24 Celebrities Who Opened Up About Their Home Births

Hilary Duff was surrounded by loved ones, including husband Matthew Korma and 9-year-old son Luca, during the birth of her third baby, daughter Mae, on March 24th 2021. The star had three midwives attend her home birth in March, and has been very candid about her experience including the fact that there were “doggy puddle pads” everywhere. Hilary explains during the Informed Pregnancy Podcast why her son was present during the birth: “It was kind of important for me (for Luca to be there) because I’m really big on being open and honest with him about how strong women are and what childbirth looks like.”

Ashley Graham gave birth to her first child, Isaac, in January 2020 at home with loved ones, as well as with a doula and midwives. Graham revealed during an episode of her podcast Pretty Big Deal, that she chose a homebirth because the thought of giving birth at a hospital sent her “anxiety through the roof”.

Her home birth was clearly empowering. “I have to say, now that I gave birth and I did it naturally and I felt everything, I feel like there’s nothing I can’t do,” she said. “There’s nothing that could come my way where I say, ‘Oh, that’s too hard, I can’t handle that.’ I went through laboring for six hours naturally at home,” she said.

Gigi Hadid gave birth in her Pennsylvania farm house, and she was in labor for 14 hours. The model told Vogue, “When you see someone do that, you look at them a bit differently. I probably looked crazy, actually. I was an animal woman. I had to dig deep. I knew it was going to be the craziest pain in my life, but you have to surrender to it and be like, ‘This is what it is.’ I loved that.” Surrounded by loved ones and a midwife, Gigi announced the birth of her baby on September 23rd, 2020.

James’ wife, Kimberly Van Der Beek, opted for a home birth when their youngest of five, Gwendolyn, now 1, was born last year. The former Dawson’s Creek star shared all the gritty details about his wife’s home birth on Instagram. Yes, it was messy, but like James said, it was also real and it seemed to be the best choice for all involved.

Actress Erika Christensen’s daughter Polly arrived so suddenly, she made her grand debut smack center of her parents’ bed. Erika’s hubby Cole had the pleasure of delivering their bundle of joy, as the doctor wasn’t able to make it in time.

“It happened! It happened this morning,” the celeb mom wrote in this Instagram post. “And it will go down in family history because babygirl’s own, incredible Dad delivered her all by himself. My fault, as I didnt know she would come so quickly and didn’t call the doc until far too late.”

“On Dec 16th at 6:42am in our bathroom Junie decided she wanted to take her first breath into this world,” actress and singer Teyana Taylor explained in this post about her daughter’s unexpected home birth. “She came out as a wonderful surprise to everyone! Not knowing I was in labor until I felt her head … it took two ten count pushes with my fiancé playing Dr and she entered this world into his bare hands!”

Thank goodness Teyana’s husband, Iman Shumpert, was there. Not only did he play doctor, but he tied his headphone cord around the umbilical cord until paramedics arrived.

When Stacy and husband Jared Pobre’s first daughter, Ava, who’s now 5, was born, they chose to give birth at home, medication-free. She shared her experience on her now-defunct blog, writing that although she was under the care of both an OB-GYN and a midwife, when it came down to it, it was a “war” that she and her daughter were fighting together.

“I kept saying, like, ‘Ava’s a warrior. I’m a warrior …’ Then when she came out, I feel like we had this bond that we fought together,” Stacy wrote, according to E! News.

It seems to have worked out for her, though, since Stacy also opted to have her second child, Bodhi, now 1, at home as well.

This former Bachelor in Paradise star didn’t exactly intend to have a home birth, but that’s what she ended up with. After going into labor with her second child, Brooks, things progressed quickly. And less than two hours after her water broke, she gave birth to him in her bedroom closet.

“It was one of the scariest moments of my life because I felt so out of control, but Tanner, Tanner’s mom, my mom and the medics and firefighters kept me going when I felt like the world was caving in on me and my unborn baby,” Jade wrote on Instagram at the time.

Jade and husband Tanner Tolbert have another child together, a daughter named Emerson, 2.

Alyson Hannigan gave birth to both of her children (Satyana, 10, and Keeva, 7) with husband Alexis Denisof at home. In 2015, she opened up to Yahoo Parenting about the experience, explaining that she wanted to give birth where she was most comfortable.

“I don’t like hospitals and the idea of being in labor somewhere I don’t like at all wasn’t how I wanted to bring my kids into the world. I thought, ‘Where am I most comfortable?'” she told the site. “For me, the choice [to give birth at home] was phenomenal.”

Gisele and husband Tom Brady opted for a home birth with her son, Benjamin, now 10, even though it was actually recommended against by her doctors. Still, she stuck with her original plan to give birth in her bathtub. Fortunately, mom and baby were both fine.

“The doctor told me that it was too dangerous for me to have a home birth,” Gisele wrote in her book, Lessons: My Path to a Meaningful Life, according to Us Weekly. “He said that Benny was in an unusual position, my hips were too small and the odds weren’t in my favor. He said it was probably best for me to schedule a C-section.”

Tom and Gisele also have a daughter together — Vivian, 6.

Technically, Seth’s wife, Alexi Ashe, didn’t give birth in their home. Although they attempted to head to the hospital in an Uber, the late-night talk-show host later revealed his wife gave birth in their apartment lobby.

“We undressed her and the baby was just out,” Seth said on The Late Show. “The head of the baby was out. I called 911 — this is how fast it happened — I called 911 and over the course of a minute conversation, I basically said, ‘We’re about to have a baby, we’re having a baby, we had a baby.'”

In a blog for Kveller, the Big Bang Theory star opened up about how she had her second son, Frederick, now 11, at home, while her oldest, Miles, now 13, watched.

