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Celebrities are not immune to experiencing complicated family dynamics.
Brooklyn Beckham recently broke his silence on the rumored feud between him and his parents, David and Victoria Beckham, on his Instagram stories, confirming they are estranged from one another.
Some stars separated themselves from their parents early in life, while others were estranged for some time before finding a way to reconcile.
Here are more celebrities who are – or were – estranged from their parents.
Brooklyn Beckham, Jennifer Aniston and Kate Hudson are some of many celebrities who are estranged from their family members. (Jerritt Clark/Getty Images for ARIA Resort & Casino; Earl Gibson III/Golden Globes 2024/Golden Globes 2024 via Getty Images; Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
BEN STILLER REFLECTS ON THE ‘DARK UNDERSIDE’ OF HOLLYWOOD FAME
Brooklyn Beckham
Brooklyn accuses his parents of controlling him his whole life. (Samir Hussein/WireImage)
Brooklyn Beckham finally addressed rumors of a feud between him and his famous parents, David and Victoria Beckham, which have been swirling since his wedding to Nicola Peltz Beckham in April 2022.
In a lengthy post on Instagram stories, Brooklyn confirmed he is estranged from his parents, adding, “I do not want to reconcile with my family.” In the post, he claimed he had “no choice” but to address the situation publicly, accusing his parents of planting stories and speaking to the press.
“I’m not being controlled, I’m standing up for myself for the first time in my life. For my entire life, my parents have controlled narratives in the press about our family,” Brooklyn wrote. “For my entire life, my parents have controlled narratives in the press about our family [with] performative social media posts, family events and inauthentic relationships. … Recently, I have seen with my own eyes the lengths that they’ll go through to place countless lies in the media, mostly at the expense of innocent people, to preserve their own facade.”
He went on to accuse his parents of attempting to bribe him into “signing away the rights to” his name, and treating him differently afterward. The post also alleges that Victoria “hijacked” his first dance with Nicola and that she purposefully didn’t make Nicola a wedding dress and only informed the bride shortly before the wedding, leaving her scrambling to find a new dress.
“I have been controlled by my parents for most of my life. I grew up with overwhelming anxiety. For the first time in my life, since stepping away from my family, that anxiety has disappeared. I wake up every morning grateful for the life I chose, and have found peace and relief,” he wrote.
Brooklyn’s lengthy statement concluded, “My wife and I do not want a life shaped by image, press, or manipulation. All we want peace, privacy and happiness for us and our future family.”
Anthony Hopkins
Hopkins has a strained relationship with his daughter Abigail. (Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)
In his recent memoir, “We Did OK, Kid,” Anthony Hopkins opened up about his estrangement from his daughter Abigail, who he shares with his ex-wife, Petronella Barker. Abigail is now 57.
The Academy Award-winning actor wrote that he was still a heavy drinker when he got married in 1967, and that his “alcoholism doomed the relationship from the start,” calling the marriage a “disaster.”
He described one night when the two were arguing, writing that although he “had never been physically violent,” there was a moment during the verbal fight where he “became afraid for both myself and her.” He described that as the moment he knew he had to leave, after which he went to say goodbye to 14-month-old Abigail.
“I looked down at her and whispered goodbye,” he writes. “Then I walked back to the hall, picked up my suitcases, and left the house…”Aside from sending financial support, I didn’t have contact with Petronella and Abigail for a few years after that. It is the saddest fact of my life, and my greatest regret, and yet I feel absolutely sure that it would have been much worse for everyone if I’d stayed.”
Hopkins later added that “Abigail never seemed able to forgive me for leaving the family,” and while he “can’t blame her for that,” he adds that “it broke my heart.” In a 2006 interview with The Telegraph, Abigail gave her side of the story, saying “we were never close,” and called their relationship “sporadic.”
ANTHONY HOPKINS MARKS 50 YEARS SOBER AFTER NEAR-FATAL DRUNKEN DRIVING BLACKOUT CHANGED HIS LIFE
Eric Roberts
Eric Roberts considers losing his daughter to be the biggest consequence of his past drug addiction. (Gregg DeGuire/WireImage)
Eric Roberts opened up about his past struggles with drug addiction, and how that left him estranged from his sister, Julia Roberts, and his daughter, Emma Roberts, in his 2024 memoir, “Runaway Train.”
