Celebrities live their lives in the public eye and for the most part, keeping a secret is challenging. Yet, when it comes to hiding a lovechild, many stars go to crazy lengths to keep their baby from their fans.

Some go so far as to lie about their little one’s birth. Whether they want to protect their baby from scrutiny or keep a sordid love affair under wraps, many celebrities hide their kiddos.

Yet, somehow the truth manages to get out and they have to come clean. Some starlets choose to not reveal who the father of their baby is. They vow to never let anyone know who their baby’s daddy might be. This usually creates even more speculation around their child. Other times, male actors may have had a fling long ago and have no idea that they fathered a baby until much later in life. These teenagers and adult children surprise them with an appearance and turn their lives upside down, revealing forgotten affairs that had been kept hidden for years. Marriages fall apart at the news.

Sometimes, these famous men deny that they are the father and find themselves facing their mistresses in court. A simple paternity test can prove one way or the other, then there is no denying that they’ve had a secret lovechild. Many of these dads step up and have a relationship with their kid while others turn their backs on their offspring. Here is a list of 15 celebs who tried to hide their lovechild.

15 January Jones

Actress, January Jones, is a single mom to her son, Xander Dane Jones. She has sworn to never reveal who the father of the baby is. The secrecy surrounding her son has caused fans and the media to speculate like crazy. Some suspect that the father could be Matthew Vaughn, who directed Jones in the film "X-Men: First Class." Rumor has it that the two became a little too close during production but both have denied it. Others think that actor Jason Sudakis would be another contender. The two were linked within the time frame of the pregnancy.

Jones has no intention of spilling the beans. During an interview for the website Net-A-Porter she said, "It's just not something the public needs to know. When my son asks those questions, I want him to [hear it from me]. I don't want him to be able to Google it."

14 Simon Cowell

Reality star, Simon Cowell, found himself having serious baby mama drama. His relationship with Lauren Silverman raised eyebrows because she was married to his close friend, Andrew Silverman. It was even more shocking to learn that Lauren was pregnant with Simon’s baby. They welcomed their son, Eric Cowell, in 2014.

Simon opened up for The Mirror and admitted to feeling some regret for stealing his best friend’s wife but also felt blessed by the outcome. "But then of course you have a baby and you look at the baby and you kinda go, 'This is what happened from it.' In this situation you are not going to come out of this well because of the circumstances." He continued, "It is not something I am proud of or wanted to happen in terms of hurting anyone. It just happened. You have to deal with it and man up to it.”

13 Minnie Driver

Actress, Minnie Driver, is a single mom to her son, Henry. She decided to keep the identity of her baby’s daddy a secret. For the first three years of her little boy’s life, she refused to discuss any details. The mystery caused speculation about who the gentleman was and why Driver was so shrouded in secrecy. until she finally opened up to The Observer and made the private matter very public.

"We weren't together and he wasn't directly in the business, so I chose to protect him and not have a rain of publicity," Driver said, explaining her reasons for hiding his identity. "I know, but it's ridiculous. He's not famous. There's no big story." It was revealed that Henry’s father was Timothy J Lea, a co-producer on her former FX show The Riches. "I don't need to protect him any more. He can fend for himself. He's a grownup.”

12 Eddie Murphy And Mel B

Mel B and Eddie Murphy are former lovers who are forever linked by their daughter, Angel Iris. Murphy initially abandoned Mel B and denied that the child was his. They engaged in a bitter custody battle and Mel B was forced to face her pregnancy alone. That is, until a DNA test proved that Murphy was indeed the father.

Mel B sat down with a therapist in her reality show, Mel B: It's A Scary World, and opened up about Murphy finally reaching out to have contact with Angel. "When the results of the DNA test came in and Angel was in fact, no surprise, Eddie Murphy's child, I encouraged their relationship from day one. And I didn't really hear anything for a few years. So this year it's been really, really nice that they've both been able to get in contact with each other and get to know each other."

