Being famous is a full-time job of its own, yet these celebrities have balanced world-renowned careers and parenthood, sometimes before reaching their 20s! Read on to find out which stars became parents at a young age.
Brandy Norwood
Brandy Norwood had her daughter, Sy'Rai Smith, with former beau and music producer Robert "Big Bert" Smith. The Brokenhearted singer was a young 23 years old when she welcomed Sy'Rai in June 2002.
"I love being a mother because having children inspires you to be a better 'you,'" Norwood said of motherhood. "The hardest thing about being a mother is that you realize you aren't perfect and you'll make mistakes. But you do the best you can. I teach Sy'rai to always be who you are."
Evelyn Lozada
This television personality and model has two children: 27-year-old Shaniece Hairston and 6-year-old Carl Leo Crawford. Lozada had her daughter at the ripe age of seventeen. Shaniece's father is Evelyn's ex, Jamal Hairston, and the mother-daughter duo are pretty much inseparable besties.
"The pregnancy marks I got on my tummy after my daughter's birth at 17, are the best tattoos I could have ever gotten," the Basketball Wives star wrote on Instagram in a sentimental post. "They signify the beginning of the beautiful journey of motherhood."
Neymar
World-renowned soccer player Neymar is known for his skills on the field. But outside the stadium, he's also dad to Davi Lucca da Silva Santos. Davi was born around 11 years ago when Neymar was 19 years old, and being a famous athlete's son isn't always easy.
"I was on TV. So my son said, 'That's my dad.' And then one of his friends said, 'No, that's not your dad.' And my son, 'Yes, he is my dad.' And my son's friend, 'No, Neymar can't be your dad,'" the soccer star shared. "And my son was a bit sad because no one believed I was his dad."
Lisa Bonet
Lisa Bonet was a child star on The Cosby Show before she started dating Lenny Kravitz, and the two became a 90s power couple. While Lenny was 24 by the time the lovebirds welcomed their daughter Zoe, Lisa was a young 21 years old. The actress discussed how having a child forced her to grow up fast.
"Having Zoe saved my life," Bonet explained. "It was my wake-up call about [growing up]. There were so many things I didn't want to pass on to her, so I really made a decision to change [into a better person]." Today, Lisa and Zoe are often seen rocking the Red Carpet together.
Eminem
When the famous rapper was 23 years old, he welcomed daughter Hailie into the world. Fans of the artist are probably familiar with how many hit tracks the baby girl came to inspire, like Hallie's Song, Mockingbird, and When I'm Gone. But the now 25-year-old isn't Eminem's only child.
After becoming a young father to Hallie, Eminem adopted his niece, Alaina, and his step-daughter, Whitney. Both girls were in tumultuous home situations, and Marshall took them in. "When I think about my accomplishments... [fatherhood's] probably the thing that I'm most proud of, you know... being able to raise kids," he said.
Natalia Vodianova
This supermodel is now a mother of four but struggled when she had her first child at 21 years old. "I didn't have any family with me," she recalled. "Justin [her ex-husband], like any new dad, didn't know what to do and the first few weeks of Lucas's life, I was by myself caring for a child, which is really tiring."
After Lucas, Vodianova had another child, Viktor, with Justin Portman. The pair divorced in 2011, and Natalia remarried to Antoine Arnault, with whom she has another two boys. "All I want for them is to be happy and to be good people, to have something they enjoy doing," the model said.
Fantasia Barrino
This Grammy-nominated singer rose to fame when she won the third season of American Idol. But before fame and fortune, Barrino was a struggling young mom. Fantasia gave birth to her first child, Zion Quari Barrino, in August 2001 when she was 17 years old.
Fantasia's hardships have inspired her music. In 2005, the artist released Baby Mama, a song she said was "a 'shout out' to all the single moms out there... I know the struggle... When they [finish] a hard day's work, they can get in their car, turn the radio up, and hear a song that's saying, 'Alright girl, this one is for you.'"
Jamie Lynn Spears
The famous younger sister of Britney Spears, Jamie became pregnant just after wrapping up her final season on Nickelodeon's Zoey 101. The actress was 16 years old when her now 12-year-old daughter was born. According to Spears, age has nothing to do with parenting.
"I quickly learned that being a good and competent mother has nothing to do with age," Spears shared. "I have met some of the most wonderful amazing moms who are anywhere from 20 years to 50 years old, so young or old, love is all it's really about."
Whoopi Goldberg
About 12 years before winning her first Grammy Award for Best Comedy Recording, Goldberg became a mom at the age of 18. Whoopi named her daughter Alex, and the two often attended Hollywood events together as Goldberg rose to fame. The renowned actress is now also a proud grandma.
"I always say in hindsight, I feel like I could have been a better parent, I could have made some better choices, you know. But what gives me great peace is that my daughter is a great mother," Goldberg shared. "She started [motherhood] very young, but she got it together at the points that she needed to get it together."
Sofia Vergara
Before becoming a household name as Gloria in Modern Family, the Colombian actress was hustling to provide for her family. Sofia became a mom to her now 29-year-old son, Manolo Gonzalez, when she was 20 years old. According to Vergara, being a young mom shaped her work ethic and career.
