Many parents value providing a better life for their kids than they had growing up. However, when those parents are rich and famous, it can be easy to indulge them. Some celebs love to spoil their kids, while others absolutely refuse to.
Here are 12 celeb parents who seemingly spoil their kids:
1.
In 2011, Salma Hayek told Allure, “I never understood the point of being privileged if you don’t get to have the privileges. Like, people who won’t take their kids to an expensive restaurant, or won’t travel with them, or make them pay for everything at a really young age. I think it’s important that kids have responsibilities and understand the value of things, but I think it’s great that my daughter [Valentina] gets to travel the world.”
2.
In 2018, Cardi B told W Magazine, “I’m going to be very strict [as a parent]. Like, you can have whatever you want, but you can’t do whatever you want.”
Cardi’s husband, Offset, bought their daughter, Kulture, a Birkin for her second birthday. On her Instagram story, Cardi addressed criticism from fans, saying, “When celebrities buy their kids jewelry and designer shit, people be like, ‘Kids don’t care about that. They only care about toys and candy.’ Yeah, they only care about toys and candy, but the thing is, the kids also go outside. You know what I’m saying? Kids go to restaurants; kids go to fancy places, celebrity kids, they go do red carpets.”
“And if I’m fly and Daddy’s fly, then so is the kid. If I’m wearing Cha-nay-nay, my kid’s having the same same, you know what I’m saying? It’s not up to what the kids like. If it was the kids, they’d be outside in diapers. Because if I was looking like a bad bitch, expensive bitch, and I have my kid looking like a bum bum, then y’all would be talking shit. So I’m not mad that Daddy bought baby a Birkin. She’s gonna match Mommy,” she said.
However, she also wants her children to understand their privilege. In 2022, she told Vogue Singapore, “They need to know to never feel comfortable. Don’t ever feel like, ‘I’m going to get it because I’m Cardi and Offset’s kid.’ They are never going to know what struggle feels like, so they might not have that hunger I had to leave the streets. Even though my kids are well-off, I want them to know that when you work for things and achieve it, it’s more respected — especially when people see that you bust your ass for it.”
3.
On a Season 5 episode of The Kardashians, Kim Kardashian described the challenges of being a single parent to four children and how she often found it easier to give into their demands. She said, “I don’t know why I don’t have it in me to be super strict. Neither one of my parents were strict. Khloé is a lot better at being stricter. I wish I was more like that, but, you know, I’m just one person, and it’s overwhelming. Just, how do I go about doing this all?”
During a phone call, she said, “Anything in the home, it’s just a little chaotic right now. Oh my God, no, what I wanted to say was that I had a Zoom interview at the house with all my kids there, banging on the door, just screaming. And I was literally hiding in a bathroom with the door locked because I was just like, ‘I can’t believe this.’ I mean, I can believe it, but that’s, like, my biggest nightmare…I’m open to anything at this point because I can’t live like this.”
In another confessional, she said, “Sometimes it gets just a little intense. I wanna be more strict like Khloé, but I don’t know why I have a hard time just saying, ‘No is no.’ I think I also don’t wanna deal with the whining and the tears of not getting their way. They know when to con me and when to throw the little, you know, start with the tears so that I’m like, ‘Stop, stop! Sure, take an iPad! You know, just stop.’ I just have to be like, ‘I don’t care if you’re gonna throw a tantrum in front of everyone right now. The answer’s no.’ I’ll always be there for my kids, and I will ride out anything with them. But, to say that it doesn’t take an emotional toll sometimes would be lying…Managing four kids and a household when they’re not getting along, and they all want different things, and I’m only one person.”
4.
In a 2022 Instagram story post, Kylie Jenner took her daughter, Stormi, to Harrods, where they checked out the Kylie Cosmetics and Kylie Skin display then shopped in a specially curated room that had been set up for Stormi to shop. It featured toys, clothes, purses, shoes, and accessories. In the video, Kylie said, “Look what Harrods did for Stormi to go shopping. Is this not the craziest? You are a spoiled, spoiled girl.”
A year prior, Stormi’s dad, Travis Scott, rented a classic school bus to make her dreams come true. Sharing pictures on her Instagram story, Kylie said, “All Stormi has been talking about is riding in a big yellow bus. Daddy surprised her.”
5.
