Celeb Parents Accused of Inappropriate Behavior by Their Kids

Over the years, it’s become clear that Alec Baldwin’s temper has often outshone his talent. That was certainly the case back in 2007, when the actor, then in the midst of a messy split from Kim Basinger, among the ugliest divorces in showbiz history, left an irate voicemail (via YouTube) for the ex-couple’s 11-year-old daughter, Ireland Baldwin. Infuriated that she didn’t pick up the phone at the agreed-upon time, Baldwin went ballistic. “You have insulted me for the last time,” he shouted. “I don’t give a damn that you’re 12-years-old or 11-years-old, or a child, or that your mother is a thoughtless pain in the ass who doesn’t care about what you do,” he continued. “You’ve made me feel like s***,” he added, concluding his rant by telling her, “You are a rude, thoughtless little pig.”

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When the voicemail wound up in the hands of TMZ, Baldwin took a beating in the media. It all came back to haunt him years later, when he agreed to be the guest of honor at a Comedy Central roast. Among those who took to the dais to tear a strip off him was his daughter, now a successful model. “It’s good to be here,” she began. “I almost didn’t even know about [the roast] because I haven’t checked my voicemails from my dad from the last, like, 12 years,” she quipped.

His affair with teenage Soon-Yi Previn, adopted daughter of his then-paramour Mia Farrow, seriously bruised the reputation of comedian and filmmaker Woody Allen. That affair torpedoed his relationship with Farrow, with Allen and Previn subsequently getting married; those circumstances are among the strange facts about Allen’s marriage. In the midst of all that drama, in 1992, Farrow accused Allen of molesting their adopted daughter, Dylan. Allen has consistently denied his ex’s allegation, and an investigation determined that no charges would be filed.

More than 20 years later, Dylan — now known as Malone Farrow — wrote an open letter that was published in The New York Times, detailing her own allegations against Allen. She began by asking readers to single out their favorite Woody Allen film. “Before you answer,” she continued, “You should know: when I was seven years old, Woody Allen took me by the hand and led me into a dim, closet-like attic on the second floor of our house. He told me to lay on my stomach and play with my brother’s electric train set. Then he sexually assaulted me.”

That was not a one-time occurrence, she claimed, but part of an ongoing pattern of molestation that Allen had concealed from her mother. “These things happened so often, so routinely, so skillfully hidden from a mother that would have protected me had she known, that I thought it was normal,” she wrote. Allen responded with his own letter, also published in the Times. “Of course, I did not molest Dylan,” he wrote, insisting her mother had “fabricated” the abuse, repeating the accusation to her so frequently that she eventually came to be brainwashed into believing it was true.

If you or someone you know may be the victim of child abuse, please contact the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child (1-800-422-4453) or contact their live chat services.

Elijah Blue Allman, son of superstar singer and actor Cher and her ex-husband Gregg Allman, has had a lengthy history of substance abuse. He revealed to Us Weekly that he began using drugs at age 11 and struggled with heroin addiction. According to court documents filed by his wife, Marieangela King, obtained by the Daily Mail, the couple was staying in a hotel when an unexpected situation arose.

“On November 30, 2022, the night of our wedding anniversary, four people came to our hotel room and removed (Elijah) from our room,” her court filing read. “I was told by one of the four men who took him that they were hired by (Elijah’s) mother.” In that document, she claimed that she’d been provided no information about him after his alleged kidnapping. “I am currently unaware of my husband’s wellbeing or whereabouts,” she added. According to the Mail, Allman was taken to a rehab facility.

Cher, however, refuted her daughter-in-law’s accusation, telling People, “That rumor is not true.” While she wouldn’t offer any further comment on the alleged abduction, she did confirm that her son’s ongoing issues with substance abuse were at the heart of the matter. “I’m not suffering from any problem that millions of people in the United States aren’t,” she added. “I’m a mother. This is my job — one way or another, to try to help my children.”

From the outside looking in, few celebrity families have appeared to be tighter than the Beckhams. Over the years, soccer great David Beckham and his wife, Spice Girl-turned-fashion mogul Victoria Beckham, have proudly and publicly paraded their four kids: sons Brooklyn, Cruz, and Romeo, and daughter Harper. Yet a major rift formed between Brooklyn and his parents after his 2022 wedding to Nicola Peltz.

