November 11 2025, 08:15 
A growing number of celebrities are not only revealing they have trans and nonbinary children, but are also speaking out about loving their kids for exactly who they are.
Sometimes that love means vocally supporting their journey, stepping up to support LGBTQ+ charities, or moving their family to a safer place. In other cases, it’s as simple as normalizing trans experiences within family structures. As Robert De Niro said when his daughter, Airyn, came out earlier this year, “I love and support Airyn as my daughter. I don’t know what the big deal is, I love all my children.”
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Trans actress Airyn De Niro thanks famous dad for support: “Could not have asked for better parents”
Below is a small sample of the many famous parents who show unconditional love to their trans kids. Of course, those named have been open about their personal lives. For some parents, keeping their trans family members out of the media spotlight is a love all its own.
Dwyane Wade & Gabrielle Union
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Former professional basketball player Dwyane Wade and actress and author Gabrielle Union are the father and stepmother to model and activist Zaya Wade. Dwyane Wade has discussed his pride in his daughter on many occasions, including during a 2020 appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
“When our child comes home with a question,” Wade said, “when our child comes home with an issue, when our child comes home with anything, it’s our job as parents to listen to that, to give them the best information that we can, the best feedback that we can.”
The couple has been loudly supportive of their daughter and even reached out to the cast of Pose to learn more about trans identities so they could create a safe and affirming space for Zaya. In 2023, Wade revealed that they had relocated their family out of Florida because they “would not be accepted there.”
Meet Zaya. She's compassionate, loving, whip smart and we are so proud of her. It’s Ok to listen to, love & respect your children exactly as they are. Love and light good people. pic.twitter.com/G2lLVdD2VT
— Gabrielle Union (@itsgabrielleu) February 11, 2020
Naomi Watts & Liev Schrieber
While the actors Liev Schrieber and Naomi Watts are no longer romantically involved, they’re still very much aligned in support of their trans daughter, Kai Schrieber. Liev Schrieber spoke about his daughter’s transition for the first time earlier this year, saying that she never really had to come out to him beyond changing her pronouns: “Kai was always who Kai is,” the actor said.
He has also supported the wider community through the Ali Forney Center, which provides aid for homeless LGBTQ+ youth in NYC. “This is actually a community of people who don’t have great resources, who don’t have access to help, who aren’t being protected and looked after by their families,” he told Variety in May. “These are people who are being rejected. These are people who are experiencing the harshest version of humanity that we can offer, and some of them are not surviving it.”
Watts has been very vocal in her support for her youngest daughter, which was particularly apparent in March, when Kai made her modeling debut at Valentino’s autumn/winder 2025 presentation.
Annette Bening & Warren Beatty
Actors Warren Beatty and Annette Bening were ahead of the curve in supporting their trans son, Stephen Ira Beatty, who came out in 2012 at the age of 14. In 2016, when trans identities were less acknowledged in the mainstream, Beatty told Vanity Fair of his son, “He’s a revolutionary, a genius, and my hero, as are all my children.”
Similarly, Bening praised her son in 2019 to the AARP: “He’s managed something that’s very challenging with great style and great intelligence. He’s an articulate, thoughtful person, and I’m very, very proud of him.”
Khary Payton
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Khary Payton is known for his roles in The Walking Dead, Titans, and General Hospital, but he has also garnered attention for being a great dad to his trans son, Karter, who came out in 2020. Payton gushed about his son in a June Instagram post that year, writing that he is “one of the most happy, well-adjusted individuals I’ve ever known.”
“There is nothing more beautiful than watching your child feel the joy of exploring what it means to be true to themselves,” Payton added. “This is his journey, and I am here for it.”
After that post, Payton made sure to follow up with an explanation of what being trans really means.
Payton has worked to keep that public conversation going. Being Karter’s dad also inspired his transgender role-playing character, Tolo, in the Dungeons & Dragons web series Encounter Party.
Jamie Lee Curtis
Jamie Lee Curtis has a long history of LGBTQ+ advocacy, and in 2021, she revealed that her daughter, Ruby, with director Christopher Guest, is a trans woman. Curtis has been loudly supportive of her daughter’s trans identity and has said she hopes her advocacy will help other trans kids to be more comfortable with their identities. She also has fun with the whole thing. When Curtis won an Oscar for Everything Everywhere All At Once in 2023, she held it up in an interview and said, “Here they are! In support of my daughter Ruby, I’m having them be a they/them.”
Colin Mochrie & Debra McGrath
Colin Mochrie, the Canadian comedian of Whose Line Is It Anyway…? fame, opened up in 2017 about having a trans daughter. Mochrie and his wife, Acrress Debra McGrath, have always shown support for their daughter. Mochrie told HuffPost Canada in 2017, “This is my child, this is the exact same person, with a new coat. All you want when you have a child is for them to be safe, to be happy, and to be better than you.”
He has since been a huge defender of his daughter and the wider trans community, owning up to his own mistakes as well. He publicly apologized after he received a letter calling him out for homophobic and transphobic jokes in the past, and he also once epically defended his daughter from online trolls.
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