Changing nappies? At your age?
As Bono reveals that Adam Clayton is to become a dad aged 57, why are SO many celebrities having children at a point when they should really be thinking about slippers and a glass of milk?
Last Saturday during their concert in Twickenham, bigmouth Bono spilled the beans: U2’s bass player Adam Clayton is expecting a baby with his Brazilian wife of four years, Mariana de Carvalho. Clayton already has a seven-year-old son by a French former girlfriend, who lives in Switzerland and who he sees ‘as often as I can’. Now he is adding to his family - at the ripe old age of 57. Some argue that older dads have more wisdom and maturity; others point out that they have less energy — and perhaps time on this earth — to devote to their children. Rod Stewart admitted his baby boom was exhausting but Alec Baldwin says he’s never been happier. So Adam might want to heed these words of fellow older fathers...
RONNIE WOOD, 69
THE ROLLING Stones legend Ronnie Wood and his wife Sally Humphreys, who is 31 years his junior, welcomed twin girls just two days before his 69th birthday. Little Alice Rose and Gracie Jane turned one last month. The doting parents did a Hello! Magazine shoot when they were born in which Ronnie proudly bragged of being the ‘nappy-changer’. Recently they returned to the front page of the same magazine to gush about family life in rural Hertfordshire. Wood said: ‘Any time I’m with Sally and the girls, that’s the best for me, nothing tops it. When the twins come into our bed and we’re all snuggled up together, that, for me, is wonderful - my idea of heaven. It’s special. The girls are so cuddly and gorgeous. I’m a lucky man.’
But the new couple drew heavy criticism after announcing they were expecting twins at the end of 2015, with some accusing the rocker of being ‘selfish’ for becoming a father so late in life.
Theatre producer Sally staunchly defended their decision, stating at the time: ‘I do accept this is a shock to some people and ridiculous to others, but these children are loved. There are other children being born to younger people who aren’t loved. Which do you prefer?’
Ronnie already has a son, Jesse Wood, with his first wife Krissy Wood - with his firstborn now married to TV presenter Fearne Cotton. He also has a daughter Leah - who is the same age as his wife - and son Tyrone from his second marriage, to Jo Wood; and Jamie, Jo’s son from a previous marriage, whom Ronnie adopted. two more children as a single parent: daughter Katie Lucas, born in 1988 and Jett Lucas, born in 1993.
STEVE MARTIN, 67
HE PLAYED an adorably convincing over-protective Dad in 1991 movie Father of the Bride, but the comedy actor didn’t have a child of his own until he was 67 in 2012 with wife Anne Stringfield. Amazingly, their child turns five this year but her name has still not been revealed to the public. Martin and his wife of ten years, are notoriously private.
He only revealed in April 2013, a few months after the birth, that he was a ‘responsible dad’ on The Late Show With David Letterman, and made light of probing questions. ‘We’ve thought about the name quite a bit. Conquistador. What do you think?’ he teased.
In November of that year, the Father Of The Bride star broke down in tears when talking about his family as he accepted an honorary Oscar at the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences’ Fifth annual Governors Awards.
‘I knew I wasn’t going to make it through this speech. I read it to my dog this morning and wept. My wife, Anne Stringfield … is as beautiful as she is smart. My wife alone would have been enough reward for my life, but now she’s brought me a wonderful child.’
MICHAEL DOUGLAS, 58
MICHAEL Douglas was just a year older than Adam Clayton when his youngest child Carys Zeta Douglas was born in 2003. Her older brother Dylan Michael had been born two years earlier. Now aged 72 to his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones’s 47, Douglas says having children later has had a profound effect on him. ‘I’m not driven like I once was – these days I am consumed with being a father and with my responsibilities as a husband,’ he told the Guardian newspaper. ‘I never anticipated starting a family at my age. I’m genuinely happy to let Catherine work, while I stay at home with the children. I cherish this time.’ His marriage to his first wife Diandra ended in divorce in 1995 and their son Cameron was released from prison last year after serving six years for drugs offences.
‘During my first marriage, my career was the most important thing in my life. I clearly know I made mistakes. There were absences,’ he said. ‘Now that my own priorities are entirely different, I’m always encouraging people to wait to have a family – get yourself sorted career-wise first as much as you can.’
ROD STEWART, 66
IN TRUE rock ‘n’ roll style, when Rod Stewart welcomed his youngest son Aiden at bus pass age in 2011, he became a granddad six months later when his daughter Kimberly gave birth.
At the time he spoke to a reporter while shopping for baby clothes in Harrods, admitting: ‘At my age, a new baby is bl**dy exhausting, it doesn’t stop, but I’m very lucky and proud to have had this happen in my life. Knackered or not, Aiden is a beautiful little boy.’ Like Mick Jagger, Stewart has eight children by five different women, including two with his current wife Penny Lancaster.
And age is helping Rod appreciate his family more. Speaking on ITV’s Lorraine show he said: ‘I’ve got eight children and I think I am appreciating it more now in old age than I ever did before. I really cherish those moments.’
When asked whether he would have more children, he insisted: ‘No, no, no, no. I’ve got a hockey player, I’ve got a musician, I’ve got a ballet dancer, a jazz dancer – they are all pursuing wonderful careers in the arts. Extremely proud of them.’
BRUCE WILLIS, 59
HE NOW has as many children as he has Die Hard movies — that’s five —but it sounds like Bruce Willis, 62, isn’t done yet. His three children — Rumer, Scout, and Tallulah — with ex-wife Demi Moore were adults in 2012 when he welcomed a third daughter, Mabel Ray, at the age of 57. Two years later, he and wife Emma Heming had another daughter, Evelyn Penn. But he is STILL broody.
‘Eventually, I’d like a son,’ said the father of five girls, who must be even more unstoppable than his
alter ego John McClane.
ALEC BALDWIN, 58
AFTER falling for NYC yoga teacher Hilaria Thomas, Alec Baldwin married her in 2012 and the couple has had three babies in quick succession: Carmen, 3, Rafael, 2 and Leonardo, 10 months. Baldwin had a notoriously acrimonious divorce from wife Kim Basinger, with whom he has a daughter Ireland, 21. Second-time around, he is enjoying domesticity more. Just a few months after Rafael was born he told People magazine that he was ‘dying to have another child with my wife. I love my wife more than anything. I love our family. I’m very happy. I’ve never been happier before in my life.’
ELTON JOHN, 66
IN 2013 the singer and his husband David Furnish welcomed their son Elijah; three years earlier they had welcomed their first child Zachary. Both boys were born via a surrogate; the couple used the services of the Center for Surrogate Parenting in Encino, California. It’s unknown if the same surrogate was used for both children or if either Elton or David are biological parents of either.
Last year Elton said on the Ellen Degeneres show: ‘If you had said to me ten years ago I’d be sitting on your show married to the man I love and have two beautiful children, I would have said you put acid in my drink.
‘But life throws you challenges and life throws you curve balls and great curve balls and these two children have come along at a time I never thought I’d have children.
‘They are the greatest thing in our lives,’ he said. ‘There are no words to describe how much we love these boys. They’re just amazing.’