13 Celebrities With Gay Parents

Families come in all shapes and sizes. While same sex marriage and homosexual couples adopting children may be hot button issues now, it wasn’t for these celebrities who grew up with a gay parent.

Robert De Niro

Actor Robert De Niro has had a long and illustrious career in Hollywood for decades. While he has been very guarded about his private life, the Meet The Parents star recently opened up about how his father Robert De Niro Sr. struggled with his homosexuality. An upcoming documentary titled Remembering The Artist: Robert De Niro, Sr. explores the life and work of the painter and sculptor. In an interview with OUT Magazine, the younger De Niro described his relationship with his father growing up but he also had some regrets about not being closer to him. “He probably was (conflicted about his sexuality),” the 70-year-old actor said. “Being from that generation, especially from a small town upstate (in New York). I was not aware, much, of it. I wish we had spoken about it much more. My mother didn’t want to talk about things in general, and you’re not interested when you’re a certain age.”

Marvin Gaye

There’s no denying that Marvin Gaye helped define the sound of Motown Records. He first began releasing music in the early 60’s and although he sang about love songs, behind closed doors Gaye had a rough upbringing thanks to his father. Gaye endured beatings for much of his childhood and has said growing up with Marvin Gaye, Sr. was like “living with a king, a very peculiar, changeable, cruel and all powerful king.” Although his father was a minister, at home he was a cross dresser. Gaye Sr. never came out of the closet but his conflicting identity was an issue the “How Sweet It Is” singer had trouble dealing with, especially later in his life. Tragically, the legendary crooner was killed by his father in 1984.

50 Cent

50 Cent is a multimillionaire now but his life growing up in South Jamaica, Queens was totally different from how he’s living now. Raised without a father, the “In Da Club” rapper’s mother, who was bisexual, was in volved with drugs and found murdered under mysterious circumstances when he was a teenager. 50 Cent has credited the birth of his own son for helping him put life into perspective, which is why he decided to pursue a career in music and finally leave the streets alone for good.

Ana Matronic

Ana Matronic is the lead singer of the British pop group Scissor Sisters. Born and raised Portland, Oregon, Matronic sang in a drag show before joining the group. Her parents split up when she was very young because her father was gay and he passed away from complications due to AIDS when she was 15. Matronic has said her immersion into the gay culture has been her way of trying to feel closer to her father and it has helped her have a better understanding of him as a person.

Dorothy Dandridge

She was the first Black actress to be nominated for an Academy Award as Best Actress but Dorothy Dandridge began her career in entertainment as a singer. Her mother Ruby, who was a lesbian stage and screen actress, encouraged her daughters to follow in her footsteps. Dorothy formed the singing group The Wonder Children with her sister before they switched the name to The Dandridge Sisters. In 1954, she was nominated for her role in Carmen Jones.

Daniela Sea

Daniela Sea was born and raised by hippie parents in Malibu, California. Her father came out of the closet when she was a young and her parents split up. Sea ran away from home at 16 and traveled the world picking up random jobs in street theatre and as a fire juggler with a Poland circus before settling down in New York City. Her breakout role came when she was cast as Moira Sweeney, an androgynous computer technician, in the Showtime series “The L Word.”

Anne Heche

Like many in Hollywood, Anne Heche landed her first acting gig with a soap opera. Heche starred on “Another World” for four years before switching to the big screen. Born as the youngest of five children, Heche saw her father pass away from complications due to AIDS when she was 13 years old. The Six Days Seven Nights actress has gone on record to say that although her father was gay and the family knew about his lifestyle, he also repeatedly raped Heche and gave her genital herpes, something her mother has vehemently denied.

Jena Malone

Jena Malone was born in Sparks, Nevada and up until she was ten years old she was raised by her mother, Deborah Malone, and her mother’s girlfriend, whom she called “Godmom.” After their breakup, the elder Malone became a born again Christian. She introduced her daughter to the world of theater and at the age of 12 Jena was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Debut Performance for her role in Bastard Out of Carolina. She most recently starred in last year’s The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

Jodie Foster

While most children were learning their ABC’s, Jodie Foster was busy acting. By the time she was three she was starring in commercials and she earned her first Oscar nomination at 14 years old for the 1976 film Taxi Driver. Foster’s father was a decorated pilot for the U.S. Air Force but she and her three siblings were raised by her mother and her mother’s live-in girlfriend. For years, Foster has dodged questions about her own sexuality until she came out during her acceptance speech at the 70th Golden Globes Awards.

Lynn Redgrave

Lynn Redgrave comes from a long line of actors and entertainers which goes back six generations. Daughter of the distinguished bisexual actor Sir Michael Redgrave, Lynn trained in London before making her theatrical debut in 1962. She has performed onstage with her sister Vanessa Redgrave but is perhaps best known for her work in films like Tom Jones and Georgy Girl. Lynn, who was nominated for both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe, passed away from breast cancer in 2010.

Natasha Richardson

Born into the Redgrave dynasty, Natasha Richardson went into the family business of acting. Daughter of Vanessa Redgrave (and niece of Lynn Redgrave), her father, film director Tony Richardson, died from complications due to AIDS in 1991. Since then the Maid In Manhattan star has taken a hands-on approach in charity work for the disease. Richardson married fellow actor Liam Neeson in 1994 and she tragically passed away after a freak skiing accident in 2009.

O.J. Simpson

Before he became one of the country’s most hated men, OJ Simpson was one of the greatest running backs in NFL history. But all of his accolades on the field were forgotten when he was arrested for killing his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. Born near San Francisco, his father Jimmie Simpson was a well-known drag queen performer who passed away from complications due to AIDS in 1986. The younger Simpson is currently locked up serving a 33-year sentence on armed robbery and kidnapping felony charges.