"I was a single mother very early, and what made me wake up every day, what made me be responsible, was that I had the motivation that I needed to make money, to give my son all the things that I thought that he needed," she explained. Manolo is now paving his own Hollywood path in modeling.
David Beckham
When the soccer star met Spice Girls member Victoria, the two fell quickly in love and welcomed their first son a few months before their 1999 wedding. At just 23 years old, David became a father to Brooklyn. Being a young dad was apparently his lifelong dream.
"Obviously, Victoria and I had Brooklyn at a very young age," the renowned athlete said. "But I always wanted that because I wanted my kids to live through my career with me - through the highs and obviously a couple of lows along the way. I always wanted that."
Snoop Dogg
It's no secret the legendary artist is a proud dad, as fans of his reality tv show Snoop Dogg's Father Hood probably know. The talented rapper has four children: Corde "Spank," Cordell, Cori, and Julian. Dogg had the eldest when he was 23 years old, and it changed his life.
"Spank was really my first love -- not that I didn't love my wife, but when he was born, it was like my first love was him. I never knew about those kinda feelings," Dogg shared. And it looks like the love is mutual. The happy dad said Spank "does everything I say, with effort and determination."
Emily Maynard Johnson
Johnson rose to fame when she starred as the bachelorette in the reality show's eighth season. But her road to Hollywood wasn't all rainbows and butterflies. At 19 years old, Emily gave birth to her daughter, Ricki, shortly after the infant's father passed away.
Being a grieving single mom was hard, and the TV star vowed to do it differently with her younger children. "With Ricki, I never really saw the joy in it," Emily said. "I never took a minute to breathe her in and appreciate those moments. Now, I want to remember everything more."
Lamar Odom
Before his 7-year marriage to Khloe Kardashian, Lamar Odom had three children with his former girlfriend, Liza Morales. Their first daughter, Destiny, came into the world in 1998 when Odom was an 18-year-old athlete at the University of Rhode Island.
Lamar's substance difficulties led to an estranged relationship with Destiny until she finally told him to stay clean or "I wouldn't talk to him anymore." "I'm glad she pulled up the courage to tell her old man that," Odom said. "It's crazy because it's, like, the opposite of the life cycle, right? Like, your kid teaching you."
Taylor Hanson
Taylor's career began in a band he formed with his brothers called Hanson. In 2002, just a year before the siblings founded their own record label, Taylor became a father. At 18 years old, the singer was just entering adulthood, and he and his wife Natalie went on to have 6 more kids.
Now that his two brothers are also proud dads of a few children, celebrating the holidays has become complicated. "For the past few years, we've stopped having every person give gifts to every single person. It gets out of control. You'd need a truck," Hanson joked.
Reese Witherspoon
Today, Witherspoon's oldest daughter is a 21-year-old student at UC Berkeley. But nearly two decades earlier, a young Reese was nervous about raising a child when she was 23 years old. In an interview on The Drew Barrymore Show, the Big Little Lies star admitted she was "terrified" of being a young parent.
"I got pregnant when I was 22 years old, and I didn't know how to balance work and motherhood," Witherspoon said. "I didn't know if I was going to have steady work, too. I made movies, but I hadn't established myself as someone who could demand that it shoot close to my kid's school."
50 Cent
50 Cent was 21 years old when he had his first child, Marquise Jackson, with then-girlfriend Shaniqua Tompkins. Sadly, the rapper and his now 24-year-old son have an estranged relationship. In a 2014 interview with Philly's Morning Show, 50 said his son "embraced his mom's perspective on me," ruining their bond.
According to 50, "envy" and "entitlement" got in the way of their relationship. "I didn't think that success would cost me my firstborn, but it's the situation it is," he said. "Like my grandfather used to say, 'If it rattles like a snake and slithers like a snake, is it a snake or do you need to be bit?'"
Charlie Sheen
Some may recognize this famous name from Two and a Half Men. But a lesser-known fact about the popular actor is that he became a dad at the age of 19, and at the young age of 55, he is now a grandpa. Charlie had his oldest daughter, Cassandra, with a former high school girlfriend.
Sheen had four more kids later in life: Sam, Lola, Bob, and Max. After a series of scandals in 2016, the actor was clear about what matters most to him: his children. "I'm out of things to prove," Charlie said. "I just want my kids to be proud of me when I'm here and when I'm gone. You know?"
Solange Knowles
At the age of 18, Solange welcomed her baby boy, Daniel Julez J. Smith Jr., with ex-husband Daniel Smith Jr. "When you have a child, I think it takes a really non-emotional person not to have a blast, no matter what age," the My Skin My Logo singer said.
Knowles later reflected on the harder parts of being a teenage mom in an emotional letter for Teen Vogue. "Some people will count you out because of the decision you've made to bring another life into the world so young, but you made the decision out of love and will live with the decision in love," the artist wrote.
Dwyane Wade
Before marrying Gabrielle Union and forming a family together, Dwyane was a single father of two. The basketball star welcomed his first child at the age of 20 and divorced his high school sweetheart years later. What followed was an intense custody battle.
