of wedlock five days after Hank died from heart failure at the young age of 29.

She was legally adopted by Hank's mom Lillian Stone, who died when Jett was 2 years old. Jett was then adopted by another Alabama family.

9. Clark Gable

Clark Gable's girlfriend Loretta Young became pregnant in 1935, and they placed the baby in an orphanage

Young then returned and adopted the baby 19 months later but Gable would never acknowledge that he was the father.

10. Kevin Thornton

Celebrity chef Kevin Thornton and his wife Muriel gave up their first child for adoption in 1980s. They weren't aware of the pregnancy until Muriel started giving birth, and they were financially unprepared to raised a child.

Their son reached out to them and the family reconnected once he turned 18.

11. Patti Smith

Patti Smith was 19 and working a factory job in New Jersey when she fell pregnant.

Her parents sent her away to a foster home to hide the pregnancy from neighbors, and faced with overwhelming obstacles, Smith decided to put the baby up for adoption and was never reunited with her child.

12. Rod Stewart

Rod Stewart has had a less-than-great relationship with the first of his eight children, a daughter named Sarah whom he fathered at age 17.

The little girl's mom, Samantha Boffey, gave the baby up for adoption. Sarah reconnected with her dad in the 1980s but they didn't become close until meeting again in 2007.

13. David Crosby

The Byrds and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young founder was reunited with his son Raymond in 1994, having put him up for adoption back in 1962.

Amazingly, Raymond is a talented musician and now plays in his dad's new band CPR.

14. Dirk Benedict

Battlestar Galactica actor Dirk Benedict didn't learn that he had a son, John Talbert, until the latter was 30 years old.

When Talbert was born in 1968, his mom placed him for adoption without telling Benedict anything about the pregnancy or birth.

15. Andy Kaufman

 Comedian Andy Kaufman gave his daughter up for adoption when his high school girlfriend fell pregnant.

Kaufman's daughter Maria Colonna only learned who her biological father was after his death in 1984.

16. Catelynn Lowell and Tyler Baltierra

Catelynn and Tyler gave up their daughter Carly for adoption on the MTV reality show 16 and Pregnant  (a precursor to Teen Mom).

They went through the post-adoption grieving process in public, and now consider themselves spokespeople for the biological parents' experience of the adoption process.

17. Mercedes Ruehl

Oscar-winning actress Mercedes Ruehl put her son Christopher up for adoption in 1976, when she was 28, because she didn't have "the emotional development or the economic capability" to raise a child.

The two reunited when Christopher was 21, and Ruehl later adopted another son, Jake, in 1995.

18. Jay Thomas

Actor Jay Thomas gave up his son for adoption at the very start of his acting career.

He and his girlfriend felt they didn't have enough financial stability to raise a child. Thomas was reunited with his son in 2007.

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