In 2012, a few months after his and Beyoncé’s oldest daughter, Blue Ivy, was born, Jay-Z told Oprah’s Master Class: Special Edition, “Well, I mean, everyone imagines they’ll be a great dad. Until they’re teenagers saying, ‘Get away from me, Dad. You’re embarrassing me!’ Right? Everyone imagines that, right? I imagine I’ll take things I learned from my mom and things I’ve learned from raising my nephews and apply that. Then at the end of the day, I just know I’ll probably have the worst, spoiled little kid ever.”
According to Hello! Magazine, Blue Ivy reportedly received a one-of-a-kind Barbie doll encrusted with diamonds and worth an estimated $80,000 as a first birthday present from her parents.
6.
According to grandpa Arnold Schwarzenegger, Katherine Schwarzenegger and Chris Pratt’s kids are “a little spoiled.” In 2024, he told The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, “They come over to the house at least, I think, once a week, and then I play with the animals with them…We have really a great, great time. The only thing is that they are a little spoiled, because when I took them to the stall and asked them to help me, you know, shovel the manure, they said no. Chris, right away, said, ‘No no, they are not brought up to do that.'”
7.
In a 2021 stand-up performance on Comedy Central, Kevin Hart said, “This pandemic actually gave me a chance to spend a lot of time with my kids — a lot of fucking time with my kids. For the first time, I realized my kids are a little spoiled. They’re a little spoiled, but it’s not about choice; it’s about circumstances. I have good kids. My kids are great fucking kids. I gotta be honest, man. I got very lucky. I got great kids, but because of their circumstances, they’re a little spoiled. For example, my kids have been flying private since they’ve been born. They didn’t ask for that. They were born into that. They only travel with me.”
He continued, “The first time they traveled outside of me was during this pandemic with my ex-wife. Went back to Philadelphia with their mom to go see their grandmom. My kids called me from the airport. You would’ve thought my kids were in Baghdad. I’ve never seen a higher level of panic in my fucking life. Call me from the airport, ‘Dad!’ ‘What’s happening?’ My daughter was like, ‘They’re taking my lotions and my toothpaste. What am I supposed to do? They’re making me walk through metal.’ My son snatched the phone, ‘What the fuck is going on, Dad? They won’t let me take my bags on the plane. They said I can’t take my backpacks and my pulleys and my duffies, saying I gotta put my games underneath. Well, how am I gonna play them, Dad?'”
“I told both, ‘Relax, stop it. Stop, both of you. It’s called security. It’s called TSA, okay. This is called life with your mother, alright? There’s a difference. It’s a drop-off. It’s alright. Things change. It’s okay. You’ll both be fine.’ I overlooked some of the things that I do because I never thought twice about them,” he said.
8.
In a joint 2013 interview with his then-14-year-old son Jaden, Will Smith told New York Magazine, “It’s funny. Willow and Trey went in completely the opposite direction. Like, Willow only shops at Target. Jaden is really the only one of my kids that has a little bit of a taste for, uh…[Cartier]…Yes, he has a little bit of a taste. But he connects his responsibility to working and creating to the fun that he enjoys with the finer things.” Jaden said, “There was a time in my life when I’d go to Cartier, like, every weekend for like a month. But, now I’m …I have four rings I’m not wearing today. I haven’t bought anything that expensive in a really long time. The only thing I buy is, like, food and skateboards.”
Then Will pointed out that Jaden’s spending habits changed when he started making own money, adding, “Once he started approving his own bank statements and credit cards and all, yeah, he changed.”
9.
In 2022, Blake Shelton told Fox News Digital, “For Christmas this year, it’s just going to be a lot of food. I like food. We spoil the kids. Gwen [Stefani] really spoils the kids, and hopefully, we can spend as much time out in the country in Oklahoma as possible.”
10.
In 2024, Jason Derulo told Us Weekly that the way he grew up makes it “hard” for him to not spoil his son, Jason King. He said, “For me growing up, all of my struggles were actual struggles. And for him, the struggles have to be kind of created, you know, which I’m happy to do, and I think we’re just taking it one day at a time … [and] pray for the best.”
11.
In 2017, Tyga told E! News that his son Cairo “likes everything that [Tyga] like: cars, women, jewelry.” He said, “I’m trying to cut back with him on the gifts because he gets very, very spoiled. He is very spoiled. He thinks he is supposed to have all of that, so I have to kind of teach him that I work hard to get everything. He’s kind of like, ‘Pick me up from school in the Bentley in my Bentley car seat.’ He’s kind of like — not that he’s spoiled — but that’s all he knows. You’ve got to kind of teach him other things and that you’ve got to work for that stuff.”
12.
