10 Celebrity Moms Who Are Seemingly Nailing The Whole Co-parenting Thing
We take note of what they’re doing right with their post-divorce, shared-custody arrangements.
None of us know what goes on behind closed doors. When it comes to speculating if celebrities are killin' it at co-parenting, we just have their interviews and some good guesses to go on. Armed with that sleuthing, here is a smattering of celebrities who seem to be doing it right.
1. Tia Mowry
Although Mowry and husband Cory Hardrict filed for divorce in October 2022, they’ve remained a united front for the kids, Cree and Cairo. “I talk to [Cory] every single day. We tell each other we love each other every single day,” she told Us. “He is family, and he will always be family and a part of our lives.
Sign of healthy co-parenting: The former couple reunited over the holidays to celebrate together as a family.
2. Jennifer Garner and Jennifer Lopez
Listen, if a new wife says her husband's co-parenting with his ex is working, then we're inclined to believe her. Jennifer Lopez told Vogue in their December issue that Jennifer Garner is "an amazing co-parent, and they [Garner and Ben Affleck] work really well together." They're jointly raising three kids: Violet, 16, Seraphina, 13, and Samuel, 10.
Sign of healthy co-parenting: Both are committed to staying in the same city. In this case it's Los Angeles, which is not a huge stretch (Garner and Affleck are actors, after all) but staying close keeps the kids from having to fly between homes. The same can't be said for JLo's twins since her ex, Marc Anthony, has stayed on the east coast (he bought a condo in Miami this year).
3. Drew Barrymore
Like Garner and Affleck, Barrymore and ex-husband Will Kopelman both live in New York City, making the co-parenting shuffle easier for their kids. In October, they went trick-or-treating together with Kopelman's new wife, Alexandra Michler, who Barrymore calls "my daughters' wonderful stepmother."
Sign of healthy co-parenting: She keeps things in perspective. “You’re never not together if you have children,” she said during a November 2021 episode of the Drew Barrymore Show. “All the ‘modern family,’ ‘exes’ aside, you’re just parents. That’s what makes sense to me. I say this just trying to put one foot in front of the other with a lot of love and good intentions. High road, baby, less traffic.”
4. Kate Hudson
Juggling co-parenting with one ex is enough, but actress Kate Hudson shares her teen son with ex Chris Robinson and her preteen son with ex Matt Bellamy, all while raising a preschooler with fiancé Danny Fujikawa. "It might not look traditional from the outside, but on the inside, I feel like we're killing it," Hudson recently told the British publication The Sunday Times. "The unit that I've created with three children with three different fathers is a seriously strong unit, and it's ours."
Sign of healthy co-parenting: This mom doesn't care what other people think. It's easy for outsiders to judge and shame single moms for new relationships, but Hudson is not having it. Good for her! And good for her kids.
5. Kate Winslet
Kate Winslet is in the same boat — she has a grown daughter with her first husband, Jim Threapleton, a teen son with her second husband, Sam Mendes, and a school-age son with Ned Rocknroll (real name: Edward Abel Smith).
Sign of healthy co-parenting: Winslet writes the rules that work for her family. She's been honest that she doesn't share custody — the kids stay with her, and she's taken flak for that — but she says they all have great relationships with their father. "I think, at the end of the day, there is no rulebook, there's no manual," Winslet said recently to British Vogue of child-rearing.
6. Gwyneth Paltrow
We all rolled our eyes when actress Gwyneth Paltrow and rocker Chris Martin said they were "consciously uncoupling," but dang it, they really did break up without breaking up the family vibes. "It's like you're ending a marriage, but you're still in a family. That's how it will be forever," Paltrow said on The Drew Barrymore show.
Sign of healthy co-parenting: They can be in the same room together and not freak out. These two go on vacations together with the kids. Paltrow is happily remarried but seems to accept her kids' dad being in her life as well as theirs.
7. Demi Moore
Another couple who has achieved co-parenting and short-term cohabitating are actors Demi Moore and Bruce Willis, who spent pandemic time together with their three grown kids, Rumer, 34, Scout, 32, and Tallulah Belle, 28. When Willis was diagnosed with aphasia last spring, Moore referred to her (remarried) ex as "our beloved Bruce."
Sign of healthy co-parenting: Moore embraces the chaos. In December, she gathered the entire blended family together to spend Christmas as a supportive unit. “We are FAMILY!! Getting into the holiday spirit,” she captioned a group pic on Instagram showing Moore, Willis, the former couple’s three daughters, Willis’ wife Emma Heming Willis, and her two daughters with Willis, Evelyn Penn and Mabel Ray. Oh, plus a puppy!
8. Gisele Bündchen
It's too soon to tell how model Gisele Bündchen and quarterback Tom Brady will do with shared custody, but it's easy to see that their hearts are in the right place. "My priority has always been and will continue to be our children, whom I love with all my heart. We will continue co-parenting to give them the love, care, and attention they greatly deserve," Bündchen wrote when announcing their divorce in October.
Sign of healthy co-parenting: They’re starting out on the right foot. These two are not going to war with each other and, in fact, settled their divorce with lightning speed. Granted, that's easier when you're both wealthy. But plenty of rich people still have protracted court cases (see: Bethany Frankel's 8-year divorce battle), so it's great to see these two come to an agreement quickly.
9. Kristin Cavallari
These two split early in the pandemic but continue to both live in Nashville and co-parent two sons and a daughter, all under age 10. According to US magazine, they split physical custody down the middle, with each parent having the kids 182.5 days a year. Designer and reality TV star Kristin Cavallari and retired NFL player Jay Cutler will divide shared-custody holidays by odd and even years, a fairly common scenario.
Sign of healthy co-parenting: She doesn't bad-mouth her ex. Cavallari has said that the marriage itself was "toxic," but she has posted lovely words about Cutler. "What I do know is, our 3 kids are lucky to have him as their daddy," she wrote on Instagram for Father's Day 2020. "Hopefully, they all 3 get a smidge of that heart of gold."
10. Mashonda
Another great role model for working through the bad stuff to get to the good is artist Mashonda, who wrote the book Blend: The Secret To Co-Parenting And Creating A Balanced Family about parenting a teen son with ex-husband Swizz Beatz and his now-wife Alicia Keys, both musicians.
Sign of healthy co-parenting: She centers their shared goal to raise great kids. “Our actions and our words help mold who our children become as adults," she wrote for Essence magazine. "We all win if we can raise mindful, loving, and empathetic children."
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