30+ Celebrities Who Were Raised by a Single Dad

Hugh was born in 1968 in Sydney, Australia, to Christopher John Jackman and Grace McNeil. He’s best known for his role as Logan/Wolverine in the X-Men film series, a role he’s played for an impressive 17 years. He’s also become known for his love for musicals and the theater.

When he was eight years old, his mother left the family to relocate to the United Kingdom. His father was a British accountant who had to juggle caring for Hugh and his two brothers with his career after his wife left.

Tom Hanks is an American actor and filmmaker whose career spans nearly five decades in the entertainment industry. He was born in 1956 in Concord, California, and was raised by his father, who divorced his mother when Tom was five years old.

His father, Amos Mefford Hanks, was a traveling chef and restaurant owner. Following the divorce, Tom and two of his siblings lived and grew up with their father, who remarried several times.

Bono, the lead singer of the rock band U2, was born Paul David Hewson in Dublin, Ireland, in 1960. The Irish singer-songwriter’s mother passed due to a cerebral aneurysm while attending her own father’s funeral. Bono was 14 at the time, leaving his father to raise him and his brother alone.

Some of his hits were inspired by his mother’s absence. Bono’s father, Brendan Robert Hewson, was a postal worker who, despite raising him, is regarded as untrustworthy by the musician. They had a rocky relationship until his father passed away in 2001.

The multi-talented singer was born in San Francisco, California, in 1964. Frank Rodriguez adopted Courtney after her mother married him. When Courtney was 12, the American singer’s mother divorced Courtney’s legally adopted stepfather.

She later relocated the family to New Zealand with her new husband. Courtney was sent to live with her stepfather after being expelled from school, and she stayed with him until she was legally emancipated at 16.

Maya is an actress and comedian who was born in Gainesville, Florida, in 1972. She’s the daughter of singer Minnie Riperton, who died of breast cancer when Maya was only seven. She’s best known for her role in the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live.

Following her mother’s untimely passing, her father — music producer Richard Rudolph — raised her by himself, taking on all parental responsibilities.

When he was 14, Paul McCartney’s mother was laid to rest after an embolism caused by a complication from breast cancer surgery. Born in Liverpool, England, in 1942, the singer-songwriter’s artistry was influenced by the loss of his mother. He paid tribute to her in some of his songs.

Jim McCartney raised Paul and his brother alone after his wife’s passing. He was a jazz musician who influenced Paul’s songwriting, leading to him learning piano and guitar as a teenager. It’s clear that Paul’s life would have been a lot different if it wasn’t for his dad.

This English model and singer was born in Westminster, London, in 1990, to Irish singer Bob Geldof and TV presenter Paula Yates. Her mother passed on her tenth birthday after a long struggle with illicit substances.

Bob Geldof raised Pixie and her three siblings. He also raised Tiger Lily, the daughter Paula had with Michael Hutchence. Michael was laid to rest in 1997, so following Paula’s passing, he adopted Tiger to keep the siblings together.

Mark Anthony McDermott, best known for his role in the legal drama series The Practice, was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, to Diane and Richard McDermott in 1961. His mother, raising him after his parent’s divorce, lost her life in an accident in 1967.

Dylan’s maternal grandmother then raised him until he was a teenager. He then went to live and work in his father’s bar. His father owned and operated the West Fourth Street Saloon in Greenwich Village, New York. He worked in the establishment until his father’s third wife, Eve Ensler, encouraged him to pursue an acting career.

Patricia Heaton is a sitcom actress and comedian from the United States. She was born in Bay Village, Ohio, in 1958, to Patricia and Chuck Heaton. Patricia’s mother passed away after an aneurysm when Patricia was 12, and she was raised as religiously by her father.

Chuck Heaton worked as a sportswriter for The Plain Dealer for 50 years, covering almost every sport. Although he initially disapproved of Patricia’s acting career, he eventually accepted it.

Apolo is an Olympic speed skater born in 1982 to Japanese father, Yuki Ohno, and American-European mother, Jerrie Lee. After his parents divorced when he was an infant, Apolo was raised by his father in Seattle, USA.

Apolo’s father was a hairstylist and salon owner who worked 12-hour shifts and tried his hardest to balance his career and raising his child. He’s to thank for his son’s skating participation, as he encouraged him to hone his skills at a young age. He wanted Apolo to have something to do while he was away from home.

Madonna Louise and Silvio Anthony Ciccone welcomed the ‘Queen of Pop’ into the world in Bay City, Michigan, in 1958. Today, Madonna is a singer, actress, dancer, record producer, director, and author, and she has dabbled in almost every aspect of the entertainment industry.

The singer-songwriter was raised by her father and the family’s housekeeper, whom her father married three years after his wife’s passing from breast cancer when Madonna was five years old. This remarriage angered Madonna, who grew bitter towards her father. Her father worked as an engineer designer for Chrysler and General Motors.

