The oldest celebrity fathers in recent history

Times have changed, and it's becoming more and more common to delay parenthood, something many celebrities are taking to the extreme. Here are some famous western men who had children well into their golden years...

Ecclestone is a trailblazer in this trend of late parenthood. Although his first daughter, Deborah (who is now a grandmother herself), was born when he was just 24, his other children arrived after he hit 50: Tamara at 53, Petra at 58 and Ace at 89. But Bernie is not alone in this club of senior celebrity dads...

Singer Julio Iglesias' father welcomed a child at 89 too. He was with American model Ronna Keith in 1978, when he was 63 and she was 28. Their son Jaime Nathaniel was born in 2004. When Iglesias Puga passed away in December 2005, Keith was again pregnant and gave birth to Ruth in the summer of 2006, whom he never got to meet.

During an interview with ET Canada promoting his movie 'About My Father' (2023), Robert De Niro revealed he became a dad for the seventh time at 79. Years before, he had children with his former partner Grace Hightower when he was 68 and 55.

The Rolling Stones frontman has eight kids, two of whom were born when he was over 50 (Gabriel at 54 and Lucas at 56), and a third, Deveraux, was born in 2016 when Jagger was 73. In fact, two years before Deveraux was born, the British rockstar had already become a great-grandfather!

The Australian media mogul also has a large brood of his own, fathering six children with various women. Two of them, Grace and Chloé, came from his marriage to Wendi Deng and were born when Murdoch was already 70 and 72 respectively, in 2001 and 2003.

Richard Gere's first child, Homer James Jigme Gere, was born in 2000 when his father was 51, a product of his relationship with Carey Lowell. But that wasn't the end of the baby train for Gere, who had two more children at 69 and 70 with Alejandra Silva, who is 33 years his junior.

The creator of the 'Star Wars' universe has four children, three of them adopted and one biological child born via surrogacy. The youngest, Everest Hobson Lucas, was born in 2013, making the legendary filmmaker a father at 69.

Let's not forget about another Rolling Stones member, multifaceted guitarist Ronnie Wood. He welcomed twin girls Gracie Jane and Alice Rose in 2016, just two days before his 69th birthday, after marrying theater producer Sally Humphreys. She is 30 years his junior and one year younger than his first-born, Jesse.

One of Hollywood's comedy geniuses, Steve Martin, waited until he was 67 to have his first child. After a pregnancy kept entirely secret, his daughter Mary Martin was born in December 2012. The mom is writer Anne Stringfield, whom he married in 2007.

Elton John was also 67 when his second child, Elijah Joseph Daniel, was born via surrogacy in 2013. He makes up one part of a family of four that includes his husband, David Furnish, and their older son, Zachary Jackson Levon, who was born in 2010 when John was 64.

Eastwood has seven children with five different women, four of whom were born when he was over 50. With Jacelyn Reeves, he fathered Scott at 56 and Kathryn at 58; with Frances Fisher, he had Francesca at 63; and with Dina Ruiz, he welcomed the youngest of the family, Morgan, when he was 66.

The American actor known for his roles as Mike Logan in 'Law & Order' and Mr. Big in 'Sex and the City,' has two children with fellow actor Tara Lynn Wilson. Their first was born in 2008, when Noth was 54. When their second child, Keats, arrived in February 2020, Noth was 66.

Like father, like son. Julio Iglesias, the internationally famous Spanish singer, didn't have children as late in life as his father, but he wasn't exactly a spring chicken. Of his eight children, five were born when he was over 50 with Miranda Rijnsburger: Miguel Alejandro at 54, Rodrigo at 56, twins Victoria and Cristina at 58, and Guillermo at 64.

The Baldwin family is a large one, and so are Alec Baldwin's offspring. He has eight children, seven of whom were born to his wife Hilaria Thomas when the actor was well into his middle age: Carmen Gabriela was born when he was 55; Rafael Thomas at 57; Leonardo Ángel Charles at 58; Romeo Alejandro David at 60; Eduardo Pau Lucas at 62; María Lucía Victoria at 63; and finally, Ilaria Catalina Irena, who was born in 2022 when the actor was 64.

Famous for roles like that of the 'Jurassic Park' saga, Jeff Goldblum has had two children with Canadian dancer and contortionist Emilie Livingston. He became a father for the first time at the age of 62 in 2015, when Charlie Ocean Goldblum was born, and he had a second child, River Joe Goldblum, at 64 in 2017.

Another legendary musician who also became a father relatively late in life is Paul McCartney. He already had four children, Heather (adopted), Mary, Stella, and James, but in 2003, when the artist was 61, his youngest daughter Beatrice Milly was born to Heather Mills.

American actor Mel Gibson has a total of nine children with three different women. He had his first seven children with his ex-wife Robyn Moore. Then came Thomas in 2007, when Gibson was 51, whom he had with his then-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva; and Lars Gerard in 2017, whom the actor had with Rosalind Ross, who is 34 years his junior, when he was 60.

Actor Bruce Willis has been a father five times throughout his life, three times with Demi Moore and twice with Emma Heming. The latter two children, Mabel Ray and Evelyn Penn, were born in 2012 and 2014, when the actor was 57 and 59 years old, respectively.

Michael Douglas became a father for the first time in 1978, when he was 34. That was when his son Cameron was born, the product of his marriage to Diandra Luker. However, he later found love again with Catherine Zeta-Jones, with whom he had two more children in 2000 and 2003, Dylan Michael and Carys Zeta, when the actor was 56 and 59.

Nicolas Cage's third child, August Francesca Coppola Cage, was born on September 7, 2022. This was nearly a year and a half after he married 26-year-old Riko Shibata, the mother of the child, who was born when the actor was already 58.

Hugh Grant has fathered five children, all when the actor was over 50. From his relationship with Tinglan Hong, came Tabitha Grant-Hong in 2011 when Grant was 51, and Felix Grant-Hong when he was 53. From his relationship with Swedish producer Anna Elisabet Eberstein, came John Mungo Grant-Eberstein in 2013 when he was 52; and two more children, whose names are unknown, born in 2015 and 2018 when he was 55 and 58.

Only three years passed between George Clooney's marriage to Lebanese lawyer and author Amal Alamuddin in Venice and the birth of their twins, Alexander and Ella, on June 6, 2017. The actor was a first-time father and not exactly young as he was already 56.

The former Mayor of London and Prime Minister of the UK has two children. The younger, Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas Johnson, was born on April 29, 2020 when the politician was just two months shy of his 56th birthday. He is 28 years younger than his sister, Lara Johnson-Wheeler.

Famous American journalist Anderson Cooper has two children who were born via a surrogate. He became a father for the first time at the age of 53 in 2020, when his first child, Wyatt, was born. His second child, Sebastian Luke Maisani-Cooper, arrived in 2022 when he had already turned 55.

Simon Cowell, a director at Sony Music in the UK known for his appearances as a judge on the show 'American Idol', which he created, has been a father only once. He had his son, Eric, with Lauren Silverman when he was 53.

The Obi-Wan Kenobi of the 'Star Wars' era, who shot to fame for his amazing role in 'Trainspotting' (1996) has fathered five children. The youngest, Laurie Winstead-McGregor, was born to actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead on June 25, 2021, when the actor had already turned 50.

Robert De Niro, 79, father of seven: Who are his kids?