He wrote that he was addicted to cocaine by 1985, after moving to New York at the age of 17 to be an actor. When Julia then moved to New York to start her career, Eric was quoted saying, “If it wasn’t for me, there would be no Julia Roberts,” a statement he apologizes for making in the book.
He admits that while he” wouldn’t be surprised” to hear if his sisters, Julia and Lisa, “suffered from PTSD” due to his actions, his main concern is his relationship with his daughter, writing “Of course, the biggest consequence of my drug use was losing Emma,” He lost custody of her when she was an infant, as he was addicted to cocaine during the custody battle with his ex-wife, Kim Cunningham, in 1992.
“I imagine I will remain as Julia’s brother and Emma Roberts’ dad for the rest of my life,” he wrote. “I’d like to make good on that, to move aside proudly and with grace. That’s part of the reason for writing the book.”
Ben Dreyfuss
Richard Dreyfuss’ son says he hasn’t spoken to his dad in two years. (Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Relativity Media)
In a now deleted post on X, Richard Dreyfuss’ son, Ben, shared that he and his two siblings are no longer in contact with their father.
“Everyone assumes my siblings and I are wealthy from our dad and we’re all a bit too uncomfortable to make it clear, but we have no money from my dad,” Ben began, according to USA Today. “My dad has no money. If he did, we wouldn’t get it since we’ve been estranged ever since some complicated family drama to do with MeToo.”
Ben explained that the tension in their family began when he shared a social media post in support of his brother Harry, on his dad’s then-Twitter account, after Harry came forward with allegations that actor Kevin Spacey had groped him. He said, “That tweet prompted someone to MeToo my dad,” and that “he blames us for that.”
After deleting the post, Ben shared why he decided to take it down in a Substack post, and also shared that he last communicated with his dad in an email exchange two years ago, adding, “I’ve sent plenty since, but he hasn’t replied.”
Ireland Baldwin
Ireland spoke about cutting toxic members of her family out of her life. (Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Comedy Central)
Ireland Baldwin has always had a complicated relationship with her father, famous actor, Alec Baldwin. He famously left her a disparaging voicemail that leaked publicly when she was 11, revealing tensions in their relationship.
More recently, Ireland posted a blog on Substack, in which she detailed her “lonely childhood,” adding she “grew up without two parents in my home and no siblings to turn to.”
In the emotional blog post, she shared how she managed to distance herself from “narcissistic” family members.
“I had a lonely childhood at times, which is why I grew up feeling like I needed to win over certain people in my own family,” she added. “For whatever reason, their validation and praise was meaningful to me. Nothing was more freeing than finally realizing how poisonous these people are. So, I inch into my thirties with an understanding that this is how you break these cycles. My daughter doesn’t have to know these people, and I can protect her from them. I can do my very best to construct my own idea of a family, piece by piece. And show how a real family treats one another.”
Heather Graham
Graham has not spoken to her parents since she was 25 years old. (Michael Tullberg/FilmMagic/Getty Images)
Actress Heather Graham has been vocal about how her desire to pursue a career in Hollywood caused a rift in her relationship with her parents.
When speaking with The Wall Street Journal in August 2024, her father “regularly told me that the entertainment industry was evil” and admitted that when her first movie, “License to Drive” was released in 1988 when she was 18 years old, “living at home became more difficult” and she realized that in order to be successful she had to move out.
She then moved to West Hollywood with a friend from high school who was working as a model, saying “living with her was freeing.” She later dropped out of college and found greater success as an actress, which caused her to re-think her relationship with her parents.
“I stopped talking to my parents when I was 25, and I’m estranged from them now,” Graham admitted. “My friends are proud of me, and I’m proud of myself. I have really good friends.”
IRELAND BALDWIN CALLS HILARIA ‘BAT S— CRAZY’ BUT CREDITS HER WITH SAVING DAD ALEC’S LIFE
Macaulay Culkin
Culkin has not spoken to his father in about 30 years. (Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times via Getty Image)
Macaulay Culkin was one of the most sought-after child stars in the 1990s, but behind the scenes, he was in the middle of a custody battle between his father, Kit Culkin and his mom, Patricia Brentrup.
During an appearance on the “Today Show” in April 2025, the “Home Alone” star said that at the time “I wanted nothing to do with my f—ing father,” calling him “the worst.”