Actress and former model Jane Seymour Fonda hails from the United States. Jane was born in 1937. Her parents were actor Henry Fonda and socialite Frances Ford Seymour. Just after Henry asked for a divorce so he could remarry, Jane’s mother ended her own life in 1950.

Jane was 12 years old when she lost her mother, who was a patient at a sanitarium in New York at the time. Henry went on to marry Susan Blanchard in the same year, but they divorced six years later.

The American comedian was raised in Commack, Long Island, where she was born in 1962 to Roseann Teresa and Edward Joseph O’Donnell. A few days after Rosie turned 11, her mother was laid to rest after a battle with breast cancer. The rest of her life was shaped by this tragic event.

Her father was a defense industry employee and an electrical engineer. Despite the two of them having a rocky relationship, he raised Rosie and her four siblings the best he could.

Robert is a retired American actor, producer, and filmmaker born in Santa Monica, California, in 1939. His parents were Charles Robert Redford and Martha Woodruff Redford, who passed away from a hemorrhage when her son was a teenager.

Robert attributes his success to his mother’s faith in him and her ability to see things in a positive light. His father was a milkman turned accountant who raised Robert, who, by all accounts, was an unruly adolescent.

Mariska was born in 1964 in Santa Monica, California, to bodybuilding actor Mickey Hargitay and actress Jayne Mansfield. She became prominent in the drama series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Her mother passed in a tragic accident in 1967. Mariska and her two brothers escaped with minor injuries.

Mickey Hargitay, a Hungarian-American, won Mr. Universe in 1955 and began acting after moving to the United States. During their marriage, he appeared in several films with Mariska’s mother. He was raised as an athlete and participated in various sports as he grew up.

Mike Tyson, a former professional boxer from the United States, had a 20-year professional boxing career. Tyson, one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time, was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1966, and he debuted in the ring in 1985. Cus D’Amato, Tyson’s legal guardian and caregiver throughout his turbulent childhood, raised him through his teenage years and helped him develop his boxing skills.

Tyson was a rebellious child who frequently got into trouble. Italian-American boxing manager and trainer Cus D’Amato oversaw Tyson’s career while instructing other managers. He was the person who invented the well-known peek-a-boo boxing technique, which Tyson used to win his fights.

Sir Ian Murray McKellen is an English actor with a remarkable career spanning seven decades and is deemed a British cultural icon. Born in 1939 to Margery Lois and Denis Murray McKellen in Burnley, Lancashire, he was raised by his father after his mother passed from breast cancer when he was 12.

Ian’s father was a civil engineer and preacher of Irish and Scottish descent. He raised Ian until he also passed away when Ian was 25 years old.

Peaches was an English columnist, television personality, and model. Born and raised in 1989 in London, she was raised by her father, musician Bob Geldof after her mother, TV presenter Paula Yates, passed away. She started her career very young and remained active until her passing in 2014.

Her father, Bob Geldof, is an Irish singer-songwriter. He’s well-known for his activism and has held concerts for several causes. He raised Peaches and her three siblings by himself.

Eddie Izzard is a British stand-up comic, actor, and activist. She was born in Aden, Aden Colony, to English parents Dorothy Ella and Harold Izzard in 1962. Assigned male at birth, she now identifies as gender fluid and is addressed by the pronouns she/her.

Her mother was laid to rest after a long battle with cancer when Eddie was six. Her death influenced Eddie’s career, who sometimes says that everything she does is to get her mom back. Eddie’s father was an accountant who worked for British Petroleum at the time of her birth.

Aretha Franklin was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist, and was widely referred to as the ‘Queen of Soul.’ She had a career that lasted over six decades. She was born in 1942 to gospel singer Barbara and minister Clarence LaVaughn Franklin in Memphis, Tennessee. Following a troubled marriage and separation, Aretha’s mother was laid to rest after a heart attack just before Aretha’s 10th birthday.

Her mother’s untimely passing pushed her into singing, and soon after, she was managed by her father. Aretha’s father raised her and nurtured her music career. Aretha’s father was a preacher who delivered sermons far and wide. He was praised for his emotionally-charged sermons, which garnered fame and prestige for him.

Born in 1967 in San Germán, Puerto Rico, Benicio is a Puerto Rican actor and producer who garnered critical acclaim for his roles in Traffic, The Usual Suspects, and 21 Grams. Benicio’s mother passed due to an illness when he was nine years old.

His father, Gustavo Adolfo Del Toro Bermudez, was a lawyer. He wanted a business degree for his son Benicio. However, the actor dropped out of college after taking a theatre class. He later explained that acting felt natural to him, unlike the economics he was studying at the time.

Sarah Polley is a Canadian filmmaker, political activist, and former actress. She was born in Toronto, Canada, to actress Diane Elizabeth Polley and actor Michael Polley. It was later found out that her biological father is Harry Gulkin, the film producer with whom her mother had a secret relationship.

Her mother passed away of cancer just before Sarah turned 11. Sarah grew up under the care of her father, Michael, who was an actor in his younger days. He became an insurance agent immediately after he started a family. Michael was Sarah’s guardian, accompanying her to sets. He’s also the father of actor Mark Polley.

