Being part of a blended family is incredibly common these days, and many celebrity stepparents are normalizing having a tight-knit bond with their stepkids. From Gabrielle Union-Wade and Jennifer Lopez to Kurt Russell and Jason Momoa, some of the biggest stars in entertainment frequently show the world what it looks like to foster a close stepparent-stepchild relationship.
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For the Bring It On star, she was fully aware that her signature on the dotted line represented an agreement to more than just her marital vows to NBA icon Dwyane Wade. The former professional basketball player had three kids from previous relationships by the time he and Union-Wade tied the knot, and the actress shared on a 2021 episode of the We Can Do Hard Things with Glennon Doyle podcast, “I knew that when I married him, I was married to them.”
Like Union-Wade, Jada Pinkett Smith was determined to show up as a positive parental figure for Will Smith’s son Trey. The Girls Trip actress wrote on Facebook in 2014, “When I married Will, I knew Trey was part of the package. Period! If I didn’t want that, I needed to marry someone else.”
And though Blake Shelton has no kids of his own, his relationship with his own stepdad influenced how he perceives his bond with Gwen Stefani’s three sons. The country singer told People in 2021, “I love my stepfather and I look up to him and he’s like a father to me, so I have a good inspiration in my life for how to do this and the kind of stepdad I want to be, and I take it very serious.”
Scroll on to read more on stepparenthood from these stars and many more.
Gabrielle Union-Wade
Image Credit: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Tiffany & Co. Before she welcomed her daughter Kaavia with Dwyane Wade, Gabrielle Union-Wade was stepmom to the NBA icon’s daughter Zaya and sons Zaire and Xavier. The Bring It On alum said on a 2021 episode of the We Can Do Hard Things with Glennon Doyle podcast, “I knew that when I married him, I was married to them.”
Union-Wade continued, “What I realized very quickly is you will never, ever — I don’t care if the other parent is dead — you will never be able to replace the other parent. Don’t try to replace the other parent. That is not your job.” The movie star asserted, “Your job is to be consistent. If you’re a disciplinarian in your own life, continue to be that. Just be consistent so they know who you are.”
Kurt Russell
Image Credit: Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Netflix. Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn share a son of their own, Wyatt, but the Guardians of the Galaxy alum is also dad to his son Boston and stepdad to Hawn’s movie star kids, daughter Kate Hudson and son Oliver Hudson. Russell is famously close with Kate, who shared an incredibly touching Father’s Day post in his honor in 2022.
Alongside a sweet throwback photo, The Knives Out: Glass Onion star wrote on Instagram, “Fun, adventurous, passionate, determined, honest, devoted, amazing father and the best head of hair in Los Angeles! Lucky us! Love you Pa! Happy Fathers Day.”
Hawn responded in the comments, “Honey I showed this to daddy. Here’s his message …” Russell wrote, “Birdie, mommy just showed me this picture, this perfect Father’s Day present. I’ve never seen it before. Wow … it’s a killer.”
The Christmas Chronicles actor continued, “Lotta water under the bridge … it’s kinda hard to see it though cause all that water seems to somehow have found its way into my eyes … thanks for making me the luckiest father in the world sweetheart. I love you, Pa.”
Cardi B
Image Credit: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Diamond Ball. By the time Cardi B and Offset began dating, the Migos rapper was already dad to a daughter, Kalea, and two sons, Kody and Jordan. The “Money” rapper has always embraced being a stepmother, even after she and Offset welcomed a daughter, Kulture, followed by a son, Wave. Cardi occasionally shares photos of their blended family, and in 2022, Offset sang her praises as a stepmom.
“It’s a blessing to be able to have [the kids] altogether, and to have a wife who’s open and treats them as if they’re her kids,” he said during an interview with Essence. “It could be an issue, but I don’t have to go through that, and that’s beautiful.”
