20 Women Who Became Famous After Becoming a Mom

Ruth Bader Ginsburg became an associate justice of the US Supreme Court in 1993. She was appointed by the president at the time, Bill Clinton, and was already mother to two children — daughter Jane and son James. She still serves on the Supreme Court as a justice and is known for her forceful opinions. Not only is she famous in the political world, but she is also well-known in pop culture and has earned the nickname of “The Notorious RBG”.

Agatha Christie was a new mother when she published her first book in 1920 and had just given birth the year prior to her daughter, Rosalind Hicks. Her first book, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, introduced one of her long-running characters, detective Hercule Poirot. Christie also featured another beloved character in many of her books, Miss Marple, an elderly, amateur sleuth who worked to solve murders on her own. Christie’s daughter was raised right alongside Christie’s popular characters. Christie wrote 66 novels and 14 short stories during her life and to this day remains the best-selling novelist of all time.

Kris Jenner and her children have formed an entire empire on their family dynamics. Kris Jenner is mother to the Kardashian children (Kim, Khloé, Kourtney, and Rob) and two Jenner children (Kylie and Kendall). She has lived in the public eye for decades, having been married to Robert Kardashian when he gained notoriety for working on the defense team of O.J. Simpson in “the trial of the century.” Yet, it wasn’t until 2007 that Kris Jenner truly became famous with the launch of a reality show about her family called Keeping Up With the Kardashians. Jenner’s oldest child, Kourtney, was 28, and her youngest child, Kylie, was 10 when the show first premiered. Now, all of her children have gained fame in their own right, and Jenner is still a heavily featured presence in their lives, both on and off the show.

Hillary Clinton was already a mother before she became a prominent political figure. She and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, raised their daughter, Chelsea, in the White House. After serving as first lady, Clinton went on to become a US senator and later served as secretary of state. She then became the first woman to be nominated for president by a major political party, running as the Democratic candidate in the 2016 election, after a bid in 2008. Her daughter supported her through both presidential campaigns.

Martha Stewart’s daughter, Alexis, was already an adult by the time Martha became a household name. After raising Alexis with her husband, Andrew Stewart, Martha created an empire for herself. She launched lifestyle magazine Martha Stewart Living and had two successful television shows. While Stewart gained fame and recognition for founding Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and building a brand around her personality, she is arguably more well-known for something else. In 2004, Stewart was convicted on felony charges of conspiracy, obstruction of agency proceedings, and making false statements to federal investigators. She served time in jail for five months and then another five months of house arrest. Although she has rebuilt her brand since her release, Stewart has not risen to the same level of fame and attention that she had before her arrest.

Eleanor Roosevelt was the longest-serving first lady in the United States, staying in the White House with her husband, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (also known as FDR), from 1933 to 1945. The Roosevelts had six children: Anna, James, Franklin Delano Jr. (died within his first year), Elliott, Franklin Jr., and John, all of whom were fully grown before FDR first became president. Roosevelt worked hard as first lady, speaking out in support of civil rights for African Americans in the US and regularly holding press conferences, writing columns, and sharing her opinions with the public. She majorly redefined the role of first lady — which, up until then, had mainly been a position of hostess and homemaker.

Before Elizabeth Taylor gained incredible notoriety for her tumultuous romantic life and seven husbands, she became a mother to two boys, Christopher and Michael, with her second husband, Michael Wilding. Although Taylor had been an actress for years and gained attention for her role in National Velvet, it wasn’t until Giant was released in 1956 that she became silver screen royalty. Taylor went on to star in many other feature films, including Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Cleopatra, and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. In 1957, Taylor gave birth to a daughter, Liza, with her third husband, Mike Todd, and later on, she adopted a German orphan, Maria, with her fifth husband, Richard Burton.

Madeleine Albright had three daughters — Anne, Alice, and Katherine — with her husband, Joseph Medill Patterson Albright, before divorcing in 1982. Albright went on to make quite the name for herself in politics. Under President Bill Clinton’s administration, she was appointed as the US ambassador to the United Nations. She held the position for four years before becoming the secretary of state. She was the secretary of state for four years until Clinton left office in 2001. Albright was the first woman to be appointed secretary of state.

J.K. Rowling was close to living in poverty with her young daughter, Jessica, before her Harry Potter series was published. Living as a single mother in Scotland, Rowling was depressed and unable to support herself and her daughter. However, her luck changed once her first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was published in the UK in 1997. It was published the following year in the US by Scholastic with the name of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, and the rest, as they say, is history. Rowling’s series went on to become the bestselling book series in history. Rowling married her second husband, Neil Murray, in 2001 and subsequently had two more children, Mackenzie and David, all while continuing to write and publish the last books in her beloved series.

Marie Curie and her husband, Pierre, were already raising a daughter when they made the major scientific discovery of polonium in 1898. Several months later, they also discovered radium. Curie committed her life to science, raising not one but two daughters, Irene and Eve, at the same time with Pierre. She won both the 1903 Nobel Prize for Physics and the 1911 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. She was the first woman to win a Nobel prize and remains the only woman to win the award in two separate categories.

