Whether you like it or not, teen moms or young mothers will always be viewed differently in society.
When a friend of mine got pregnant at only 16 years old, she panicked. She begged me to keep her pregnancy a secret until she figured out what she wanted to do.
By the time she made the decision to get an abortion, the baby had grown too big. Her parents found out, and the entire course of her life was altered.
These stories are not uncommon, and even some of the most famous and successful women in Hollywood have found themselves in these uncomfortable situations where they've had to make a difficult choice.
While some of them are proud to have given birth to their child at a young age, others have felt guilt and shame.
Some of these celebrity moms tried to keep their pregnancy a secret for as long as they could, and some of their lives turned upside down right when they gave birth.
1. Roseanne Barr
The imperfect mom on the hit show Roseanne had her share of ups and down before she became a huge star.
When she was 16 years old, she was hit by a car, leaving her with a traumatic brain injury.
As her mental health rapidly declined, she forced to become institutionalized for eights months at Utah State Hospital.
During this time, she gave birth to a baby girl, and decided to put her up for adoption.
Her poor financial situation was the reason why Roseanne gave her child away to the Jewish Family & Children's Service in Denver, Colorado.
Decades later, after she gained success in her acting career, she reunited with her daughter, Brandi Brown, who was 17 years old at the time.
"She's a really cool kid. I saw a lot of me in her," Roseanne opened up to People. "She's intuitive, trusts her perceptions and feelings and listens to what's not spoken. That's how I've lived my life."
The actress now has five children in total.
2. Sofia Vergara
Despite having a child when she was only 19 years old, Sofia remembers the experience of being a single mom in a positive light.
"I had energy for everything," she told Redbook.
The Modern Family actress fell in love with her high school sweetheart in Colombia.
They got married at the age of 18 and Sofia gave birth to her son, Manolo, soon after. Then a year later, the couple called it quits.
This was around the time that Sofia's acting career took off, and a decade after she split from her husband, Sofia landed her first notable English role in the 2003 film Chasing Papi.
Manolo is now 25 years old, and he's also following his mother's career footsteps.
These next celebrities experienced a lot of hardship while pregnant. One of them died not too long after birth...
3. Farrah Abraham
When Farrah got pregnant with her daughter, she was selected to appear on the MTV hit reality show 16 and Pregnant.
As viewers, we wanted to know the challenges soon-to-be teen moms faced. I think it's safe to assume that we got more than we bargained for.
Farrah didn't feel very confident about becoming a mother at such a young age.
She actually tried to get her mother to sign the paperwork allowing her to have an abortion, but her mother forbade it from happening.
Farrah's mom strongly believed that abortions are an act against God.
Farrah was even referred to as a "whore" by her mother for getting pregnant at only 16.
During this already tumultuous period of her life, the boy who impregnated Farrah died in a car accident.
In 2009, the reality star gave birth to Sophia Laurent Abraham.
"I know in the end it was the right choice to have my daughter," she told Couples Therapy.
Nine years later, not many people are sure if she's cut out to be a parent, after revealing she's become an adult film star and sharing that she and her daughter have naked photos of each other on their phone.
4. Aretha Franklin
Aretha became a rising star when she was only a teenager, gaining fame by singing around her town and traveling with her father to perform at different ministries.
This is probably where she met a lot of boys, who instantly fell in love with her powerful voice.
She eventually landed a record deal, and her music career was supposed to be smooth sailing after that, until she got pregnant at only 12 years old.
Aretha gave birth to her first son, Clarence, and two years later, she had her second child, Edward.
Aretha was still adamant on pursing her music career, and had her aunts take care of her kids when she was away.
A few years later, the singer had two more boys, Kecalf and Ted White Jr.
5. Oprah
I know what you're thinking: Oprah doesn't have kids!
That's true now, but when she was 14 year old, the former talk show host became pregnant after getting raped several times.
"I was raped at nine years old by a cousin, then again by another family member, and another family member," she once admitted to an audience in Australia.
We didn't know about this tragic tale until decades later, when one of her relatives broke the story in exchange for approximately $20,000.
She opened about this period of her life on Oprah's Lifeclass.
She revealed that for nine months, she tried to hide her belly because she felt "pain and shame." But eventually her water broke and she gave birth to a baby boy named Canaan.
