Famous People Raised by Single Parents

 

Famous People Raised by Single Parents in Honor of Single Parent Day

Some of the biggest celebrities in the game—Obama, Madonna, and George Washington, to name a few—were raised by single parents. So now we’re stealing the light from these major artists to shine it on the single parents who raised them in honor of March 21st is the day set aside to observe National Single Parent Day.

This day was created to honor and recognize the hard work, devotion and sacrifices of single parenting.

In honor to the 13.6 million single parents in the United States and the 320 million single parents world wide we want to acknowledge all the important people in history who were raised by single parents.

Halle Berry

Halle Berry's parents, Judith Ann Hawkins and Jerome Jesse Berry, divorced when she was four years old. The Catwoman star was then raised by her mother and had little contact with her father.

Jane Fonda

When Jane Fonda was 12 years old, her mother Frances Ford Brokaw committed suicide. She was then raised by her father Henry Fonda.

George Washington

George Washington's mother, Mary, became a widow when he was 11.

Mariah Carey

Mariah Carey's parents, Alfred Roy and Patricia Hickey, divorced when she was three years old. Carey lived with her mother and had little to no contact with her father growing up.

Jodie Foster

Jodie Foster's father abandoned her mother before Jodie was even born, leaving her to raise her future Oscar-winner alone.

Selena Gomez

Selena Gomez was born to a 16-year-old single mom who struggled financially throughout Selena's childhood.

Prince William and Harry

From the age of X and 15, Prince William and Harry were raised by his father Charles, Prince of Wales after his mother Diana died in a car accident in 1997

Hugh Jackman

When Aussie hottie Hugh Jackman was 8, his mother left his family -- including his siblings two brothers and two sisters, and their dad -- to move to England. Hugh later learned that his mother suffered from postpartum depression and struggled as a parent. Jackman was raised by dad

Halle Berry

The X-Men star's father, Jerome Jesse Berry, left her mother when Halle was four years old, and she had little contact with him from that point on.

Madonna

Madonna's mother Madonna Louise Fortin died from breast cancer in 1963 when the singer was just five years old. She was raised solely by her father Silvio Anthony "Tony" Ciccone until he remarried in 1966.

Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey was raised in poverty in Mississippi by an unmarried teenage mother.

Leonardo DiCaprio

Leonardo DiCaprio was raised by a single mom who worked several jobs to make ends meet.

Kelly Clarkson

Kelly Clarkson was raised by a single mom in straightened circumstances in Fort Worth, Texas. She is now reportedly worth $28 million.

Barack Obama

His late parents Ann Dunham and Barack Obama, Sr. divorced when he was only two.

Aretha Franklin

From the age of six, Aretha Franklin was raised by her father after her parents separated. A few years later her mother died.

Roman Polanski

Roman Polanski was raised by his father after his mother was killed in Auschwitz during World War II.