18 Extraordinary People Who Grew Up in Foster Care or Adoptive Families (19 Photos)

Greatness knows no single origin, emerging from every corner of the world and every walk of life. Yet few stories are as inspiring as those of people who overcame traumatic beginnings, rising to the top through talent, grit, and unwavering self-belief. Screen icon Marilyn Monroe is just one famous example of a star raised away from her birth parents. Here are 18 remarkable figures who, despite growing up in foster care, orphanages, or with extended family, left an indelible mark on history and shaped modern culture, science, and public life.







1. Marilyn Monroe

Abandoned by her widowed mother, who suffered from severe mental illness, the future Hollywood legend spent much of her childhood bouncing between distant relatives, foster homes, and orphanages.





2. James Brown

After his parents separated when he was very young, Brown was sent to live with an aunt in Atlanta, Georgia. Raised in extreme poverty, he dropped out of school to help earn a living. He spent time drifting on the streets and was sent to a juvenile detention center at age 16.



3. John Lennon

John's parents separated when he was a toddler. After his mother, Julia, started a relationship with another man, four-year-old John was taken in by his childless maternal aunt, Mimi Smith, and her husband, George, who raised him as their own.



4. Ingrid Bergman

The future star of *Casablanca* lost her mother when she was just three years old, and her father, Justus Samuel Bergman, passed away a decade later. The 13-year-old was taken in by an aunt, who died just six months later. Ingrid then moved in with her uncle Otto Bergman and his five children.



5. Nelson Mandela

At age nine, Mandela lost his father to tuberculosis. Following his father's death, he was taken under the guardianship of Jongintaba Dalindyebo, the acting regent of the Thembu nation.



6. Eric Clapton

Clapton was born to a 16-year-old mother and a 24-year-old Canadian soldier who left before Eric was born. Raised by his grandmother and her second husband, young Eric grew up believing his biological mother was his older sister and that his grandparents were his parents. Years later, his mother married another Canadian soldier and moved to Germany, leaving young Eric to be raised permanently by his grandparents in Surrey.



7. Ray Liotta

The *Goodfellas* star was adopted when he was six months old. More than four decades later, Liotta hired a private investigator to track down his biological mother.



8. Mike Tyson

The legendary boxer endured a brutally tough childhood. Fortunately, legendary trainer Cus D'Amato spotted his potential, took Tyson into his home, and eventually became his legal guardian. Tyson had no memory of his birth father, and his mother suffered from addiction and died young. Almost none of Tyson's childhood circle survived—most wound up in prison or died young, sometimes right in front of him.



9. Truman Capote

The author of *Breakfast at Tiffany's* and *In Cold Blood* was sent to live with his mother's relatives in Alabama when he was just eight years old.



10. Richard Burton

17-year-old Richard Jenkins was nearly adopted by his schoolmaster Philip Burton, but legal restrictions prevented a formal adoption due to his age. In the end, Richard changed his surname to Burton and lived with Philip as his son.



11. Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs' biological father was Abdulfattah Jandali, a Syrian Muslim graduate student. At the time, he was dating Joanne Schieble, whose parents strongly opposed their relationship. As a result, baby Steve was placed for adoption and raised by Paul and Clara Jobs.



11. François Truffaut

The iconic French film director was born out of wedlock to Janine de Monferrand. He never knew his biological father, Roland Lévy, a Jewish dentist. Roland Truffaut, whom his mother later married, legally recognized François as his adopted son and gave him his surname. From birth, Truffaut was left in the care of wet nurses and his grandmother, who instilled in him a deep love of books and music. He lived with his grandmother until her death when he was 10, at which point he reunited with his mother and stepfather for the first time.



13. Edgar Allan Poe

Poe was born in 1809, but lost his mother shortly after his birth, while his father had abandoned the family. Young Edgar was subsequently taken in by a foster family in Virginia.



14. Jack Nicholson

After his birth, Jack was raised by his grandparents, John Joseph Nicholson and Ethel May Nicholson. He grew up fully believing his grandparents were his mother and father. It wasn't until 1974 that a *Time* magazine researcher uncovered the family secret and broke the news to the actor: the woman he thought was his older sister, June, was actually his mother. By then, it was too late—June had died of cancer in 1963, and Ethel had passed away seven years later in 1970.



15. Coco Chanel

Chanel's mother died when she was just twelve years old, and her father abandoned her along with her four siblings shortly after. The Chanel children were left in the care of relatives and spent time in a convent orphanage.



16. Eddie Murphy

Eddie's father died when he was still a young child. Following his death, Eddie's mother, Lillian, fell ill, forcing Eddie and his brother to spend a year in foster care. Later, Eddie and his brother grew up in Roosevelt, New York, raised by their mother and stepfather Vernon Lynch, a foreman at an ice cream plant.



18. Ella Fitzgerald

Ella's mother died of a heart attack when Ella was 14. Following clashes with her stepfather, Ella moved in with her aunt Virginia Henry and took a job working as a lookout at a brothel, where she ran into mobsters and gamblers. After authorities intervened, the teenager was placed in an orphanage in the Bronx and later transferred to a reform school for girls in Hudson. Ella soon escaped and spent time living homeless.