“Having Miles see his brother born in our living room was no solution to sibling rivalry, nor would I say it is the right thing for everyone,” she wrote. “But for us, it was a beautiful and organic extension of our parenting philosophy: to let our children experience the world as it is, without being ruled by the fear of ‘What if?'”

The musician gave birth to her daughter Adeya in March of 2019 from the comfort of her own home. She gave birth without medication, and recalls, “Unmedicated home birth was the absolute hardest yet most powerful thing I’ve ever done.”

Though Cindy was kinda hush about the birth of her son, Presley, now 20, at home, there were still a few deets that became public knowledge. “Crawford gave birth in the couple’s Brentwood home under the supervision of a midwife and a nurse — and the anxious, joyful gaze of her husband,” People reported at the time.

Back in 2011, Alanis welcomed her son, Ever, at home on Christmas Day. (What a way to celebrate the holiday!) But for the singer, it definitely wasn’t an easy experience.

“The experience was beyond pain,” Alanis told Today in 2013. “It was a transcendental experience. I just went to this whole other world. I basically had to be the little soldier that I am and really focus on this new beautiful creature coming out of me.”

“[A homebirth] was not my plan, but that’s what happened … because the baby came out really fast,” the SNL vet and mom of four once told Chelsea Handler about her unplanned home birth. “Luckily, she just kind of glided into her father’s arms. It was scary, but it was kind of awesome. Hospitals make me nervous because I feel like hospital equals death, like it smells like dead people and weird fluids that pickle people.”

Both of Lake’s children — Nova, 5, and Ozgood, 2 — were born at home. As she told Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, both of them were born with the umbilical cord wrapped around their necks. And although Nova was resuscitated by a midwife, Ozgood’s delivery was even more complicated.

“I was huge, he was 11 pounds,” she said on the podcast, according to Today. “The same thing happened, I was at home and he had the (umbilical) cord wrapped around and he was on my chest. He was not coming to.”

Fortunately, after 11 days in the NICU, Ozgood came home healthy, and today, it sounds like he’s doing just fine, but Bell revealed she was filled with guilt over the birth complications, but is ultimately just thankful he is healthy and well. “You could blame the midwife, you could blame yourself, but ultimately the result is the only thing that matters,” she said.

Pamela gave birth to both of her children at home — Brandon, now 23, and Dylan, now 21 — and she seems happy with her decision, even though it was unexpected when it came to her family.

“I had a wonderful midwife. I remember foolishly saying, ‘I can handle pain … I have tattoos!’ The wake-up call was the first contraction,” Pamela said in an interview with Bamboo Magazine. “I was screaming, ‘If this is what a contraction feels like, I can’t do this!’ But of course, I did. And I did it again with my second child.”

Westworld actress Evan Rachel Wood gave birth at home back in 2013, and described the experience as a “psychedelic experience”. She shared with USA Today, “I was not in control of anything that was coming out of my mouth. You’re just in so much pain. There’s no filter. Somehow I did it. I’m just glad everything went as planned. It was worth it.”

Being that Ricki is behind the documentary The Business of Being Born, it’s no surprise that she chose a home birth for herself after she was disappointed in how the birth of her first child, Milo, now 22, went in the hospital. When it came time to welcome her second child, Owen, 18, it was home birth all the way.

“I want women to realize that giving birth isn’t an illness that needs to be numbed but rather a miraculous event that should be experienced,” Ricki told Healthy Mom & Baby.

Iskra Lawrence recalls her home birth as being both mentally and physically exhausting. The model gave birth to her first child in April of 2020 and endured 12 hours of labor. There was a terrifying moment when her son was not breathing for a few seconds, and she was met with relief when she finally heard his cries. She shared on her YouTube channel, “It is one of those life experiences where there is nothing you can do to stop it. You are literally on a runaway train, you know you have to do it. The baby is coming out one way or another. It’s very primal.”

Model Elsa Hosk gave birth on February 11, 2021 to her daughter Tuulikki Joan at her home in Los Angeles. Hosk faced minor issues during her birth when her cervix suddenly became caught between her pelvis and the baby’s head, and she recalls that moment being “The most painful moment so far.”

The first-time mom expressed her feelings at the wonder of birth: “A few days have passed since and sometimes I look at her and I cry when I think about what we went through together. I feel such gratitude for the women around me, I look at the mothers around me with such deep respect and admiration and I feel such gratitude for the beautiful profession of the midwives and doulas and I realize birth can be easy or hard, beautiful or dark, but every woman’s story is so sacred and so important.”

Lisa Bonet has given birth three separate times from home, and that includes her birth to actress Zoe Kravitz in 1988. Lisa shares two children with actor Jason Momoa, and Jason recalls almost missing the birth of his daughter. He apparently made it just in time for the birth of his daughter. The actor revealed to Esquire, “I made it in the nick of time. I had about two hours with her in the tub, and my baby girl was born.”

The Lost and Ant-Man actress made the decision to give birth to son Kahekili at home back in 2011 — although she may not have realized she’d be in labor for a crazy long time. Evangeline admitted that on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, “We decided to have the baby at home because we wanted it to be a natural birth, and it turns out that it was 30 hours of natural.”

“Eight hours of pushing, that’s the part that men don’t understand. Women go, ‘Oh, dear, oh, dear God, eight hours of pushing?’ And the men are like, ‘Okay, eight hours of pushing.’”

Then the midwife stepped in with some advice:

“After about five hours of pushing, my midwife and my birthing assistant said, ‘You know, we have a few suggestions.’ And I was like, ‘Really? After five hours of pushing you have a few suggestions? You couldn’t have told me five minutes in?'”