And in 2011, Formula One Group founder Bernie Ecclestone told the Guardian, “The kids have had access to the money. The idea was that they’d buy super-quality property, property that would be long term, for their kids and everything else. Didn’t happen. They haven’t done that. So they’ve had access to money which they’ve spent.” For example, his youngest daughter, Petra, reportedly didn’t tell him she was spending $12 million on her wedding.
And now, here are 15 famous parents who refuse to spoil their kids:
13.
In 2017, Viola Davis told People that, when it comes to her and Julius Tennon’s daughter, her “number one fear” is “entitlement.” She said, “I never had a house; Genesis has a house. I do shop at Target; I buy all her clothes at Target or H&M. And maybe, if I’m feeling really good, Nordstrom Rack.”
14.
In 2023, Shaquille O’Neal told Business Insider, “I’m not just gonna give [my kids] money for a party.” Instead, he practices “respectable nepotism,” where his six kids are required to do their “due diligence” and create a “business plan” before asking him for money. He added, “Since you want me to be the bank, I’m gonna do exactly what the bank is going to do to you.”
He also prioritizes his kids’ education. In 2022, he told Sunrise, “In order to get my cheese, you have to present me with two degrees…I just keep them motivated. I’m all about generational wealth right now. I tell them all the time, ‘ We don’t need another NBA player in the house. If you want to play, I can help you get there, but I’d rather see a doctor, dentist, hedge fund guy, a veterinarian, or a world traveler.'”
15.
In a 2025 TikTok video with Got Sole, Ben Affleck went sneaker shopping with his 13-year-old son, Sam. When Sam eyed a pair of Dior Air Jordan 1s — which retail for over $6,000 — Ben said, “You like those ’cause they’re expensive.” He wouldn’t buy them. After learning the price, he told his son, “That’s a lot of lawns you gotta mow there!”
16.
Elton John and David Furnish make sure their kids understand their privilege and learn to value things. In 2016, Elton told the Guardian, “Well, they’re only five and three. I’ll worry about it when it comes. I’m their dad; I’m famous. They live an extraordinary life. David and I talk about it all the time; we’re fully aware of the pitfalls that might happen. They are spoilt in the way they live and how they’re living, but they’re not spoilt when it comes to the rules they have to live by. They get £3 pocket money, but £1 is for charity, £1 is for saving, and £1 is for spending. They get three coins and put them in separate jars. And they have to work for it – help in the kitchen, help in the garden.
“They’ve got to learn the value of doing something and earning something for themselves. They live a very local life in Old Windsor. They go round their mates’ houses. It’s not a showbiz life as such. They’re not stuck behind the gates of a mansion. Saturdays when I’m home, we go to Pizza Hut with them, we go to Waterstones, we go to the cinema. I’ve never been a recluse; I’ve never hidden away. I’m on the school run,” he said.
17.
Jessica Alba and Cash Warren’s three children wear hand-me-downs. In 2023, she told SheKnows, “Honor grows out of clothes, and then it gets passed down to Haven instead of Haven buying brand-new stuff every time. And Hayes even inherited some of Honor and Haven’s clothes. I do a lot of, like, sharing and trading with those types of things, like clothes or other home items. We try not to make anything just go to waste.”
18.
Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard don’t let their daughters have their own rooms. In 2020, Kristen told Self, “It’s very important to me that they share a bedroom. I think their lives will be easier than most other people’s on the planet, and to develop a good character, it’s important to always be going through something. I like the fact that they will have to figure out how to share a bedroom, figure out how to share your closet, figure out how to share your space. If that’s the worst thing about your life, that you have to share a bedroom with your sister, you’re going to be okay.”
19.
David and Victoria Beckham made their oldest son get a part-time job. In 2015, David told The Late Late Show with James Corden, “[Kids] want new sneakers; they want new soccer boots. It came to the point where [Brooklyn] turned 14, 14½, and I thought, ‘You know, if you want something, then go and work, and you’ve got your own money.’ So, much to his dismay, we packed him off to the French café, and he works there every Saturday and Sunday for a few hours and gets his own pocket money.”
20.
On a 2020 episode of The Talk, Marie Osmond said, “I’m not leaving any money to my children. Congratulations, kids. My husband and I decided that you do a great disservice to your children to just hand them a fortune because you take away the one most important gift you can give your children, and that’s the ability to work. You see it a lot in rich families where the kids don’t know what to do, so they get in trouble. So I just let them be proud of what they make, and I’m going to give mine to my charity.”
21.
