A lot of the time, before celebrities are famous, they go through a lot of hard times. Unfortunately, those tough times sometimes involve kids. There have been quite a few celebrities who had children at a young age, or very early in their careers, and they had no means or ways to be able to take care of them. That means they had to make the hard decision to give them up for adoption.
There have also been some circumstances in which some celebrities aren't aware that they've even had a kid, only to find out decades later when their kids are grown adults. Regardless of the reasoning behind giving their kids up for adoption, these celebs have done it for the right reasons, to provide them with the best possible life.
10 Kate Mulgrew
You might remember actress Kate Mulgrew from her portrayal of "Red" on the hit Netflix show, Orange Is the New Black. Kate revealed that when she was 22 years old she got pregnant. The father of her daughter was David Bernstein, a directorial intern. The two were not married, and Kate didn't want an abortion as David suggested. Trying to figure out what to do since she was slowly building up her acting career as she played Mary on the soap opera Ryan's Hope, she reached out to her mother for help.
She offered to pay her mother money to watch the baby while she worked, however, her mom refused since she recently lost her daughter to cancer and found it would be too difficult. As a result, Kate had no other choice than to give the baby up for adoption.
9 Rod Stewart
When Rod Stewart was just 17 years old, he fathered his first child, a daughter named Sarah. Since he was so young, Sarah was given up for adoption and Rod Stewart had no involvement in her life whatsoever. When Sarah turned 18, she found out that Rod Stewart was her biological father, and after the death of her adoptive parents, she set out to meet him.
It took a while for Sarah to forgive her father, as she had a lot of resentment toward him. However, over the years, their relationship blossomed. The two are in each other's lives now and have made up for a lot of time lost.
8 David Foster
When David Foster was just 20 years old, his first daughter, Allison Jones Foster was born. Being so young himself and focusing on his career, David made the hard decision to give her up for adoption. It wasn't until Allison was 30 that she was able to find her biological dad and reconnect with him.
The two developed a loving father and daughter relationship, and she was welcomed into the Foster family with open arms. She connected with all of David's other kids, and now Allison is able to have a relationship with her biological father and her adoptive parents.
7 David Crosby
David Crosby, a famous musician, gave up his son James Raymond for adoption when he was born in the 1960s, as David was young and wanted to focus on his career, and not a child. Later in life, James sought out his biological father, only to find out that his father was none other than David Crosby.
James must have inherited the music gene, as he had become a keyboardist and composer. The two bonded over music, and even wrote songs and played together, and developed a relationship that they had lost over the years.
6 Roseanne Barr
Actress and comedian Roseanne Barr is another celebrity who gave her firstborn daughter up for adoption. Her family wasn't very supportive of her pregnancy when she was just 18 years old, so Roseanne decided to give her daughter up for adoption nine days after Brandi was born.
When Brandi had turned 17, Roseanne's career had taken off with the success of her TV series, Roseanne. She was in the spotlight, so the tabloids began to poke and prod at her private life, and exposed that she had given Brandi up for adoption, and had found out where Brandi lived. As a result, Roseanne set out to make things right and meet her daughter. Once the two met, they developed a close relationship, and Brandi even worked for Roseanne for a little while.
5 Patti Smith
Singer and songwriter Patti Smith got pregnant when she was a teenager, and ultimately decided that giving up that baby for adoption would be the best for both of them. Growing up, her family didn't have a lot of money and struggled to get by. If she had decided to keep the baby, she would have had to depend heavily on her parents for support, who were already spreading themselves thin to provide for Patti and her three siblings.
Because of that, Patti didn't think it would be the best case for her, her baby, and her family. Therefore, she made the hard decision to put her baby up for adoption.
4 Catelynn Lowell
We first saw Catelynn Lowell when she appeared on 16 And Pregnant on MTV. When Catelynn was just 17 years old, she gave birth to her daughter Carly with her then-boyfriend and now-husband Tyler Baltierra.
When Catelynn was on 16 And Pregnant, they followed the couple and their decision to put the baby up for adoption. It gave viewers a look into how the process goes and showed the reality of adoption. Since then, Catelynn and Tyler have had other children that they've kept, however, they still keep in touch with their first daughter, and even visit her often.
3 Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell is a singer and songwriter who gave her daughter up for adoption. When she was 21, she got pregnant and was chasing her dreams as a singer and songwriter, with barely any money to her name. After she gave the baby up for adoption, her career took off, and it seemed like she made the best decision.
She kept the adoption a secret, that is until the tabloids found out and leaked her secret and the world found out about it. It took a few decades, but eventually, Joni was reunited with her daughter, giving the two of them a happy ending and a great relationship.
2 Dirk Benedict
Actor Dirk Benedict is yet another celebrity that has given up a child for adoption, however, unlike other celebs, Dirk didn't know he even had a son, let alone know that he had been put up for adoption. John Talbert, Dirk's son, was given an envelope from his adoptive parents when he graduated high school that contained information about his biological parents.
If he ever wanted to seek out his biological parents once he was an adult, he had the information. He was in contact with his mom first, before seeking out Dirk. Naturally, Dirk was shocked to hear about the existence of his son, however, their relationship grew close, and became involved in each other's lives.
1 Duane Lee Chapman
Duane Lee Chapman aka Dog The Bounty Hunter is another celeb that gave one of his children up for adoption. Duane has had quite a messy life, as he has been married a total of five times, and he also has a total of 12 children. His first child was a son named Christopher Michael Hecht, who was born was Duane was just a teenager.
The mother of his child never told him that she was pregnant, and he didn't even find out about him until after his mother had died by suicide. It was very unfortunate that his mother had passed away, however, Christopher didn't get to connect with Duane until he was an adult.