Tragically, her little one died soon after, and the billionaire has chosen to never have kids again.
6. Reese Witherspoon
The Wild actress said her experiences being a young mother was tough.
"It was so hard ... living [away from my family]. I really didn't have any friends. And I had a baby," she told Elle. "No one else who was 22 had a baby."
At Reese's 21st birthday party, which was years before she won her first Oscar, she met her first love, Ryan Phillippe.
A year later, they married and welcomed their first daughter, Ava Elizabeth Phillippe.
Reese said another obstacle about being a young mother is that you "couldn't go out."
While her peers were enjoying their 20s, she was forced to balance work and home life.
That being said, I don't think there's a day the successful actress regrets her children.
Four years after giving birth to Ava, she had her first son, Deacon, and in 2012, she welcomed her second son, Tennessee.
The pregnancy tales of these next celebrity moms will surprise you...
7. Jamie Lynn Spears
Britney Spears's younger sister, who also starred in the early 2000s hit show Zoey 101, found out she was pregnant when she was only 16 years old.
She revealed in a new reality TV special called Jamie Lynn Spears: When the Lights Go Out that she took a pregnancy test when surrounded by friends at a gas station bathroom.
"When I became pregnant my world came crashing down," she said.
This news came at the height of her career, close to the end of her Nickelodeon show.
When Jamie's mom found out, she thought it was all a joke. "I was in shock ... There was big time worry there, you were 16, you were 16," her mom Lynn, said.
Her dad felt even more uncomfortable about the news, which made her feel unsure if she even wanted to have a child at that age.
"I felt extremely guilty, I lived my life trying to be this perfect girl and I was about to let people down," Jamie said.
In 2008, she gave birth to her first child, Maddie Briann Aldridge. A decade later, she gave birth to her second child, Ivey Joan Watson.
8. Whoopi Goldberg
Long before Whoopi's first on-screen appearance, something life-changing happened in the aspiring actress's life.
At only 18 years old, Whoopi met her first husband and got pregnant with his child, Alex Martin.
What many people don't know about the talk show host is that she got pregnant for the first time when she was 14 years old.
This happened in the late 60s, a time when abortion was illegal, but Whoopi knew she couldn't support her child. She used a coat hangar in a NYC park bathroom to abort the fetus.
"I found out I was pregnant when I was fourteen. I didn't get a period. I talked to nobody. I panicked. At that moment I was more afraid of having to explain to anybody what was wrong than of going to the park with a hanger, which is what I did," she wrote in an essay for the book The Choices We Made.
Interestingly, Alex, who is now 44 years old, had her first daughter even younger than when her mother gave birth to her!
She welcomed her first child when she was only 16 years old.
9. Kylie Jenner
Kylie Jenner welcomed her first child, Stormi Webster, in early 2018.
She was only 20 years old, but that didn't bother the reality TV star.
Most people shunned her for becoming pregnant at a young age, since most women in this day and age wait until their late 20s to mid-30s to have a child.
Fans thought she kept her pregnancy a secret because she was embarrassed. In fact, she revealed that she wanted this special moment for herself.
"I'm sorry for keeping you in the dark through all the assumptions. I understand you're used to me bringing you along on all my journeys," Kylie tweeted after she gave birth.
"My pregnancy was one I chose not to do in front of the world. I knew for myself I needed to prepare for this role of a lifetime in the most positive, stress-free, and healthy way I knew how."
10. Adele
The Grammy Award-winning singer cannot keep herself away from the limelight even if she tries.
At only 24 years old, and right at the height of her music career, Adele revealed that she was pregnant with her first child. She gave birth to Angelo in October 2012.
In regards to being a young mother, Adele said, "[I] felt like I was truly living. I had a purpose, where before I didn't."
That being said, she has described the experience of being a working mom as overwhelming.
"I love my son more than anything, but on a daily basis, if I have a minute or two, I wish I could do whatever the f"”k I wanted, whenever I want. Every single day I feel like that," she told Vanity Fair.
The singer opened up about her postpartum depression, saying, "One day, I said to a friend, "˜I f"”kin' hate this, and she burst into tears and said, "˜I f"”kin' hate this, too,' ... And it was done. It lifted."
In light of these difficult circumstances, the singer-songwriter said she's uncertain on whether she'll ever want to have another child.