In 2024, Tyler Perry told Sherri that his son, Aman, “don’t get no Christmas list.” He said, “He gets two things: books and Legos…He don’t have a job! What else is he going to get?”
Tyler continued, “He was complaining once — this was about five years ago. He was complaining about flying commercial ’cause the lines were so long. And Gelila [Bekele, Tyler’s ex-girlfriend] and I were talking. She called up. She’s like, ‘We’re not flying on your plane anymore.’ Like, okay, fine. So they have been going coach for years…so that he understands I worked. He did not. So when he works, he can learn that lesson. He’s not gonna be one of those ridiculous, spoiled rich kids. I can’t stand that. No, he ain’t got no money.”
22.
Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr. want their kids to to learn responsibility. In 2017, Sarah told Today, “I do a lot of cooking with the kids. I’m big on child labor. The kids have to help with the mashed potatoes. You want them to understand what the process is. Everything doesn’t come from a box in your house…I don’t love the idea of giving them money to do chores that they should do anyway.”
Sarah also taught her kids to not be wasteful. She said, “My daughter was doing this thing lately where she was asking me for a cup of milk and not drinking it. So I told her that every time she’d ask me for a cup of milk and not drink it, I would take a quarter out of her piggy bank. Someone has to pay for that milk.”
23.
In 2024, Jeff Goldblum told the Table for Two podcast that he won’t financially support his and Emilie Livingston’s kids when they’re grown. He tells them, “Hey, you know, you’ve got to row your own boat.” He continued, “It’s an important thing to teach kids. I’m not going to do it for you. And you’re not going to want me to do it for you. You’ve got to figure out how to find out what’s wanted and needed and where that intersects with your love and passion and what you can do. And even if it doesn’t, you might have to do that anyway.”
24.
Appearing on the Morning Meeting podcast in 2021, Anderson Cooper said he planned to follow the lead of his mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, and not leave his and Benjamin Maisani’s sons an inheritance. He said, “I don’t know what I’ll have. I’m not that interested in money, but I don’t intend to have some sort of pot of gold for my son. I’ll go with what my parents said…’College will be paid for, and then you gotta get on it.'”
25.
Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick’s son doesn’t get brand-new clothes. In 2016, she told The Edit, “I will only buy secondhand clothes for my son, James Wilkie. The documentary The True Cost really changed me. The one area I’ve had a hard time with is pants, but I buy used T-shirts and sweaters for him. Track pants are hard — boys rip them; I don’t know how to get around that.”
26.
Madonna raised her children differently than other celebrity parents raised theirs. In 2023, her daughter, Lourdes Leon, told Interview Magazine, “We don’t get any handouts in my family. Obviously, I grew up with extreme privilege. There’s no denying that. But I think my mom saw all these other kids of famous people, and she was like, ‘My kids are not going to be like this.’ Also, I feel like if your parents pay for things, then it gives them leverage over you. My mom is such a control freak, and she has controlled me my whole life. I needed to be completely independent from her as soon as I graduated high school.”
Lourdes continued, “She said something to me recently that has really stuck with me. I’ve been so concerned with making a decent living and wanting to live more luxuriously than I was when I first graduated and wasn’t earning a lot of money. She was like, ‘Remember, this shit is not real. It’s not about the money or your face or how hot you look. It’s about what you’re bringing into the world and what you’re going to leave behind.’ That always shakes me awake when I get too caught up in everything.”
27.
And finally, in 2017, Gordon Ramsay told the Telegraph, “I’ve never been really turned on about the money. That’s not my number one objective, and that’s reflected in the way the kids are brought up. Last time we went to Royal Hospital Road [his three Michelin starred flagship restaurant] was for Megan’s 16th birthday, and that was the first time we’ve ever eaten there with the kids. They have served the Chelsea pensioners there for Christmas lunch, but not eaten there.”
He continued, “They don’t sit with us in first class. They haven’t worked anywhere near hard enough to afford that. At that age, at that size, you’re telling me they need to sit in first class? No, they do not. We’re really strict on that. I turn left with Tana, and they turn right, and I say to the chief stewardess, ‘Make sure those little fuckers don’t come anywhere near us. I want to sleep on this plane.’ I worked my fucking arse off to sit that close to the pilot, and you appreciate it more when you’ve grafted for it…Tana came from a super set-up, and I’m just ‘educated rough’ from a council estate. So we meet in the middle, and the kids bounce off both of us. They have a completely different life than I did growing up. I worked my arse off to get out of the shit mess that I grew up in, and they’re grateful. They’re not spoilt.”