Known for his unique prose style, James Ellroy is an American crime writer born in Los Angeles, California, in 1948. When he was 10, his mother’s life was taken by an unknown person.

According to James, she was a bad-tempered substance user. His father was an accountant and the former business manager of Rita Hayworth. The responsibility of raising James fell to his father after his mother’s passing.

Michelle Phillips is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and model who gained prominence as a vocalist in the musical quartet The Mamas and the Papas. She was born Holly Michelle Gilliam in 1944 in Long Beach, California, to Joyce Leone and Gardner Burnett Gilliam.

Her mother suffered from rheumatic fever in Michelle’s childhood, which caused heart problems. These issues later caused her passing from a brain hemorrhage. Michelle’s father was a merchant mariner who moved around with his family and did odd jobs while raising his children.

Bob Geldof is an Irish singer-songwriter and political activist who rose to prominence in the late 1970s as the lead singer of the Irish rock band Boomtown Rats. He was raised in Dun Laoghaire, Ireland, by parents Robert and Evelyn Geldof. Sadly, his mother passed from a cerebral hemorrhage when he was six.

Robert Geldof worked in some hotels in London and Ireland, where he ran restaurants. After he returned to Ireland, he set up a company and worked as a manufacturer’s agent. Throughout his son’s career, he always showed his support.

Chaney Kley was an American actor best known for his recurring role as Officer Asher in the drama The Shield. He was born in 1972 in Manassas, Virginia. His father raised Chaney after his mother, Linda Joan Minis, passed away at an early age.

Little is known about his father’s life as he kept it out of the media. However, he was responsible for the children after Linda was gone. Sadly, Chaney passed away in 2007 after issues with illicit substances.

He was born James Scott Bumgarner in 1928 in Denver, Oklahoma, to Weldon Warren Bumgarner and Mildred Scott. His mother was laid to rest five years after his birth, which prompted James and his siblings to be sent to live with relatives. After getting remarried, their father took charge of the children.

James had a volatile childhood. His father was a businessman. He remarried several times, and one of his later wives mistreated James, which led to several altercations between the pair.

Prince Harry is the youngest son of King Charles III, the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom, and the late Princess Diana of Wales. He was born in Paddington, London, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. After divorcing Charles in 1996, his mother passed in the infamous accident the following year, when Harry was 12.

His father was the longest-serving heir-apparent before assuming the throne and also the oldest to accede to the British throne in 2022. Before the Queen’s passing, he was active in serving the monarchy and undertook official duties and engagements on her behalf.

Molly Shannon is an American actress and comedian. She was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live for six years. She was born in 1964 to an Irish-American Catholic family in Cleveland, Ohio. Her father was persuaded into believing he could handle driving under the influence, which resulted in an accident in which she lost her mother, sister, and cousin.

James Shannon, a sales manager, struggled with substance issues his entire life. He fought a lifelong battle against himself and his romantic attraction — he was secretly gay. He did his best to raise Molly and her sister despite his intense guilt about the tragic event.

Jenna Marie Massoli is an American model, former adult film actress, and television personality. Known professionally as Jenna Jameson, she was born in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 1974 to Laurence Henry Massoli and Judith Brooke Hunt. Her mother, a Las Vegas showgirl, passed from an illness when Jenna was just two years old.

Her father worked as a police officer in Las Vegas and as the program director for an NBC affiliate station. Laurence had to work longer hours to make ends meet due to being bankrupt from his wife’s cancer treatment. He did this while parenting Jenna and her brother as best he could.

This gorgeous Nigerian actress was born in 1991 in Lagos, Nigeria. Bimbo has garnered numerous honors and praise for her acting during the course of her eight-year career. Her mother abandoned the family when Bimbo was a young child.

As a result, her father nurtured her and strongly encouraged her in her chosen career. He even drove her to her first audition and has been her biggest supporter since.

Professionally known as Cary Grant, Archibald Alec Leach was born in Bristol, England, in 1904 to Elias James Leach and Elsie Maria Kingdon. The English-American actor had a successful four-decade-long career. His father had issues with adult beverages. His mother suffered from chronic depression and struggled to care for him. Cary’s mother was taken to a psychiatric hospital when he was nine years old. Cary thought she had passed away.

They didn’t reunite until decades later, but they were both happy to reconnect. His father worked as a suit presser in a clothes factory. He committed his wife to an asylum after she suffered a psychological breakdown as a result of the loss of a child. This left him with the duty of parenting his only child.

The prince was born in 1982 at St. Mary’s Hospital in London to then-Prince Charles III and Princess Diana of Wales. William’s father raised him after his mother died tragically in Paris, France. Her passing came just one year after the couple divorced following a turbulent marriage.

King Charles III is the current reigning monarch of the United Kingdom. Following his first wife’s death, he raised William with the help of their nanny Olga Powell and the royal family. He’s now married to Camilla Parker-Bowles, now serving as the Queen Consort.