In January 2026, the Beckhams’ oldest child issued a series of scorched-earth posts via Instagram Stories claiming his mother’s behavior at the wedding was beyond inappropriate. As Global News reported, Brooklyn insisted he’d remained “silent for years,” and had hoped to keep the situation private — until his parents left him no choice but to “tell the truth about only some of the lies that have been printed.” Accusing them of manipulating the media to put forth a false narrative, he detailed their efforts to sabotage his wedding, which he blamed on his refusal to sign over the rights to his name to his folks.

“My parents have been trying endlessly to ruin my relationship since before my wedding, and it hasn’t stopped,” he wrote. “My mum hijacked my first dance with my wife, which had been planned weeks in advance, to a romantic love song,” he continued, claiming his mother proceeded to dance “very inappropriately on me in front of everyone. I’ve never felt more uncomfortable or humiliated in my entire life.” He also accused his parents of being more concerned about PR than his well-being. “My family values public promotion and endorsements above all else,” he wrote. “Family ‘love’ is decided by how much you post on social media …”

Numerous celebrities have gained followers by posting photos of their kids on social media, which raises an obvious question: How do the kids feel about that? Apple Martin, daughter of Gwyneth Paltrow and Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, provided an answer in 2019 after Paltrow posted a selfie on Instagram. The photo shows her and her daughter posing at the top of a mountain during a ski vacation.

The teenager was irked enough to leave her mom a message in the comments. “Mom we have discussed this,” she wrote, as reported by People. “You may not post anything without my consent.” Paltrow defended herself by pointing out that Apple was wearing tinted ski goggles. “You can’t even see your face!” Paltrow replied to her daughter’s missive. Interestingly, Paltrow did not remove the selfie from her Instagram feed. Apple, however, removed her comment.

A teenage sitcom star whose promising career was cut short by drugs, the tragic real-life story of Mackenzie Phillips has been well documented. Yet amid all the rehabs and relapses, she’d been hiding a dark secret that she revealed after the death of her father, The Mamas and the Papas’ John Phillips. In her 2011 memoir, “High on Arrival,” she recalled being in a drug-induced stupor when she was suddenly struck with a moment of clarity. “I woke up that night from a blackout to find myself having sex with my own father,” she wrote. “Was it the first time? Had this happened before? I didn’t know and I still don’t. All I can say is that it was the first time I was aware of it …”

According to Phillips, their incestuous relationship continued. “It was consensual, but not in the way one might imagine consensual sex,” she wrote. “It didn’t happen daily or weekly. It wasn’t planned or discussed. And it most certainly wasn’t romantic or real.”

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She received the wakeup call of all wakeup calls when she discovered she was pregnant, and came to the ghastly realization that her dad was the father. “I was horrified,” Phillips said during an appearance on “Today,” via the Daily News, recalling that the grim reality underlying her pregnancy shook her to the core. “The implications of it were just so intensely disturbing to me that I had an abortion,” she said. “I never let him touch me again.”

It’s likely there are quite a few people who are unaware that singer Elle King is the daughter of former “Saturday Night Live” cast member Rob Schneider. That’s understandable, given that she chose not to use his surname and has been quite vocal about her fraught relationship with the comedian. “I was born out of a Vegas marriage,” King told Billboard. “My parents got married three days after they met.”

However, it was during an appearance on the “Dumb Blonde” podcast (via YouTube) that she really let her old man have it. “I go for like four or five years without talking to my dad. Very toxic,” she said. “He’s just not nice.” She offered some examples from her younger years, such as the intense trouble she’d get into if she ruined a shot while hanging out on the set of one of her dad’s movies, and her contention that he “forgot about every single birthday” throughout her childhood. “He sent me to fat camp,” she recalled, “and then I got in trouble one year because I sprained my ankle and I didn’t lose any weight.”

King also declared that she was not a fan of her father’s right-wing opinions. “He’s just talking out of his ass and I want to use this opportunity to say that I disagree. I do not agree with what he says,” she added.

