I have been divorced for 34 years.
My children were very small at the time of the divorce.
A multitude of people have made comments about how hard my life was and how sorry they were that me and my children went through that.
I have never once complained about my post-divorce life or having to raise my children. It was both an honor and a privilege.
As of 2015, about 27% of children in the USA were being raised by a single person---80% of those by a mother, only 20% of those mothers are not employed.
Before you decide that children of single mothers were financially disadvantaged:
- 16.7% of custodial single fathers and their children lived in poverty
- 29.2% of custodial single mothers and their children lived in poverty
The USA has the largest percent of children raised by a single person.
- Pierce Brosnan. Pierce Brosnan was raised by his mother, May, after his father, Thomas Brosnan, left the family when the actor was an infant.
- Oprah Winfrey. Oprah Winfrey was raised by her grandmother for the first few years of her life, and then at the age of 6, she moved with her mother, Vernita ...
- Kelly Clarkson. Kelly Clarkson’s parents, Jeanne Ann and Stephen Michael Clarkson, divorced when the award-winning singer was 6 years old.
- 50 Cent. Growing up, 50 Cent didn’t know his father and he was raised by his mother, Sabrina, until she passed away when he was 8 years old.
- Samuel L. Jackson. Actor Samuel L. Jackson was an only child raised by his mother, Elizabeth, with the help of his grandparents and extended family.
- Mary J. Blige. Singer and actor Mary J. Blige was raised by her mother, Cora, after her father, Thomas Blige, left the family in the mid-1970s.
- Actress Halle Berry and her older sister, Heidi, were raised by their single mother, Judith Ann, after their father left when she was only 4 years old.
- Jay-Z The mega-artist and his three siblings were raised in Brooklyn, New York, by his single mother, Gloria, after their father abandoned the family.
- Stephen Colbert was raised by his mother, Lorna, after his father, James, and two brothers, Peter and Paul, died in a plane crash in 1974 when Colbert was 10 years old.
- JK Rowling was raised by a single mother.
- Angelina Jolie
- Barack Obama
- Kanye West
- Mariah Carey
- Bill Clinton
- Jack Nicholson
- Tom Cruise
- Leonardo DiCaprio
- Andrew Jackson
- George Washington
It's a long list. Many nonfamous but successful people were raised by a single parent. And plenty of people raised in the expected 2-parent family have turned out badly, Just ask the Dahmiers about that.
My two are doing pretty well,
I'm proud of them.
Stop saying "raised by a single parent" like it's a death sentence.
