Having a child is one of the most desired experiences in life to many women around the world. And of course, when a woman thinks about starting a family, she hopes to have that special person accompany her during each phase of the pregnancy and the baby: cravings, doctor appointments, labor, and all the years ahead raising the child. It's a universal hope for any family. But unfortunately, not all women have their partner to accompany them during this journey because some fathers prefer to stay out of the picture.

But being a mother is a unique and wonderful experience for every woman. The love a child brings to a mother's life is incomparable to any relationship, and the truth is that these situations have also been experienced by celebrities in Hollywood. So today we will talk about those single mothers who deserve a gold medal for all the hard work they did raising their children that are now big celebrities in Hollywood. Thanks to them, all of us can enjoy the work of their children in the entertainment world. These celebrities owe everything to their parents.

15 Eva Mendes

Eva Mendes is one of the most envied women in the world for stealing the heart of Canadian actor Ryan Gosling, with whom the actress has two daughters. Eva is an American actress and businesswoman, who achieved fame after playing the girlfriend of renowned actor Denzel Washington, in the 2001 film Training Day. After that Mendes has been in films such as 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), Hitch (2005), Ghost Rider (2007) and The Place Beyond the Pines (2012) among others.

And according to her biography on Wikipedia, after her parents divorced, her mother Eva Pérez Suárez raised her. In fact, Eva starred in a film called "Girl In Progress" (2012) that tells the life of a single mother and the difficulties she faces when it comes to trying to balance her work, raising her daughter and personal life.

14 JAY - Z

Shawn Corey Carter, known in the music industry as JAY-Z is one of the most successful rappers and entrepreneurs in the United States because he has sold more than 50 million albums and 75 million singles, which earned him 21 Grammy awards for his music. In addition, the 48-year-old rapper has been married to singer Beyoncé since 2008 and they have 3 children.

According to his biography on Wikipedia, the artist was raised by his mother Gloria Carter in New York City at Marcy Houses, a housing project in Brooklyn. Gloria tried to raise her children in the best way possible after her husband Adnis Reeves abandoned them. And although Shawn had a few years of rebellion, selling drugs and joining gangs, which caused him to be shot 3 times, luckily he seems to have found an escape thanks to the music.

13 Keanu Reeves

Keanu Reeves, the actor and producer of Canadian origin who according to IMDb.com achieved fame thanks to his role in the films Bill and Ted franchise, which allowed him to later star in films such as Point Break (1991), Speed (1994), sci-fi series The Matrix (1999-2003), The Lake House (2006), and John Wick (2014) among others

Reeves is an actor who has been characterized as being quite reserved regarding his personal life. In fact, he avoids going to events that have Hollywood cameras nearby. According to the More.com website, the actor was raised by his mother Patricia Bond, a costume designer and performer, after his father Samuel Nowlin Reeves, abandoned them when he was only 3 years old.

12 Eddie Murphy

Edward Regan Murphy, better known as Eddie Murphy, is an American comedian, actor, and producer. Murphy used to be a regular member of the cast on Saturday Night Live during the years 1980 to 1984. And although his beginnings were as a comedian, doing stand-up, Murphy then took the leap under the spotlights of Hollywood starring in films such as Coming to America (1988), The Nutty Professor (1996), Daddy Day Care (2001) and the Shrek franchise.

And according to his bio on Wikipedia, the actor was raised in the Bushwick neighborhood of New York City. His mother, Lillian Laney, worked as a telephone operator, while his father, Charles Edward Murphy, was a traffic cop who sporadically was a comedian. Unfortunately, Charles died in 1969, leaving Lillian in charge of raising their children.

11 Alicia Keys

Alicia Keys is currently one of the coaches of the singing reality show "The Voice". Alicia is known for her musical career as a singer and composer who has won several Grammy awards throughout her career.

