Celebrity Parents - Brief Article

Ebony, March, 2001 by Joy Bennett Kinnon

A variety of stars have welcomed some new bundles of joy

IT'S a family affair for African-American celebrities who have been keeping the stork and his delivery room assistants very busy over the past few years.

Actors, actresses, singers and all kinds of celebrities have been increasing the size of their families quite rapidly, and in 2000 alone, several stars welcomed a new bundle of joy.

For some stars, being there for their child's birth was easier than it was for others. Team USA member Alonzo Mourning was participating in the Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, and flew halfway around the world to be at his wife's side when she gave birth. The couple's well-thought-out plan--to have her labor induced on a certain date, allowing Mourning to be there--disintegrated, she says, when she went into labor early. She drove herself to the hospital, she says, all the while imploring the baby to "please wait for daddy."

And she did. Their new daughter, Myka Sydney Mourning, made her entrance on Sept. 22 at 5:17 p.m. ET, exactly 20 minutes after her father walked into the delivery room at South Miami Hospital. Although Mourning soon returned to the Olympics and helped the USA win the gold medal, the Miami Heat basketball star deserves a second gold medal for making the 9,330-mile trek home to be at his wife's side, she says. "I was starting to freak out," she says, as the delivery became imminent and Mourning wasn't there. "It's really incredible that he made it right on time." The couple also has a 4-year-old son, Alonzo Mourning III (Trey).

Other new celebrity parents include comedian-actor Cedric (the Entertainer) and his wife, former wardrobe stylist Lorna Kyles, who welcomed a new baby boy, Croix Alexander who was born last September at Glendale Adventist Medical Center, weighing in at 6 pounds, 11 ounces. He is the couple's first child. Cedric has an 11-year-old daughter, Tiara, from a previous relationship. Other stars who welcomed infants in 2000 include Hollywood's power couple, actors Will Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith. Their daughter, Willow Camille Reign Smith, who weighed in at 6 pounds, 10 ounces, was born on Halloween. The Smiths also have a son, Jaden Christopher, and Smith has a son, Trey, from a previous marriage.

Actresses Nia Long and Monica Calhoun both welcomed sons in 2000. Actress and singer Vanessa L. Williams and her husband, Los Angeles Lakers basketball star Rick Fox, welcomed their first child, a daughter, Sasha Gabriella, who weighed 7 pounds, 3 ounces when she was born last May in New York. Williams has three children--Melanie, Jillian and Devin--from a previous marriage, and Fox has one son, Kyle, from a previous relationship.

Tionne (T-Boz) Watkins of the best-selling hip-hop group TLC and her husband, rapper Dedrick (Mack 10) Rolison, welcomed their first child last year, a daughter named Chase Rolison.

Also proud new parents are famed actor-comedian Eddie Murphy and his wife Nicole, who welcomed Zola Ivy Murphy on Christmas Eve, 1999. She weighed 7 pounds and 13 ounces and is the fourth child for the couple, who are also the parents of Bria, Myles and Shayne. Actor Malik Yoba has a daughter, Pria (which means "pretty" in Hindu), who was born in 1999. Yoba has established an annual "Daddy's Conference" in Washington, D.C., which provides workshops and expert advice to fathers. And actor Blair Underwood and his wife Desiree are the parents of two young children, a son, Paris, who is 20 months older than his sister, Brielle Nicole, who was born in November 1998, weighing 6 pounds, 14 ounces.

While the stork may have been busy in 2000, he won't get a break in 2001. Celebrities "infanticipating" in 2001 include Broadway star Audra McDonald and her fiance who expect their first child; rap artist Sole and her fiance Ginuwine, who also expect their first child; film producer Tracey Edmonds and her husband Kenny (Babyface) Edmonds, who are expecting their second child; actress Terri Vaughn from The Steve Harvey Show and her husband expect their first child; and gospel star Yolanda Adams and her husband also expect their first child this year.

Gather the Gucci diaper bags and the cashmere booties. For the silver-spoon set, it's all about family, and their children are the best gift that money can't buy.