The dedicated father ultimately gained custody of his children, but it didn't come easily. "I can't describe how trying those days were, fighting for full custody while also working as a professional basketball player nine months of the year," Wade said. "I just knew I wanted to be with my kids."
Candace Cameron Bure
Three years after the iconic sitcom wrapped up, this Full House star became a mom. Candace was 22 years old at the time and later gave birth to two more children. But being a young mother didn't mean she was lenient with her kids, as Bure explained.
"They [my kids] would also describe me as strict," she shared with L.A. Parent. "I am always willing to listen. But, I don't always say, 'yes.' My goal as a parent is not to make my kids happy, but to guide them to be respectful, curious, responsible, resilient, kind, giving, and thoughtful adults."
Lil Wayne
Lil Wayne was 15 years old when he became a dad to his first daughter, Reginae Carter, and it's safe to say the father-daughter pair share a strong bond. "I love you so much dad. Thanks for being my personal hero," Reginae wrote to the rapper for father's day. "Most don't know all of your powers and how strong they really are."
She continued, "The most powerful one is being my father." On Lil Wayne's end, it seems that he's your average geeky father trying to keep up with the times! "Sometimes I don't know what... they're talking about on Instagram," he told Rolling Stone in 2015. "Like, what the... is 'on fleek'?"
T.I.
T.I. is the proud father of six children, the first of who the artist had when he was 20 years old. The artist's oldest son, Messiah Ya'Majesty Harris, came into the world in February 2000. When asked what he's learned over the years from being a father, T.I. said that dedication is ultimately most important.
"Man, I learned a lot. It's [fatherhood's] hard to do. It's something that you never really master. It's... a charge to even assume responsibility for them. So you just have to be committed to it," T.I. said. "You have to be committed to it and passionate about it. Put your effort and energy towards it."
LeBron James
LeBron James and his wife, Savannah Brinson, have three beautiful children together: Bronny, Zhuri, and Bryce. The legendary athlete was 20 years old when he became a dad for the first time. According to James, fatherhood helped him up his game on the court.
"What I've learned is to get the best out of my three kids, I can't approach them all the same way," James explained. "They are all different, and I had to find out how to rap into each one of my kids to get the same results but teach them differently, and that's the same with being the leader of a basketball team."
Will Smith
Will Smith was a rising star on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air when he married his former wife Sheree Zampino in 1992. That year, at the age of 24, Smith welcomed his first son named Willard Christopher III. While the two are now close, that wasn't always the case.
"We struggled for years after my divorce from his mother," the actor explained. "He felt betrayed and abandoned. It is a wild blessing to recover and restore a loving relationship with my beautiful son!" The oldest son, who now goes by Trey, has two famous half-siblings, Jaden and Willow.
Kylie Jenner
The then-20-year-old Jenner was the topic of countless headlines when she gave birth to Stormi Webster in February 2018. "It's genuinely what I wanted... to be a young mom," the makeup mogul said after successfully hiding her pregnancy from the public eye.
"She really comes before me, so that is a lot to take in at a young age. But I feel like I was definitely made for this, and she has changed my life for the better," Jenner added. "The way that I look at things is a lot more positive, and I really feel like my life didn't start until I had her."
Niki Taylor
Niki Taylor rose to supermodel stardom when she became the youngest person ever featured as one of People magazine's Most Beautiful People. She was 16 at the time, and three years later, Taylor gave birth to twin boys. Niki may have made being a young mom look fabulous, but she admits it wasn't easy.
"It's hard! Your schedule won't be the same," Taylor shared. "It was hard to go back to work; I wanted to stay home at least for the first year because that's when so many changes happen. But I think moms need to be in the moment, plain and simple."
Britney Spears
Britney Spears was married to rapper Kevin Federline for about two years before the duo called it quits. During that time, the former couple had two kids together: Sean Preston and Jayden James. Spears was 23 years old when the older son, Sean, was born.
Unfortunately, drama and custody battles followed Britney and Kevin's divorce. But the princess of pop said that being a mother is the best thing ever. "There is nothing more rewarding than being a mom and watching my sons grow into young men. I am so lucky that I get to experience all of life's adventures with them," she told People.
Ice Cube
This iconic rapper was 21 years old when his first son, O'Shea Jackson Jr., was born. The eldest child has followed in his dad's footsteps and is now a rapper. In a full-circle moment, O'Shea played his own father in the 2015 biographical drama Straight Outta Compton.
"He knew that this movie had to be authentic, and nobody is going to handle this role as passionately as I would because it's my family's legacy," Jackson Jr. said. "He wanted me to make it work, so he got me acting coaches - it was a lot of hard work."
Keisha Castle-Hughes
This talented actress rose to prominence after playing Paikea Apirana in 2002's Whale Rider. After the film, Keisha became the youngest person nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Actress category. She was 13 at the time, and a few years later, at 17 years old, she became pregnant.
"It was completely unplanned, but having Felicity [her daughter] was the best thing that could ever have happened to me," she said. "I didn't want to become the poster girl for teenage pregnancy, but I wasn't focused on that or what other people were thinking. I just did the best I could."