Alicia was raised by her mother Terria Joseph a paralegal and part-time actress, in New York City. And according to the singer, it was thanks to her mother that she has achieved everything she has, in fact, in an Instagram post she dedicated a few words to all the single mothers in the world. "To all the beautiful and powerful single parents in the world. I cherish you so much! Thank you for all the sacrifice and love you pour into your babies! My mama was single and raised me up just like that, and she is all the reason I am who I am!! Now having kids of my own I respect my mama more than ever. It's not an easy job and doing it alone and doing it well is an even MORE difficult feat".

10 Jodie Foster

Yes, our dear Jodie Foster is on this list. Thanks to her mother Evelyn Ella we have been able to enjoy the great performances of this actress of American origin. According to her biography on the IMDb.com website, Foster rose to fame thanks to her recurring role in The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1969-1971) and the TV series Mayberry R.F.D. (1968), going from working for commercial announcements to acting. During those first years, Jodie and her brother became the breadwinners of the family because their father Lucius Fisher Foster III, an Air Force lieutenant colonel, left before Jodie was even born.

Foster has excelled in her acting career in roles in films such as Taxi Driver (1976), The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Contact (1997), Anna and the King (1999), Flightplan (2005) and Money Monster (2016), among others. Currently, the actress has two children and is married to Alexandra Hedison an American producer and photographer.

9 Michael Phelps

Michael Phelps: the American swimmer and most decorated athlete in the Olympic Games of all time with a total of 28 medals. Phelps also broke Mark Spitz's record (1972), of seven first places in any of the Olympic Games. And believe it or not! He was also raised by a single mother, thus behind the achievements of a child, there is always a mother who was supporting and helping her kid to fulfill a dream.

According to the More.com website, Phelps' parents divorced when he was 9 years old, and swimming became an escape and something therapeutic for him. Since the divorce of his parents, his mother Deborah has taken care of him and his well-being by exercising the role of single mother. Currently, Michael is retired. He married Miss California USA 2010, Nicole Michele, and they have 2 children.

8 Adele

Adele Laurie Blue Adkins, best known as Adele, is an English singer and songwriter who achieved fame thanks to her debut album "19" in 2008. Adele studied at BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology and after graduating in 2006 she received a recording contract for XL Recordings, due to her best friend who published Adele's demo on Myspace. From then on, there have been only successes for this young artist from Grammys to Golden Globes. In fact, recently the artist confirmed through her Instagram that she had married earlier this year with her partner Simon Konecki, the father of her son.

But to get where the artist was, she had the help of her mother, Penny Adkins, who was a single mother after her Welsh-born partner, Marc Evans, abandoned them when Adele was only two years old, after which Penny had to become the breadwinner. In fact, in 1997 she used to work as a furniture manufacturer and organizer of adult learning activities as a way to make money and pay the bills.

7 Kate Beckinsale

Kathrin Romary Beckinsale is an English actress best known in the film industry thanks to her roles in films such as Pearl Harbor (2001), Serendipity (2001), The Aviator (2004) and the Underworld franchise, but the truth is that her career towards fame started when she participated in the British program This is Your Life at the age of 4. Then she debuted in 1993 in the movie Much Ado About Nothing, when she was still a university student.

According to her biography on IMDb.com Beckinsale is the daughter of the actors Richard Beckinsale and Judy Loe, but unfortunately her father died of a heart attack at the age of 31, after which Judy had to raise her daughter alone for a long time. Later Judy would meet the director, Roy Battersby, with whom she would establish a relationship and become the father figure that Kate did not have.

6 Marilyn Monroe

Norma Jeane Mortenson, known as Marilyn Monroe, was the most beloved blonde of the entertainment world. Marilyn was an American actress who stole people's hearts because of her charisma and beauty during the '50s. Marilyn is known for films like Dangerous Years (1947), Let's Make It Legal (1951), The Seven Year Itch (1955), and Some Like It Hot (1959), among others.

And according to her bio on IMDb.com Marilyn was the third child of Gladys Pearl Baker, who worked as a negative film cutter at Consolidated Film Industries. However, the identity of Marilyn's father is unknown, which is why her mother, after several failed relationships, dedicated herself to raising her children alone in the best possible way. Unfortunately, her daughter Marilyn would die years later in circumstances that are still strange and unclear to this day.

