Ronan Farrow isn’t the only A-list kid whose lineage is up for debate. Here are the 8 most buzzed-about paternity dilemmas in Hollywood.
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1. January Jones' son Xander
Bauer-Griffin The “Mad Men” star, who announced her pregnancy months after calling it quits with former “SNL” star Jason Sudeikis, has never publicly identified the father of her 2-year-old son.
“It’s just not something the public needs to know,” she told the online magazine Net-a-Porter earlier this year.
“There are parts of your life — no matter what your job — that should remain private. When my son asks questions, I don’t want him to be able to Google answers.”
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2. Khloe Kardashian
Getty Images Last year, Star magazine reported that the late Robert Kardashian may not be the father of the fairest-haired Kardashian sister. Two of his wives, Ellen Kardashian and Jan Ashley, told Star that Khloe was the product of an affair by her mom.
An outraged Khloe tweeted: “The audacity you have to mention my father’s name like this! Should be ashamed of urself.”
Khloe’s mom, Kris Jenner, denied the report.
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3. Liv Tyler
Startraksphoto.com The actress was actually born Liv Rundgren. Her Playboy-model mom, Bebe Buell, had an eight-month relationship with Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler.
Then she gave birth to Liv when she was in a relationship with rocker Todd Rundgren.
At age 8, Liv found out her dad wasn’t Todd after she met Steven and noticed the physical similarities (those lips!) between them and Steven’s other daughter, Mia. The truth about Liv’s paternity wasn’t public until six years later, when she changed her last name to Tyler.
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4. Anna Nicole Smith's daughter DannieLynn
FilmMagic When Smith died in 2007, she left behind a 5-month-old daughter.
While she was alive, Smith insisted her companion, Howard K. Stern, was the father of Dannielynn and listed him on her daughter’s birth certificate. But her ex Larry Birkhead insisted it was him. And after Smith died, Prince Frederick von Anhalt, the husband of Zsa Zsa Gabor, also claimed to be the dad.
DNA tests proved in 2007 that Birkhead is the father.
“I hate to be the one who told you this, but: I told you so,” Birkhead, 34, said at the time. “I’m the father.”
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5. Padma Lakshmi
FilmMagic The beautiful “Top Chef” host refused to publicly acknowledge who fathered her baby, Krishna, when she was born in 2010.
The baby was conceived when Lakshmi was on a break with billionaire Teddy Forstmann, so the paternity was unclear. A DNA test in 2011 proved venture capitalist Adam Dell is the dad.
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6. Jodie Foster's sons Charlie and Kit
NBC The actress has never said who fathered her kids.
It was reported this year that Foster plans to tell the boys, now 15 and 12, who their father is when they turn 21.
Rumored possible dads are Randy Stone, a publicly gay casting director and pal of Foster, Mel Gibson and James Woods.
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7. Prince Harry
Getty Images It was long rumored that the lively redhead wasn’t the son of Prince Charles.
Princess Diana admitted in 1995 she had a five-year affair with former cavalry officer James Hewitt — who shares Harry’s vibrant orange mane.
But in 2002, Hewitt told the Sunday Mirror newspaper that he didn’t meet Diana until two years after Harry was born and is therefore not the father.
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8. Melissa Etheridge's kids Bailey and Beckett
SplashNews The lesbian singer and her partner, film director Julie Cypher, didn’t at first reveal who fathered their two kids. But in 2000, when Bailey was 3 and Beckett was 1, Etheridge told Rolling Stone that the father is musician David Crosby.
“We just got so tired of this secret,” Etheridge told the magazine. “It wears you out. And keeping this big secret goes against how [Julie and I] are choosing to live our lives — very openly.”
The couple split later that year.