Ben Affleck
Image Credit: Phillip Faraone/Getty Images. When Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck married, they each had several children from previous relationships. Lopez shares twin daughter and son Emme and Max with her ex-husband Marc Anthony, and Affleck and his ex-wife Jennifer Garner are parents to daughters Violet and Seraphina and son Samuel.
Modeling top-tier blended family dynamics, the Shotgun Wedding actress sang the praises of the Justice League star’s parenting abilities. During a 2023 appearance on Today, Lopez said, “He’s a wonderful, wonderful father. And a father figure to [Max and Emme] as well, because he has his own three beautiful children, and then there’s us.”
The entertainment multi-hyphenate continued, “He’s fantastic. He really steps up to the challenge of what [stepparenthood] is and what that means, and they love him. They love him. And they appreciate him, and so do I.”
Jennifer Lopez
Image Credit: Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Netflix. Likewise, it’s important to Jennifer Lopez to be a pillar of support and source of love for Ben Affleck’s children. She told Vogue in 2022, “What I hope to cultivate with our family is that his kids have a new ally in me and my kids have a new ally in him, someone who really loves and cares about them but can have a different perspective and help me see things that I can’t see with my kids because I’m so emotionally tied up.”
Gisele Bündchen
Image Credit: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images. Just two months after Gisele Bündchen and Tom Brady got together, the former supermodel learned her new boyfriend was expecting a baby with his ex-girlfriend Bridget Moynahan. The trio came together to welcome Jack into the world, and the NFL quarterback and Bündchen had a daughter, Vivian, and a son, Benjamin, a few years later.
In 2018, Bündchen explained the dynamic between herself, Brady, and Moynahan to People. “It wasn’t the ideal situation for anyone — there’s no manual to prepare you for that,” she said. “But I’m so grateful for [Bridget]. I know this was hard, but I couldn’t imagine my life without [Jack]. I call him my bonus child.” Bündchen added, “He opened my heart in ways I didn’t even know my heart could expand. I fell in love with him.”
Jada Pinkett Smith
Image Credit: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images. Jada Pinkett Smith has always prioritized a close relationship with her stepson Trey. In 2014, the Matrix star wrote about the dynamic between herself, her husband Will Smith, and Trey. Pinkett Smith shared on Facebook, “When I married Will, I knew Trey was part of the package. Period! If I didn’t want that, I needed to marry someone else.”
She added, “I can’t support any actions that keep a man from his children of a previous marriage … We can’t say we love our man and then come in between him and his children. THAT’S selfishness — not love.”
The two movie stars also share a son and a daughter, Jaden and Willow.
Russell Wilson
Image Credit: Amy Sussman/Getty Images. Russell Wilson is stepdad to Ciara’s son Future. Of stepparenthood, the NFL player said during an appearance on Good Morning America, “Being a stepdad … has taught me, really, what love is like, what life is really like, [and] how God intends us to love.”
Wilson and Ciara share two additional children, a daughter named Sienna and a son named Win, with another baby on the way.
Antonio Banderas
Image Credit: Getty Images. Though he and Melanie Griffith separated in 2015, Antonio Banderas forged a lasting bond with her children, son Alexander and Fifty Shades of Grey star Dakota Johnson. In fact, Johnson presented her former stepdad with the Hollywood Actor Award at the 2020 Hollywood Film Awards, and she gave a touching speech in his honor.
Johnson told the crowd, “He loved my mother, and my siblings and I so big, and so fiercely and so loud, that it would change all of our lives together.” Afterward, Banderas told E! News, “I thought and felt that all of those years.”
The Spy Kids alum added, “But I knew that it was a confirmation that all of those years that Melanie and I spent together, they were years that was not only just about Melanie and me, they were about the family. They were worth it all.”
Blake Shelton
Image Credit: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images. Blake Shelton doesn’t have any kids of his own, but he adores being stepdad to Gwen Stefani’s three sons Kingston, Zuma, and Apollo. In 2021, the country singer told People, “I have a stepfather in my life who’s one of my heroes. I love my stepfather and I look up to him and he’s like a father to me, so I have a good inspiration in my life for how to do this and the kind of stepdad I want to be, and I take it very serious,” Shelton explained.
