Happy Single Celebrity Moms

10 famous single moms throughout history

Posted on July 27th, 2011 by Alley Pezanoski-Browne

It’s hard being a single mom and easy to feel alone sometimes. But the fact is, there are lots of single moms in America - an estimated 13.7 million single parents in the U.S. who are raising 21.8 million children. 82.6% of single parents are mothers.
And there have been many famous single moms throughout history, proving on a large scale what lots of women prove every day: strong moms change the world! Here are only a few examples of awesome single moms in history:

1. Toni Morrison Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, editor, and professor who wrote the books Song of Solomon, The Bluest Eye, and Beloved, amongst many others. She divorced her husband in 1964, becoming a single parent to her children Harold and Slade.
2. Halle Berry is the first and only actress of African American descent to win an Academy Award for Best Actress. Berry is currently going through a messy custody battle with her ex, supermodel Gabriel Aubry. She is pictured often in tabloids with her daughter Nahla.
   
3. Katie Couric An American journalist and author, Katie Couric was the first solo female anchor of a weekday evening news program on one of the three traditional U.S. broadcast networks. Her husband passed away in 1998, and she is the mother of two daughters Ellie and Caroline.
4. Abigail Adams The wife of President John Adams, Abigail Adams was essentially a single mother because her husband’s duties required long periods of separation. Not only did she raise their five children, she also managed their farm, as well as John’s financial investments. Her oldest son, John Quincy, became a U.S. President like his father.
5. Coretta Scott King The widow of Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta Scott King was also an author, activist, and civil rights leader. After the assassination of her husband, she became a single mother to Yolanda, Martin Luther III, Dexter Scott, and Bernice.
6. Erykah Badu The “First Lady of Neo-Soul”, musician, producer, and actress Erykah Badu is also the single mother to Seven Sirius, Puma Sabti, and Mars Merkaba. She is in a relationship with rapper Jay Electronica, her boyfriend of 5 years and the father of Mars Merkaba.
7. Sofia Vergara Colombian actress, comedian, television host, model, and entrepreneur is most known in the U.S. from her role in the show Modern Family. She married then divorced her childhood sweetheart and is the single mother of a nineteen year old son Manolo.
8. St. Helena Augusta The earliest single mother on the list, Helena Augusta was the abandoned single mother of Emperor Constantine I, and changed the face of Christianity.
9. Jackie Kennedy Onassis, was the wife of 35th U.S. President John F. Kennedy and served as the First Lady of the U.S. until 1961 when her husband was assassinated. She was a single mother to her children Caroline and John Jr. until she remarried Aristotle Onassis five years later. She was a successful book editor for the final two decades of her life.
10. Diane Keaton is an actress, producer, director, and screenwriter. Though she’s dated famous men like Woody Allen, Warren Beatty, and Al Pacino, she never married. At the age of 50, she decided to become a single mother and adopted her children Dexter and Duke.