7 Celebrity Parents Raising Kids Without Gender Stereotypes

Kate Hudson

The 39-year-old actress and WW ambassador revealed in a recent interview with AOL that she embraces a “genderless approach” to parenting 3-month-old Rani and her two older brothers from Hudson’s previous relationships: Ryder Russell, 15, and Bingham Hawn, 7.

“[Having a daughter] doesn’t really change my approach, but there’s definitely a difference,” she told the outlet. “I think you just raise your kids individually regardless — like a genderless [approach]. We still don’t know what she’s going to identify as.”

“I will say that, right now, she is incredibly feminine in her energy, her sounds, and her way,” Hudson explained. “It’s very different from the boys, and it’s really fun to actually want to buy kids’ clothes.”

Adele

Adele is all about people fully expressing who they are, including her son Angelo. She recently brought him to Disneyland, dressed in his outfit of choice: a Princess Anna costume. The Grammy-winning mom says she is eagerly awaiting the changes her son will go through as he grows and learns what he likes.

"I can’t wait to know who his best friends are going to be, who his girlfriend or his boyfriend is going to be or what movies he likes," the singer told Time. "Whatever my kid wants to do or be I will always support him no matter what."

Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt gracefully navigated supporting a child exploring their gender identity in the public eye. Shiloh Jolie-Pitt, who Pitt shared wanted to be called John at age 3, rocks suits on the red carpet and chopped her hair short before she was even 4.

"She wants to be a boy," Jolie told Vanity Fair in 2010. "So we had to cut her hair. She likes to wear boys’ everything."

Both parents follow Shiloh's lead for all her choices: hobbies, hair, outfits, and gender expression.

“You don’t know who your children are until they show you who they are," Jolie said on BBC Radio 4’s Women’s Hour. "They are just becoming whoever they want to be.”

Bryce Dallas Howard

Bryce Dallas Howard is a big advocate for letting kids choose the clothes they want to wear, rather than fill their closets with predestined pink or blue.

Daughter Beatrice "was bald for a very long time, and so gender [was] a little unclear,” the Jurassic World actress told People. “But that was fine, and there was no problem. I really wanted to wait for her to lead me in a certain direction.”

She chose to let Beatrice naturally gravitate towards the clothes she prefers, and now, Dallas Howard said, “She’s just [dressing] the way she wants to dress.”

Majandra Delfino

Former Roswell star Majandra Delfino and actor husband David Walton encourage ballet lessons alongside toy trucks for their 2-year-old son and shy away from princess-themes for their 4-year-old daughter.

Delfino and Walton want to their son to grow up well-rounded and their daughter to experience childhood without society telling her what's expected of a girl.

“I felt like the world was going to do that so much to her," the actress told People. "Let’s try to save this house from too much of it, ’cause she will find it herself.”

Russel Brand

Russel Brand made a stir for his cavalier approach to gender on The Jonathon Ross Show before his daughter's birth, saying, “I may not even impose a gender upon it, let the child grow up and be whatever the hell it is.”

Now that she's arrived, he's completely convinced.

"I have re-evaluated the way that I unconsciously looked at gender, because now I've got a daughter I think 'wow, I don't necessarily need to dress her in clothes that are indicative of her gender'," the comedian said on This Morning. "Why would you? I've become quite sensitive to that and aware of it."

Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith

Will and Jada Pinkett Smith have raised children clearly confident in who they are and how they express their gender identity, with son Jaden leading the charge against gender norms in fashion. He wears dresses for fun, models skirts in high fashion ads, and rebels against the very idea that there should be a difference between clothes for men versus clothes for women.

"The world is going to keep bashing me for whatever I do, and I'm going to keep not caring," Jaden told Nylon magazine, a mantra he may have adopted from his dad.

“Jaden is 100 percent fearless. He will do anything, you know? So as a parent, it’s scary. It’s really terrifying," Will said on BBC Radio last year. "But he is completely willing to live and die by his own artistic decisions and he just doesn’t concern himself with what people think.”