Anna Wintour was already a mother to two — daughter Katherine “Bee” and son Charles — before becoming editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine in 1988. Prior to that, she was editor-in-chief of British Vogue. Wintour’s presence was well-known in the fashion industry, and she had gained a reputation as being incredibly difficult but extremely creative. However, she didn’t become a household name until 2003, when her former assistant’s novel, The Devil Wears Prada, was published and followed by the film adaptation in 2006. The main character of Miranda Priestly, a tough and demanding fashion magazine editor, drew strong comparisons to Wintour, whom the character was allegedly based upon. Wintour‘s two kids were also present in the film and highlighted the struggle many women face of working full-time while raising children.

Elizabeth Warren was mother to two children — daughter Amelia and son Alexander — before becoming a member of the US Congress. She was elected as a US senator in 2012, becoming the first woman to serve as a senator from Massachusetts. Warren became a well-known political figure after announcing her candidacy in the 2020 US presidential election. She was one of multiple female Democratic candidates but announced her withdrawal in March.

Judi Dench spent many years in the London theater scene, working in both the National Theatre Company and the Royal Shakespeare Company. She gained critical acclaim for performances both onstage and on television, but she was not well-known outside of British entertainment circles. It wasn’t until 1995, when Dench was cast as M in James Bond film GoldenEye that she entered the entertainment world at large. Not only was Dench new to the Bond franchise, but so was the leading man, Pierce Brosnan. The two starred together in several Bond films before the titular character’s role was passed on to Daniel Craig. Dench continued to play M in Craig’s films until 2012. Her daughter, Finty Williams, was an adult at the time of Dench’s international fame. Williams followed in her mother’s footsteps, becoming an actress herself after graduating from London’s Central School of Speech and Drama one year prior to the premiere of GoldenEye.

Margaret Thatcher had twin children, Carol and Mark, before becoming the first woman to serve as prime minister in the United Kingdom. Prior to being prime minister, Thatcher was a member of Parliament and worked as the education secretary. She was often said to be the most powerful woman in the world throughout her many years in politics. Thatcher rose to worldwide prominence as prime minister, a position she held for 11 years, making her the longest-serving prime minister of the 20th century. She was dubbed “the Iron Lady” due to her strong and uncompromising style of leadership.

The famous comedian was already a mother by the time I Love Lucy first premiered on TV. Having given birth to daughter Lucie one month before her 40th birthday, Lucille Ball became a mother and a famous actress later in life. She starred in the beloved sitcom alongside her husband and father to her children, Desi Arnaz. Ball became pregnant with their second child, Desi Jr., during I Love Lucy, and they made the bold decision to write the pregnancy into the show, which was highly taboo at the time of its airing.

Toni Morrison was already a mother to two boys when she became the first African American woman to win the Nobel prize for literature in 1993. Her book Beloved won her the prize after first being published in 1987. The novel was inspired by the story of an enslaved woman who ran away with her infant daughter from Kentucky to Ohio (a free state). At the point of being recaptured, the woman made the heartbreaking decision to kill her daughter instead of allowing her to be raised in slavery. Beloved was also adapted into a film, starring Oprah Winfrey, gaining Morrison more commercial success once the film was released.

Julie Andrews spent years in theater, gaining acclaim in My Fair Lady, before breaking onto the Hollywood scene with her role as the titular character in Mary Poppins. Her performance as the stern but kind nanny to the Banks children earned her an Academy Award for best actress. Andrews was used to caring for children, as she already had a daughter, Emma, at the time of filming. Disney even waited until after Andrews had her daughter, delaying production until she was ready. The year following Mary Poppins saw the release of The Sound of Music. As the female lead of another wildly successful film musical, Andrews solidified her position as a talented actress in the film industry.

Nancy Pelosi spent years raising her five children — Nancy Corinne, Christine, Jacqueline, Alexandra, and Paul — before becoming a famous political figure in the United States. Acting as a member of Congress since 1987, Pelosi has risen to a position of prominence in the House of Representatives. She is the first woman in history to hold the position of speaker of the house. Pelosi is the highest-ranking female elected official in US history and has been a recognizable presence in Washington, DC, for years.

Maya Angelou had a son long before she gained fame as a writer. Her son, Guy Johnson, was an adult by the time Angelou published her autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, in 1969. Angelou also wrote essays and poetry. She received many awards and honors, including more than 50 honorary degrees. However, she is best known for I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. The autobiography of her life up until the age of 17 gained her recognition internationally as one of the first African American women to publicly discuss her personal life.

Judy Sheindlin’s name may not ring a bell for most people, but her TV moniker of “Judge Judy” certainly will. The judge famous for her no-nonsense attitude in court has been on the air since 1996. With two children from her first marriage to Ronald Levy (Adam and Jamie) and three children (Nicole, Greg, and Jonathan) from her second marriage to Jerry Sheindlin, Sheindlin was a mother long before her primetime success. She has made a name for herself, earning a spot as one of the highest paid hosts on TV.