11 Mindy Kaling

Actress and star of the show, The Mindy Project, Mindy Kaling, recently revealed that she is pregnant with her first child. While fans are excited to celebrate with her, they won’t be sending well wishes to the father. Kaling is the latest actress to keep her baby’s daddy a secret. She hasn’t been publicly dating anyone so we are left to speculate who the lucky man might be. BJ Novak is an ex-boyfriend of hers so he is a potential contender for the role of father.

People Magazine reported that Mindy has no intention of sharing the news and will remain mum (pun intended) on the subject. A source told the mag, “She is not telling anyone, not even close friends, who the father is.” Whether she wants to protect the gentleman or simply doesn’t want to deal with the public scrutiny, this is one mystery that fans may just have to accept.

10 Steven Tyler

Steven Tyler, lead singer for the band Aerosmith, had a secret love child with American singer, Bebe Buelle. Tyler didn’t know about his baby for a while. His daughter, Liv Tyler, put it all together when she was 8-years-old. She spoke about the experience on The Jonathan Ross Show.

"I kind of figured it out because he looked exactly like me and I have a sister named Mia who is a year younger than me and I saw her standing at the side of the stage at a concert and I was literally like looking at my twin." Liv said, “She looked exactly like me and I looked at my mum and she had tears in her eyes and I kind of put it all together." According to Liv, her mother was young when she gave birth and there was confusion as to who the father was. Steve and Liv are close now.

9 Hugh Grant

Let’s discuss Hugh Grant’s playboy ways, shall we? He managed to father three different babies within the space of 15 months. His long time girlfriend, Tinglan Hong, gave birth to their daughter in September of 2011. Apparently, Grant strayed and spent some one on one time with Swedish television producer Anna Eberstein. Just four months after his first daughter was born, Eberstein was pregnant with his second child, a son.

Then, three months later, Hong was pregnant with his third child. This means that the two pregnancies overlapped. He only outed himself when he put his name on Eberstein’s son’s birth certificate. Grant and Eberstein had another love child in 2015. That means that Grant now has four children with two different women. He and Eberstein are currently a couple and he remains actively involved with all of his children. Seems like Grant has been busy over the last few years.

8 Padma Lakshmi

Top Chef host, Padma Lakshmi, is mom to daughter, Krishna. When she found out that she was pregnant, she had no idea who the father was. At the time, Lakshmi was dating two men, the late billionaire, Teddy Forstmann, and the brother of the Dell Computer founder, Adam Dell. She wrote about the moment she discovered she was pregnant in her memoir Love, Loss and What We Ate, saying, "A question began to nag at my giddiness: not so much 'How?' but the far more uncomfortable 'Who?'"

The pregnancy was also a big shock because doctors had told her that she could never have children the natural way because she had endometriosis. After years of uncertainty, a paternity test proved that Dell was the father and the two engaged in a bitter custody battle over their daughter in the Manhattan Supreme Court. Dell’s name was eventually added to Krishna’s birth certificate.

7 Gavin Rossdale

Rocker, Gavin Rossdale, fathered a love child with indie singer, Pearl Lowe. The two had an affair in the 1980’s Gavin was named the Godfather of their daughter, Daisy Lowe. At the time of Daisy’s birth, it was believed that her biological dad was a fertility specialist, Bronner Handwerger. It wasn’t until Daisy turned 14, she discovered that neither of her parents had her O-type Blood so she requested a paternity test.

Gavin did not want her to take the test and refused to talk to either Pearl or Daisy after their daughter moved forward with it. Pearle talked to Easy Living Magazine. "It was a bit hairy for six months when I told her I suspected her father was the musician Gavin Rossdale.” Gavin and Daisy have since forged a great relationship. At the time, he was married to Gwen Stefani who she was devastated to learn about Daisy.

6 Matthew Knowles

Matthew Knowles, father and manager to Beyonce, admitted to cheating on his wife of 30 years, Tina Knowles. The affair produced a child and Beyonce’s secret half-brother was born in 2010. The situation tore apart the Knowles family as well as the life of the boy’s mother. Canadian actress, Alexsandra Wright, was left high and dry when the two went to court over the amount of money Knowles had to pay in child support.

