It is against societal norms. It is against all odds. Yet, these moms, who either gave birth out of wedlock or took to adoption, fought it out and emerged victorious

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Although not many, some women have defied societal norms of becoming a parent. As Ileana D’Cruz gave birth to a son recently while embracing single parenthood, we take a look at other celebrities who have taken the same route.

Bold step

Actress Neena Gupta was the first actress from Bollywood who raised her child, Masaba Gupta, alone. She had a brief affair with former West Indies cricketer Vivian Richards. When she got pregnant, she decided to give the child a life. The actress had described it all in her autobiography, Sach Kahun Toh. During the 90s, her family, was against this bold step, although her father was a big support. Even her college friend, late actor Satish Kaushik was willing to get married to support Neena, but the actress delivered Masaba in 1989 and got married to a non-celebrity, Vivek Mehra, in 2008. It was Neena’s second marriage, the first time she got married was at age 20, but it lasted only a year.

Actress Kalki Koechlin was earlier married to director Anurag Kashyap, but they called it quits in 2015 even before completing five years. Later, she gave birth to a baby girl in 2020. Kalki shared the name of her daughter’s father, Guy Hershberg, an Israeli musician. At the time of her birth in 2020, their relationship was at a very initial stage and knowing how the earlier publicised divorce affected her, Kalki kept things private. Now, Guy is her boyfriend and the father of her daughter, Sappho, named after a Greek poet.

The most recent pregnancy that hit the tabloids is that of actress Ileana D’Cruz. She kept it private until April when it was announced via a cute Instagram post. On August 1, D’Cruz welcomed a baby boy whom she named Koa Phoenix Dolan. The actress has kept the name of baby’s father hidden from everybody. Although she has hinted at dating a mystery man, she hasn’t disclosed much about her plans to get married.

Surrogacy magic

Producer Ekta Kapoor, who is a known name in TV shows and films, has become a single mom to a son born via surrogacy. Just like her brother Tushar Kapoor, she hasn’t gotten married but was more than willing to start a family of her own. Her son, Ravie Kapoor, was born on January 27, 2019, while Tusshar’s baby came home in 2017.

Adoption route

Former Miss Universe and actress Sushmita Sen stood up for single parent’s rights. The actress, who had adopted a daughter, Renee, in 2000 put up a strong legal fight when her matter came up in High Court, disallowing her to adopt. The actress not only won that case, but also set a precedent for several others to follow. She later adopted another daughter, Alisah, in 2010, after fighting one more legal battle.

Although actress Raveena Tandon adopted two daughters, Pooja and Chhaya, she did so quietly to avoid media attention. The actress married film distributer Anil Thadani in 2004 and has two children with her husband. Similarly TV actress Sakshi Tanwar, who had no wish of getting married, adopted a girl, Ditya, in 2018, when the latter was just nine months old.

Single mothers from Hollywood

Mindy Kaling

Hollywood writer-actor and a practicing Hindu, Mindy Kaling been a mom to two children, Katherine (2017) and Spencer (2020). She has never disclosed the name of the father, but many speculate it’s her ex, BJ Novak, who she met while writing for The Office. He is also the godfather of the children.

Charlize Theron

The actress adopted her first daughter Jackson in 2012 from South Africa, where she had lived with her mother. Her decision was also driven by her own upbringing, when she witnessed children in orphanages in her community were in need from a very young age. She adopted another daughter, August, in 2015.

Sandra Bullock

She was married to TV personality Jesse Gregory James and they were trying to adopt a child, but before that her marriage fell apart due to a scandal in March 2010. Later that year, Bullock announced that she had proceeded alone with the plans to adopt a son, Louis Bardo Bullock, in January 2010 in New Orleans, Louisiana. In 2015, she adopted a daughter, Laila Bullock. She never got married and raised those children as a single parent.