“I haven’t spoken to him in, what would it be, about 30-something years?” he said. “He deserves it, too. He’s a man who — he had seven kids, and now he has four grandkids, and none of them want anything to do with him.”
The “My Girl” star added that most people would feel as if they messed up when their entire family cuts ties with them, but that he has “more than an inkling that” his father doesn’t feel that way. In his opinion, his father probably feels “Like we’re wrong and he’s right. He’s one of those narcissistic, crazy people.”
Jennifer Aniston
Jennifer Aniston had an estranged relationship with her mom for many years. (John Nacion/WireImage; Paul Harris/Online USA)
Jennifer Aniston has spoken out a few times about her complicated relationship with her mom, who she says “was very critical” of her.
“She was critical. She was very critical of me. Because she was a model, she was gorgeous, stunning. I wasn’t. I never was,” she told The Hollywood Reporter in January 2015. “I honestly still don’t think of myself in that sort of light, which is fine. She was also very unforgiving. She would hold grudges that I just found so petty.”
The two were estranged for many years, with the estrangement reportedly starting in the late 1990s after her mother, Nancy Dow published her memoir, “From Mother and Daughter to Friends: A Memoir.” The two first reconnected in 2005 following Aniston’s divorce from actor Brad Pitt, and reconciled again in 2016, shortly before Dow’s death.
“It’s important,” she told Allure in December 2022 about forgiving her mom. “It’s toxic to have that resentment, that anger. I learned that by watching my mom never let go of it. I remember saying, ‘Thank you for showing me what never to be.’ So that’s what I mean about taking the darker things that happen in our lives, the not-so-happy moments, and trying to find places to honor them because of what they have given to us.”
Brooke Hogan
Brooke spoke about her estrangement from her father in March. (John Parra/WireImage)
Brooke Hogan revealed in an Instagram post in March that she cut contact with both of her parents for different reasons. In a separate social media post, her mother, Linda Hogan, said she hadn’t seen her daughter in seven years.
“I have been EXTREMELY verbally and mentally abused since childhood,” Brooke wrote on Instagram. “Sadly, it would frequently turn physical. And sometimes it’s not by the person you would assume, abuse comes in all shapes and sizes. This vicious pattern has robbed me of any sense of self-esteem or confidence I’ve been trained to pretend to have.”
She concluded her lengthy statement by saying she loves both of her parents and has empathy for them and their struggles, adding, “My heart hurts every day, and not a day passes it does not affect me.”
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When her father, Hulk Hogan, died in July, Brooke wrote a lengthy tribute on Instagram saying they “had a connection deeper than words, one that spanned lifetimes,” and that she felt lucky that she “knew the real version of him. Not just the one the world viewed through a carefully curated lens.”
In September, Brooke responded to having been left out of her father’s will, telling TMZ, “It’s what I asked for, I stand by it with no regrets.”
Christina Ricci
Ricci described what it was like living with a failed cult leader as her father. (Taylor Hill/FilmMagic)
Christina Ricci shared details about her dark childhood while appearing on the documentary “Child Star.”
“My father was a failed cult leader, and so he had all that same sort of, like, really crazy narcissism that goes along with someone wanting to run a cult,” she said. “He was very physically violent. There was never any peace in my house.”
As a child star, she considered going to set to work as a place of “refuge” and “emotional safety.”
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Her parents divorced when she was 13, and she hasn’t spoken to her father since she was a teenager.
Kate Hudson
Hudson has had an estranged relationship with her father since her childhood. (John Shearer/FilmMagic)
Kate Hudson and her brother, Oliver Hudson, have had an estranged relationship with their biological father for a majority of their lives.
The two have been open in the past about their lack of a relationship with their biological father, musician Bill Hudson, with Kate explaining in April 2024 that things were “warming up” between her and Bill, but that she had “no expectation of that with my father.”
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After her mom, Goldie Hawn, and Bill divorced, her mom began a relationship with actor Kurt Russell, who Kate and Oliver look to as their father figure.
“But I also love that we also talk about how sometimes, you know, estrangement is real, the family complexity is real and it’s okay if you create your own family, that blood doesn’t always have to be thicker than water, but if you could make the blood connect, then that’s a great thing but it doesn’t have to be everything,” Kate said on the “Today Show” in 2021.