The Voice judge added, “But I also have a blast with it, I’m not gonna lie. I don’t take it so serious that I’m not enjoying this time because I really am, especially now that we’re five years into this thing … I can’t imagine my life without these kids now.”
Matt Damon
Image Credit: Arturo Holmes/Getty Images. Before Matt Damon and Luciana Barroso welcomed three daughters together — Isabella, Gia, and Stella — the Good Will Hunting star became stepdad to Barroso’s daughter Alexia. Damon and Alexia are so close that, when the movie star got the names of his younger three daughters tattooed on him, he also got his stepdaughter’s name inked into his skin.
Jason Momoa
Image Credit: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for InStyle. Jason Momoa and Lisa Bonet decided to part ways after 14 years of marriage, but the Aquaman star is still close with his stepdaughter Zoë Kravitz. In fact, when Bonet couldn’t attend The Batman premiere, Momoa took their daughter and son, Lola and Nakoa-Wolf, to support their big sister’s debut as Catwoman.
On the red carpet, the Game of Thrones alum said, “We’re just so proud. Lisa couldn’t be here so we’re representing, me and the babies. We’re very excited to just be here … It’s still family, you know?”
Catherine Zeta-Jones
Image Credit: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images. Before Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas had their son Dylan and daughter Carys, the Wednesday actress was stepmom to the Ant-Man star’s son Cameron.
Zeta-Jones made sure to start on the right foot with Cameron — he told the Daily Mail in 2009, “When she came into our family it could so easily have gone another way. You hear stories all the time about the younger stepmother pushing away the kids from a previous marriage, but from the first day I met her, she said, ‘I want us to be friends, and I want you to know that you are a huge part of our family and are welcome any time.’” He added, “She has been as good as her word … I’ve never seen my father as happy as he is with her. It’s cool to see.”
Kate Bosworth
Image Credit: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for InStyle. Though Kate Bosworth and Michael Polish are no longer married, the actress is still very close to his daughter Jasper, whom Bosworth has been stepmom to for over a decade. During a 2022 appearance on The Talk, Bosworth shared, “I have watched her grow up from about 12 years old until, she’s 24 now, and she is the light of my life. She really is. I’m so proud of her.”
Of her relationship with Jasper’s mom, she added, “We kind of shattered the stereotype of like evil stepmother pitted against biological mother. I’m very close to Jasper’s biological mom … and I think it’s really all about love.”
Eva Longoria
Image Credit: Nick Tininenko/Getty Images for Casa Del Sol. Before they welcomed a son, Santiago, Eva Longoria was solely stepmom to José Bastón’s kids: daughters Natalia and Mariana and son José. The Desperate Housewives alum told E! News in 2017, “Right now I am a stepmom to three amazing kids, and I’ve had my hands full, and they are amazing and wonderful … It’s been a lot of fun, a lot of fun being a stepmom.”
Tina Knowles-Lawson
Image Credit: Amanda Edwards/Getty Images. In addition to her mega-star daughters Beyoncé and Solange Knowles, Tina Knowles-Lawson is also stepmom to Richard Lawson’s actress daughter Bianca. Knowles-Lawson frequently cheers for Bianca’s accomplishments, once calling her “my beautiful bonus daughter” on Instagram.
Barbra Streisand
Image Credit: Jason Merritt/Getty Images. When Barbra Streisand married James Brolin, she became stepmom to his three kids: daughter Molly and sons Jess and Josh. Avengers star Josh Brolin spoke to Good Morning America in 2018 about Streisand’s excitement over his baby on the way. He told the hosts, “She’s, like, in our face. She’s calling all the time, emailing all the time, she has name suggestions. We got her a bracelet that says ‘Grandma’ on it, she started crying. She’s into it, man, really, really into it. It’s great.”
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