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Famous People raised in Kinship Care
Famous people raised in kinship care or who have been a kinship a carer to a child in their family network
Presidents, actors, musicians, comedians, models, scientists, writers and many more…
Please email Yasmin Choudhury ychoudhury@frg.org.uk if you have more names to add.
Stage and screen
- Al Pacino (actor)
- Ariel Winter (Older sister was her guardian for three years) (actress)
- Barry Keoghan (raised for several years by grandmother, aunt and older sister) (actor)
- Brian Cox (brought up by his four siblings) (actor)
- Carol Burnett (actress and entertainer)
- Dylan McDermott (actor)
- Gregory Peck (actor)
- Jack Nicholson (actor)
- James McAvoy (actor) (raised by his maternal grandparents for some of his childhood)
- Jamie Foxx (actor)
- Lee Majors (adopted by his uncle and aunt at 2 years old) (actor)
- Morgan Freeman (actor)
- Nicole Richie (raised by friends of her biological parents for 6 years before being adopted by them) (actress)
- Pierce Brosnan (actor)
- Pom Klementieff (actress) (raised by her aunt and uncle from age 5)
- Richard Burton (brought up by his sister) (actor)
- Samuel L. Jackson (actor)
- Sophie Willan (raised by her late grandmother) (actress)
- Tallulah Bankhead (actress)
- Victoria Rowell (actress)
Music
- Bessie Smith (brought up by sibling carer) (musician)
- Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson (musician)
- Eric Clapton (musician)
- James Hetfield (lived with his half-brother from age 16) (musician)
- Jimi Hendrix (musician)
- John Lennon (musician)
- Kellie Pickler (musician)
- Kirk Franklin (raised by his aunt) (musician)
- Lionel Richie (raised Nicole, who was the child of his friends, and then adopted her) (musician)
- Lou Rawls (musician)
- Nicki Minaj (singer)
- Oritse Williams aka OWS (raised his younger siblings) (musician, JLS)
- Prince Rogers Nelson (musician)
- Sheila Jordan (musician)
- Sir Elton John (raised by maternal grandparents) (musician)
- Stephen Paul Manderson (Professor Green) (musician)
- Sterling Ramsey (raised by his grandparents, until age 14) (member of boy band Rough Copy)
- Tammy Wynette (musician)
- Tina Turner (lived with her grandparents for several years) (musician)
- Willie Nelson (musician)
Politics, campaigning and activism
- Anna Harrison (First Lady of the United States in 1841)
- Barack Obama (former USA President)
- Baroness Doreen Lawrence (campaigner)
- Bill Clinton (former US President) (raised for some years in his childhood by his grandparents)
- Eleanor Roosevelt (raised by her grandmother from age 10) (First Lady of the United States)
- Malcolm X (brought up by sibling carer) (civil rights activist)
- Melanie Onn (Member of Parliament)
- Michael D. Higgins (President of Ireland)
- Rt Hon Alan Johnson MP (brought up by sibling carer) (author and former politician)
- Sir Ed Davey MP (brought up by his grandparents from the age of 15 years old following his parents’ death) (Leader, Liberal Democrats)
Sport
- Lauren Price (boxer for Team GB, 2021 Olympics) (raised by her grandparents)
- Matthew Janney (rugby player)
- Oksan Baiul (sportswoman)
- Simone Biles (brought up by her grandparents) (Olympic gold medal winning gymnast for USA)
- Sir Mo Farah (lived with Grandparents in Somalia and with Aunt in England) ((4 times Olympic gold medalist)
- Siya Kolisi (brought up by his late grandmother after his mother died when he was 15 years old. Has subsequently adopted his two younger siblings) (captain of South Africa’s 2019 world cup winning rugby team)
Literature
- Catherine Cookson (brought up by her grandparents) (author)
- Ellen Wood (author)
- Gabriel Garcia Marquez (author)
- Langston Hughes (poet)
- Lucy Maud Montgomery (author)
- Maya Angelou (writer)
- Sir Walter Scott (author)
Entertainment and fashion
- Davina McCall (presenter)
- Diane-Louise Jordan (adopted her niece) (broadcaster)
- Lucille Ball (comedian)
- Mary Portas (brought up her younger brother) (retail consultant and broadcaster)
- Naomi Campbell (model)
- Oprah Winfrey (media proprietor and presenter)
- Richard Pryer (comedian, writer and actor)
- Vanna White (TV presenter)
Law
- Cherie Booth (barrister)
- Sandra Day O’Connor (lived with her grandmother for several years) (first woman to serve as a U.S. Supreme Court justice)
Religion
- The Right Reverend Rose Hudson-Wilkin MBE (Bishop of Dover and former chaplain to Her Majesty the Queen)
Science
- Isaac Newton (scientist)
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