There are so many ways to raise a child, and so many people to love them. While my family would be considered a traditional family, that is a concept that isn’t quite the norm these days (by traditional, I mean that my husband and I were married for many years before we had our first child and we now have four children). While families like mine are considered traditional, the idea of family has changed dramatically since I was a child. When I was growing up, the rule was that you got married first, then you got pregnant and you started a family. Nowadays, most people are surprised to hear that we were married long before we had kids. Many families choose to have kids and then get married. Some men and women choose to have kids on their own with the help of a surrogate and no spouse or partner, same-sex couples have children all the time and many people adopt.

Today, the concept of family is people that love one another. The definition is so different, and while I wouldn’t trade my family for the world, I do have the utmost respect and admiration for those who choose adoption whether it is to add to their family or to start a family. And these celebrity couples all made the decision to adopt their kids, raise their families and really enjoy their lives.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt

This is a couple that has so many kids no one can even remember at this point to whom they belong. Angelina Jolie made it a point to adopt before she was with Brad, and then the couple adopted together. They were not married when they adopted, but Pitt adopted all of her kids and then they had a few of their own, including twins. So it would seem that they’re doing their part to create one big, happy family all the way around.

Sandra Bullock and Jesse James – Kind Of

Here’s the deal; when Sandra Bullock began the process of adopting her son several years ago, she was married to Jesse James and the two were adopting together. Unfortunately, it was a lengthy process and their marriage fell apart before they could finalize their adoption. So even though they went into it together, she ended up adopting her son on her own as a single parent in the end, and it seems that things have worked out just fine for her.

Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw

These two have a total of so many kids we’ve lost count, and we are not mad about that. They are the kind of family that just keeps on growing, and there is nothing wrong with that. A big family is awesome – I have one of my own – and these two have adopted and they each have children of their own. In addition, the couple is very involved in charities and running projects that help children in all aspects of life all over the world.

Katherine Heigl and Josh Kelley

When the actress and her husband made the decision to have a baby, they decided to adopt. And they did it not once, but twice. The couple has two daughters they adopted several years apart both from South Korea. Their own mixed race family thrives on their love for one another and the happiness that they feel in providing a loving home for their two girls.

Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman

When the two were married long, long ago, they adopted two children. Despite their divorce and subsequent remarriages, both consider their adopted children their own though both have added children of their own biological bearing to their families. They’ve stated in numerous interviews that their adopted children are just as much their own as their biological kids.

Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness

When he and his wife adopted their two children, they specifically made the decision to adopt children that are of a mixed race. The two figured that babies of mixed backgrounds are so difficult to find homes for that the two wanted to be the kind of people that were able to provide homes for their children since they could afford to do so.

Mariska Hargitay and Peter Hermann

She and her husband have one biological child of their own, and when they decided that it was time to have a second child, they looked into adoption. The couple decided that a child with a  mixed race background would be the best fit for their family, and they love the concept of being a mixed race family and having two children to love just the same.

Kurt Vonnegut and Jill Kementz

She was his second wife, and the two adopted a child together in addition to his own three biological children from his first marriage. But he’d also adopted three other children prior to his marriage to his second wife. When his sister lost her battle with cancer, he made the decision to adopt his sister’s three kids as well.

Michelle Pfieffer and David E. Kelley

It was only a year before the couple welcomed their first biological child that she adopted her daughter, Claudia Rose. It was a very short year later when the couple welcomed John Henry, and now they have two kids to call their own. Technically, she began the adoption process before she was married to Kelley, but the baby was Christened on their wedding day and it has always been their child together, so we are counting this one.

George Lucas and Marcia Lou Griffin

When the couple was married, they adopted a child. The couple did not last, though they still share their daughter. He waited a few years and adopted two more children, another daughter and a son in the late 80s and the early 90s, and he even had another child with one wife, though this one is his biological child. It’s safe to say there are a few years between his kids. He and his current wife, Melodie Hobson, also have a child together born via surrogacy.

Photos by Getty Images

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