{"id":932,"date":"2025-01-22T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-22T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/hellomagazinev2\/?p=932"},"modified":"2025-01-20T16:17:15","modified_gmt":"2025-01-20T16:17:15","slug":"9-a-listers-sadly-estranged-from-their-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/hellomagazinev2\/2025\/01\/22\/9-a-listers-sadly-estranged-from-their-children\/","title":{"rendered":"9 A-listers sadly estranged from their children"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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9 A-listers sadly estranged from their children<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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Hollywood may dazzle with its glitz and glamour, but behind the scenes, the realities of family life can be far from picture-perfect. In the spotlight, the everyday arguments and intricacies of family life are often magnified, making private struggles heartbreakingly public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are many famous faces in Tinseltown who don’t enjoy a close relationship with their children. From Suri and Tom Cruise, who haven’t been pictured together since 2012, to  double-Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins \u2014 who candidly admits the subject of his estrangement from his only child is so painful that it\u2019s a \u201ctaboo\u201d subject. And then there\u2019s the sad separation of one film star from the child of his extramarital affair. All these cases show that the family lives of the A-list elite are far from perfect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read on for HELLO!’s round-up of the celebrity parents whose family ties have sadly unravelled over the years\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Tom Cruise<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Mission Impossible <\/em>star Tom split from actress Katie Holmes when their only child, Suri, was six. Shockingly, the father and daughter have not been pictured together in over a decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of the reported reason for the separation was Tom’s deep involvement with the Church of Scientology, which Katie allegedly felt was a negative influence she needed to shield Suri from. Following their divorce, Katie was awarded full custody of their daughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During a deposition for a libel lawsuit against a tabloid, Tom addressed claims about his religion’s role in the estrangement. he said: “There is no need to protect my daughter from my religion,” later acknowledging: “Did she say that? That was one of the assertions, yes.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A casting sheet revealed in May 2024 that Suri was going by the name ‘Suri Noelle’, choosing to drop her famous surname.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Lindsay George, BACP-registered counsellor and psychotherapist, exclusively spoke to HELLO!<\/em><\/a> about the impact estrangement may have had on Suri.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Children develop coping mechanisms if their needs aren’t met, for example, their dad doesn’t come back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“So Suri will have found a way of coping with that level of anxiety, because that will have manifested as anxiety at that age. It would have made her feel unsafe and insecure despite reassurance from her mum.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Anthony Hopkins<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Oscar-winning actor Anthony has described the subject of his estranged daughter “taboo”, telling The Sunday Times Magazine<\/em>: “The past is sealed. I have regrets.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He left when his daughter Abigail was two years old following the breakdown of his marriage to her mother. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reflecting on their distant relationship, she told The Telegraph<\/em><\/a> in 2006: “I would see him, but maybe once a year. There is a little bit of sadness but I have to get on with my life.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Abigail was 16, a reported falling-out led to a prolonged period without contact. They appeared to rekindle a relationship in the 90s, when Abigail took on two small roles in Anthony’s films, but they are no longer on speaking terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018, Anthony told Radio Times<\/em><\/a> that he didn’t know if he had any grandchildren. “I don\u2019t have any idea. People break up. Families split and, you know, ‘Get on with your life’. People make choices. I don’t care one way or the other.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When told that his response was “cold”, he said: “Well, it is cold. Because life is cold. It’s like John Osborne’s response when someone said to him, ‘Mr Osborne, your play is so offensive,’ and he said, ‘Life is offensive.'”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Eric Roberts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The Dark Knight actor has experienced a fractured relationship with both famous relations, his sister Julia Roberts, and his daughter Emma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emma was born in 1991 to Eric and his then-girlfriend Kelly Cunningham. The couple later separated and Kelly took full custody of Emma. He previously said that Julia sided with Kelly on the issue of custody, but later said there was no custody fight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I loved my little daughter with the strength of Hercules, despite my own weaknesses,” he wrote in the memoir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“However, I couldn’t handle the realities of an infant coming into my life, and I couldn’t handle being a parent! I’m still not a father figure. Emma, on the other hand, certainly knows what that role is \u2014 now grown up and a mom herself. She’s that person to her first child, Rhodes.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eric has admitted he never saw himself as someone \u201cwho deserved\u201d to have physical custody of Emma, adding, “Not in a million years.” However, he has expressed regret for his past mistakes and noted that his relationship with his family has changed over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I started accepting that about myself with the birth of my grandchildren. Especially the five-year-old. She was first, and she was a girl, so very vulnerable to me, and took a liking to me at two, two-and-a-half, in a very strong way\u2026we’re all very close,” he told the Inside of You<\/em><\/a> <\/em>podcast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“So that, and she also looks like Emma. Same colouring. And so it reminds me of what I didn’t have.