A regular on “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” and its Hulu follow-up, “The Kardashians,” Scott Disick — aka ex-boyfriend of Kourtney Kardashian — has become a fixture in the tabloids. That’s typically due to the women he’s dated since their relationship ended. These have included actor and singer Bella Thorne (14 years younger than him), model Sofia Richie (15 years his junior), and Amelia Hamlin (18 years younger than Disick).

Some may conclude that the significant age gaps are inappropriate — a feeling that is apparently shared by Disick’s daughter, Penelope. That was evident during a 2023 episode of “The Kardashians.” In that episode, Disick is recovering from a car accident. The Kardashian sisters are trying to set up a date to lift his spirits. While he’s offering his thoughts on the qualities he’s looking for in a partner, his daughter enters the room. As BuzzFeed News reported, the youngster proceeded to share her opinion, describing a trait she felt her father should be looking for in a woman. “Older,” she deadpanned.

It’s one thing for a celebrity to post photos of their kids on social media without permission, but how about a star who shares childhood photos of a now-grown kid, who has also become famous? That was the case when Dakota Johnson appeared on “The Late Late Show with James Corden” to complain about her mom, “Working Girl” star Melanie Griffith.

“I don’t like it,” Johnson told host James Corden when he asked how she felt about her parents’ posting her childhood photos on social media. “But I also don’t go on social media, so I don’t find out about it until it’s really baked into the Internet, and somebody will send it to me like, ‘Oh, you were so ugly, or you were so cute, when you had braces and a slicked-back ponytail,'” she continued.

Whenever that happens, she’s met with resistance when she expresses her discontent to her mom. “I become like a 12-year-old and I’m like, ‘Mom, you can’t do that. We’ve had this conversation so many times!’ She doesn’t care,” Johnson added.

Kate Gosselin took the Old Testament axiom “be fruitful and multiply” to unheard-of levels when she and future ex-husband Jon Gosselin welcomed sextuplets and became parents of eight. Their family life was chronicled in the TLC series “Jon & Kate Plus 8” (later retitled “Kate Plus 8” after their fractious split). Many viewers who watched the series held the opinion that Kate was something of a control freak.

According to accusations made by her son, Collin, the inappropriate behavior people saw on TV was just the tip of the iceberg. In 2024, Collin — then 20 — told the U.S. Sun that she confined him in a small basement room with a mattress on the floor, outfitted with surveillance cameras. “When my mother would put me in that room multiple times, she had zip-tied my hands and feet together and bolt locked the door, turned the lights off and had cameras there just watching me.” He also alleged that his mother was often “physically aggressive [and] verbally, very abusive with the things she would say” to him.

While his mother didn’t respond to those allegations, she’d previously claimed that Collin had special needs. She also told People that he’d “received multiple psychiatric diagnoses,” and had been placed in a facility due to her fears about the safety of her other kids. “Unfortunately, I believe Collin remains a very troubled young man who continues to need a lot of help,” she said.

When it comes to the offspring of a celebrity accusing said star of inappropriate behavior, it’s tough to top Joan Crawford’s daughter, Christina, and her 1978 poison-pen memoir “Mommie Dearest.” Its sensational depiction of the Hollywood legend as a narcissistic monster, prone to violent fits of booze-fueled rage, made the book a bestseller. “Mommie Dearest” even spawned a movie in which Faye Dunaway’s scenery-chewing portrayal of Crawford remains a masterclass in overacting.

Among Christina’s most notable allegations was that her mom insisted on using wooden hangers, and when Christina hung her sweater on a wire hanger, her mother beat her with that hanger while shrieking, “No wire hangers!” Another anecdote focused on Christina’s refusal to eat a rare, bloody steak, which led her mother to starve her for days until she ate it. In addition, Christina claimed her mother would tie her up and make her sleep in a shower.

Speaking with The Guardian in 2008, Crawford shared her recollection of one particularly violent altercation, when the “Mildred Pierce” star punched her in the face, grabbed her by the throat, and slammed her head on the floor. “You never forget that,” she said. “It was up close and personal. She came this far from my face, and you could see it in her eyes, you can see if someone is trying to kill you.”