Review of 2006: New Arrivals

There have been just tons of debuts this year as celebrities have been having and adopting children all over the place.

Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt, the offspring of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt born in Namibia in May, was perhaps the most high profile of the newcomers and exclusive publication rights for her first pictures were sold for charity for $4million.

Suri Cruise’s first photos were also highly anticipated and caused a media storm when they were published in Vanity Fair in September, almost five months after her birth in April. Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise’s decision to keep their daughter out of the spotlight until then prompted a huge amount of speculation about Suri’s parentage and appearance.

Madonna’s adoption of a baby boy, David, also tipped in highly on the speculation-o-meter. She had been rumoured to be planning an adoption for most of the year and during her trip to Malawi in October, denials of adoption plans came as quickly as the rumours that she’d chosen 13 month old David.

Conversely, Jayden Federline (second son of Britney Spears and Kevin Federline) and Dannielynn Hope Marshall Stern (daughter of Anna Nicole Smith and either Howard K Stern or Larry Birkhead), both born in September, have had high profile starts to their lives not because of their own births but because of the storms around their parents’ others activities: Britney and Kevin’s split in November and the death of Anna Nicole’s son and her subsequent paternity and property battles.

Other celebrities celebrating new arrivals in 2006:

• Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin had a second child, a baby boy in April. They called him, Moses Martin.
• Also in April, Ewan McGregor and his wife adopted a baby girl from Mongolia.
• Brooke Shields gave birth to her second child, a daughter named Grier on the same day as Suri Cruise was born down the corridor.
• Dave Grohl’s little girl Violet, made her entrance over the weekend in April too.
• A couple of weeks later at the start of May, Adam Sandler became a first time dad too when his wife gave birth to their first daughter.
• Geri Halliwell’s daughter Bluebell Madonna Halliwell followed another week later.
• And Vic Reeves’s twin girls Elizabeth and Nell with wife Nancy Sorrell arrived another week after that at the end of May.
• The same weekend Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale had their first child together, a son named Kingston.
• Also at the end of May, Mira Sorvino went for a very down to earth name, Johnny, for her second son.
• Rachel Weisz’s bump was in full view when she picked up her Oscar in April but her son with Darren Aronofsky, Henry didn’t make his actual entrance until the start of June.
• Matt Damon joined friend Ben Affleck in the dad’s club when daughter Isabella was born to Matt and his wife Luciana in June.
• Jack Black and his wife Tanya welcomed their son, Samuel, into the world around the same time.
• Russell Crowe became a dad for the second time when wife Danielle Spencer gave birth to their son, Tennyson, in July.
• Nell McAndrew’s long awaited son, Devon, was born in August.
• Around the same time, Sharon Stone confirmed that she had adopted a third child, a son called Quinn. She adopted him as a newborn in June.
• Davina McCall also became a mum for the third time when Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard became first time parents at the birth of their daughter Romana in October.
• Supermodel Linda Evangelista gave birth to her first child, a baby boy a few days later. She called him Augustin.
• Tobey Maguire and Jennifer Meyer landed themselves a gem in November when Jennifer gave birth to their daughter, Ruby.
• Gillian Anderson’s second child, a baby boy called Oscar, made his debut three weeks prematurely at the start of November.
• Heidi Klum had her third child in just over three years in November - a baby boy named johan, with husband Seal.
• Stella McCartney made dad Paul McCartney a grandfather for the fourth time when she gave birth to her second baby, a girl called Bailey, earlier this month.
• And just pipping in before the end of the year, Sean “Diddy” Combs and girlfriend Kim Porter got early Christmas presents with the arrival of their twin daughters, D’Lila Star and Jessie James.