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eric also hinted at a gradual healing of the relationship with his daughter, noting: “Emma gave permission for us to interact a little bit with her on her Instagram page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It’s always good to ask because we’re engaging in a very public way. This is often what private life has come to in this upside-down, misruled world so dominated by social media.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Jackie Chan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The actor and stuntman married Joan Lin in 1982, the same year they welcomed their son, and the couple welcomed a child, Jaycee. However, Jaycee’s childhood was marked by long periods of separation from his father, as Jackie\u2019s demanding filming schedule kept him away from home for much of the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seventeen years later, Jackie hit the headlines for an affair with former Hong Kong beauty queen Elaine Ng Yi-Lei. In 1999, Elaine welcomed a daughter, Etta Ng Chok Lam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jackie addressed the situation in his memoir, writing: “When the news broke about an affair I\u2019d had that resulted in a child, the media frenzy was like a bomb going off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I wanted to phone Joan but I didn\u2019t know what to say. I wouldn\u2019t be able to explain this. It wasn’t a mistake I could fix just by saying ‘I’m sorry.'”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Etta remains estranged from Jackie and has spoken openly about their lack of relationship. In a 2015 interview with the Express<\/em><\/a>, she said: “I would not say that he is my dad. I would say, ‘Oh, Jackie Chan, an actor.'”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She explained: “He never existed in my life. I will never regard him as a father. He is not my dad. I have no feelings for him. He is my biological father but he is not in my life.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Cher<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The ‘Believe’ singer has navigated a complicated family life, raising two sons from her marriages to Sonny Bono and Gregg Allman: Chaz Bono and Elijah Blue Allman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cher has been candid about the challenges of balancing motherhood with her demanding career. “It’s really hard in my job,” she shared during an appearance on Dr. Phil<\/em>. “It doesn’t necessarily mix well with having children. It’s like Kate Hepburn said, ‘If you’re going to do this job, don’t have kids.’ But I wanted them. My life would have been nothing without them.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While her relationship with Chaz is stable, Cher’s connection with her youngest son has seen its share of ups and downs. Elijah has battled substance abuse, leading to a bid for conservatorship from Cher and multiple periods of estrangement between mother and son.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was even a controversial moment when Cher was accused of allegedly \u201ckidnapping\u201d her son during an intervention in a New York hotel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cher denied the accusations, but acknowledged that the incident was related to her son’s struggles with addiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I’m a mother. This is my job \u2014 one way or another, to try to help my children. You do anything for your children. Whenever you can help them, you just do it because that\u2019s what being a mother is. But it’s joy, even with heartache \u2014 mostly, when you think of your children, you just smile and you love them, and you try to be there for them,” she told PEOPLE<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Jaid Barrymore<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Actress Jaid Barrymore has had a tumultuous relationship with her daughter, fellow actress Drew Barrymore over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drew’s father John was largely absent from her life, leaving Jaid to raise Drew as a single mother while working six-day weeks to support them both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Drew told PEOPLE <\/em>in 1989 that she viewed her mother\u2019s absence as “another parent who didn\u2019t care about me”. However, in her 2015 memoir Wildflower, <\/em>she offered a more understanding perspective: “I was born in 1975 to a single mother who was doing her best while still being young herself. It is not who I am to harbour any anger for the fact that our life together was so incredibly unorthodox.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That unconventional life included Drew accompanying her mother to parties when she was as young as eight. Jaid also focused on Drew’s acting career from around that age, becoming her manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The relationship hit a breaking point when Jaid placed Drew in a psychiatric ward aged 13, where she would remain for 18 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Work was a very positive thing in my life, and sadly it had been taken away because my mother also put me in an institution because she felt helpless,\u201d Drew wrote in Wildflower<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“But when people found out, they just wrote me off as damaged goods, and I sadly understood that.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aged 14, Drew became legally emancipated from her mother, giving her the same rights as an 18-year-old. At the time, Drew told PEOPLE <\/em>that the decision was to allow her longer working hours not governed by child labour laws. However, the emancipation also marked the start of an estrangement between Drew and her mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent years, their relationship seems to have taken a positive turn. In 2021, Drew said on her eponymous talk show: “There\u2019s just some peace and respect and maturity there that could not have taken place maybe before. Timing is everything.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Bill Hudson<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Hollywood legends Goldie Hawn and Bill Hudson were married from 1976 to 1980, during which they welcomed two children, Kate and Oliver Hudson. After Bill filed for divorce and left the family, Kate and Oliver were raised by Goldie’s new partner, Kurt Russell, whom they affectionately regard as their father figure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Father’s Day in 2015, the estrangement became a public feud when Oliver posted a picture of Bill captioned: “Happy abandonment day\u2026 @katehudson”. Kate also posted, instead using a photograph of her stepfather to mark the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This move appeared to provoke Bill, who told The Daily Mail<\/em>: “I had five birth children but I now consider myself a father of three. I no longer recognise Oliver and Kate as my own. I would ask them to stop using the Hudson name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“They are no longer a part of my life. Oliver’s Instagram post was a malicious, vicious, premeditated attack. He is dead to me now. As is Kate. I am mourning their loss even though they are still walking this earth.