A California judge ruled that Knowles didn’t owe the full requested amount and suspended support for three years as Knowles has overpaid Wright. His ex-lover and young son were forced to use public assistance once the payments quit coming in. This is one example of a celebrity not stepping up and taking responsibility for his actions. One would think that Knowles has plenty of money to support his love child; he is Beyonce’s manager, after all.

5 Arnold Schwarzenegger

One of the most scandalous celebrity affairs was that of actor and politician, Arnold Schwarzenegger. When it was discovered that he had fathered a love child, it ended his high profile marriage to Maria Shriver. They had been married for 25 years, which is an eternity by Hollywood’s standards. All of that came crashing down when his son was discovered.

When the truth finally came out, it became known that Arnold had cheated on his wife with their Guatemalan maid years before and she had given birth to a son. To add insult to injury, Maria had been pregnant with his fourth child when the affair happened. The two divorced and they share custody of their children. Arnold’s term as governor of California was not affected by the scandal. There have been several pictures published of Arnold spending time with his son, who looks like a chip off the ol’ block.

4 Micheal Lohan

Micheal Lohan, father of actress, Lindsay Lohan, had an illegitimate child when he cheated on his wife, Dina Lohan, back in 1995. His affair with Kristi Horn, produced their daughter, Ashley. Horn had tried for years to convince Lohan that he was the father and even attempted to get him to pay child support in court for years. Micheal always denied the claim but eventually agreed to take a paternity test in an attempt to prove her wrong.

The trio were guests on the television show "Trisha Goddard" and Micheal finally met his 17-year-old daughter. It came as a huge shock to him when the test came back positive. Audiences watched as Horn burst into tears at the news. Micheal attempted to embrace Ashley but she just yelled "No! No! No!" while Michael begged, "I just want to hug you." The entire episode is really sad and slightly disturbing.

3 Jude Law

Actor Jude Law had a 2008 fling that produced a secret baby. He met Samantha Burke when he was in New York City shooting the film, Sherlock Holmes. At the time, she was a waitress at Hooters who resided in New Jersey. The duo had a romantic weekend together and Jude returned to England after the fling.

Samantha had a very revealing 2009 interview and said, “I knew our relationship would not continue,” she shared, “And I was okay with that.” She decided not to share the news of her pregnancy with Jude right away as she wanted to process it. “I needed time to come to terms with it myself.” After their daughter, Sophia, was born, Samantha decided to contact Jude. She had a lawyer reach out to Jude, who denied that he was the father. A DNA test proved otherwise. Sophia is just one of Jude’s five children.

2 Chuck Norris

Action star, Chuck Norris, is another celebrity that fathered a love child and did not learn about their existence until years after the affair took place. He cheated on his wife and the relationship produced a little girl who was secretly born in the year 1962. He wasn’t even aware that he had another child until the year 1991. His daughter had been conceived when Norris met her mother, a woman named Johanna, when Norris spent time at a California US Air Force Base.

Dina was 26-years-old by the time that they finally connected. Their meeting came about when Norris received a letter from a woman claiming to be his daughter. From the moment he saw her, their resemblance was so similar that he didn’t even request a paternity test. Dina is one of five of Norris’ children. His first wife had two children and his second wife had twins.

1 Bow Wow

Rapper, Bow Wow, hid his daughter, Shai Moss, from the his fans. He even clapped back against gossip sites that had reported her birth. It wasn’t until he came clean on his personal website that he admitted to having a daughter with Joie Chaves.

"My lil girl is betting BIG fast," he wrote. "I love every minute of it, She inspires me to go harder. Even made me treat my mother better, its like it made me into a man over night." He revealed to his fans why he had kept Shai’s birth a secret.

"I waited so long to tell yall the truth because I was nervous on how yall would look at me," he wrote. "Yall know everyone makes a big deal out of everything i do. I wanted to be 1st n let yall know the real.Yes! I change diapers. Aint as bad as I thought hahaha."

Sources: abcnews.go.com, eoline.com, dailymail.co.uk, people.com, usmagazine.com, celebzen.com, hollywoodlife.com