5 Pierce Brosnan

Pierce Brendan Brosnan, is an actor and film producer with Irish roots, best known for his role as 007 agent James Bond, and for other films like Taffin (1987), Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), Dante's Peak (1997), The Nephew (1998), Mamma Mia! (2008), and I.T. (2016) among others.

As stated in his bio on IMDb.com the actor was born in Drogheda, County Louth, Ireland. He was the only son of May, his mother, and Thomas Brosnan, a carpenter, who left them when the actor was a baby. his mother had become the breadwinner so she decided to move to London when Pierce was four years old because she needed to find a better job, so she started working as a nurse. From that moment he was raised by his grandparents Philip and Kathleen Smith and only saw his mother twice a year. That's one of the things that motivated him to be successful, in order to have a better quality of life with his mother.

4 Barbra Streisand

Barbara Joan Streisand, best known in Hollywood as Barbra, is an American singer, actress, and producer, who has had a successful career under the spotlight for six decades, belonging to that exclusive group of celebrities who have been honored by winning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award, and a Peabody.

According to her bio on IMDb.com, she was raised by her mother Diana because her dad, Emanuel Streisand, died of complications of an epileptic seizure at the age of 34 years old, after which her mother Diana had to become the breadwinner. Her mother was a soprano singer who wanted a career in the music industry but became a school secretary to be able to pay the bills and unfortunately the artist had a lonely life because her mother had to work all the time to give Barbra a better life.

3 Samuel L. Jackson

Samuel Leroy Jackson is an American actor and producer, who excelled since the '90s thanks to films like Goodfellas (1990), Jurassic Park (1993), Pulp Fiction (1994), Jackie Brown (1997), Django Unchained (2012) ) and The Hateful Eight (2015). In addition to being considered one of the most sought-after actors in Hollywood after having participated in more than 100 films throughout his acting career.

And like the other celebrities on this list Jackson was raised by a single mother, according to The Ranker.com. The actor was raised by his mother Elizabeth in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and because his father Roy Henry Jackson lived far away from them, the actor has few memories of his father. In fact he only managed to see his father twice before he died because Roy used to have alcohol problems. Samuel's mother was the breadwinner, and she used to work long hours in a factory and as a buyer of supplies for a psychiatric institution in order to give her son a better quality of life.

2 Mary J. Blige

Mary J. Blige is an American singer, songwriter, producer and actress, who began her career as a backup singer on Uptown Records in the '80s. Later, in '92, she released her first album called "What's the 411?" considered one of the best R & B / Hip-Hop albums according to Billboard that year. But after releasing 13 albums, and also having been awarded with nine Grammy awards, Mary decided to expand her horizons to the film industry. In addition to her Grammys, she's received three Golden Globe nominations, thanks to her role in the film Mudbound (2017).

Blige was born in Brooklyn, New York. She was the second of four children. Her mother Cora Blige was in charge of being the breadwinner, working as a nurse after her father left them in the '70s. The artist found consolation in music, singing in the church, as stated in her biography on IMDb.com

1 Clive Owen

Clive Owen is an English actor who achieved fame in the UK thanks to his role in the TV series Chancer (1990 - 1991) but he didn't achieve international recognition until his performance in the film Croupier (1998). After that movie, he has participated in films such as The Bourne Identity (2002), King Arthur (2004), Sin City (2005), Duplicity (2009) and Last Knights (2015). This actor has been awarded prizes such as a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award, in addition to having been nominated for an Academy Award.

According to IMDb.com, Clive Owen is the fourth of Pamela Owen's 5 children with Jess Owen, a country and western singer, who left the family when Owen was three years old. His mother became a breadwinner until she met her second husband who used to work as a railway ticket clerk. The actor on several occasions has described his childhood as "rough" but clarifies that he found an enormous satisfaction in acting.

References: Eonline.com, IMDb.com, TheRanker.com, More.com, Wikipedia.com