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Despite this heated exchange, the family dynamic has shown signs of improvement. Kate said that she had forgiven her father on The Howard Stern Show<\/em> in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bill told Us Weekly<\/em><\/a>: “We are warming up [and] letting things take their course,” adding: “All families have rifts. It’s nice that our rift is healing,” after years of “ups and downs”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We’re just letting it be what it will be. Because no one is pushing it, there’s no turmoil or issues.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also said: “No one wants to rehash the past. You can’t move forward if all you’re doing is analysing the past. We’re in the present.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kate\u2019s reconciliation journey extends beyond her father to her half-siblings. “I had this moment last year where I was like, ‘I don’t know why I don’t talk to my other siblings,'” she explained on the Sibling Revelry <\/em>podcast with her brother Oliver. “I have two sisters that I don’t speak to for no other reason than our family is separated.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I don’t care what the history is with our parents. My sister and I and my brother have all just started communicating again\u2026 Honestly, I got on the phone with my sister and we just started bawling our eyes out. It was great. [My sister] even said it, ‘We start now. We start now.'”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Brad Pitt<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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While Brad Pitt\u2019s divorce from Angelina Jolie has been finalised, the fallout from their split has extended to his relationship with their six children<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brad adopted Angelina’s two children, Maddox and Zahara, in 2006. Angelina gave birth to the couple\u2019s next child, Shiloh, in 2006, and in 2007 Angelina adopted a then-three-year-old Pax from an orphanage in Vietnam. In 2008 the couple welcomed twins, Vivienne and Knox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadly, the family\u2019s idyllic years came to an end in 2016 following an alleged incident on a private plane. The details remain contested, but it was widely reported that Brad had a heated confrontation with their eldest son Maddox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Angelina filed for divorce and Brad was given visitation rights with the minor children, while his ex was awarded full custody.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Fight Club<\/em> actor has not been pictured with his kids for six years and the older children have stopped using his surname.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite this, Brad made a poignant reference to his children in his acceptance speech for the 2020 Oscar, dedicating the award to them: “This is for my kids, who colour everything I do. I adore you.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Elon Musk<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Tesla CEO Elon was married to Canadian author Justine Wilson from 2000 to 2008, and they had a child together, Vivian, in 2004.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Vivian was born male, she transitioned to female and changed her name, a move which caused a rupture between father and daughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2022, Vivian filed a petition to change her name, stating that she no longer wished to be “related to my biological father in any way, shape or form”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During a 2024 interview with commentator Jordan Peterson, Elon misgendered his daughter. and criticised her decision to come out as transgender, referring to it as being “killed by the woke mind virus”. He also claimed that he was “tricked” into approving gender-affirming medical care for her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vivian strongly rebuffed her father’s claims, stating that he had read the medical documents multiple times before approving her care. In her first public interview, she shared her feelings: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I think he was under the assumption that I wasn\u2019t going to say anything and I would just let this go, unchallenged,” she told NBC<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Which I’m not going to do because if you’re going to lie about me, blatantly to an audience of millions, I’m not just gonna let that slide.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the interview, she described her father as being absent from her life despite him holding joint custody with Vivian’s mother. She also claimed Elon bullied her for being queer and allegedly told her to lower her voice as a child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given their ongoing tension, a reconciliation appears unlikely. The 20-year-old expressed: “I don’t see my future being in the United States” following Donald Trump’s election to president, a result her father supported.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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BY<\/strong> MILLIE JACKSON<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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9 A-listers sadly estranged from their children Hollywood may dazzle with its glitz and glamour, but behind the scenes, the realities of family life can be far from picture-perfect. In the spotlight, the everyday arguments and intricacies of family life are often magnified, making private struggles heartbreakingly public. There are many famous faces in Tinseltown […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":933,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity-news","category-top-stories"],"acf":{"article_authors":"","send_as_draft":false,"send_as_paid":true,"send_as_featured":false},"modified_by":"MIllie Jackson","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/hellomagazinev2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/hellomagazinev2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/hellomagazinev2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/hellomagazinev2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/hellomagazinev2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=932"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/hellomagazinev2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":951,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/hellomagazinev2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932\/revisions\/951"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/hellomagazinev2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/hellomagazinev2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/hellomagazinev2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/hellomagazinev2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}