15 ’90s Child Stars Who Have Children Of Their Own Now

For kids who spent their formative years learning the ins and outs of life via Disney Channel’s Lizzie McGuire, it can be hard to imagine Hilary Duff as more than just a kid sharing life-changing advice, but rather a parent likely passing that advice on to her own kids. The star, who some fans first met during her movie Casper Meets Wendy, not only has a huge acting career now. She also has three kids: Banks, Luca, and Mae.

In the ’90s, Melissa Joan Hart gave us all the answers as the title character in Clarissa Explains It All on Nickelodeon and then continued to conjure up magic as the lead in Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Speaking to Bustle, she discussed how important those roles were to her, saying “I think that Clarissa was someone who let, especially the girls, know that you can do whatever you want to do and it will be OK.” And though it can at times feel like those shows raised us, now Melissa is raising three sons of her own: Mason, Braydon, and Tucker.

Before we knew her as the blonde and ambitious Elle Woods of Legally Blonde, we got to know Reese Witherspoon in the ’90s thanks to her movies Election, Fear, and Pleasantville. But as true ’90s kids know, the first time we saw Reese onscreen was in 1991’s The Man in the Moon. Back then she was just a kid, and now the Oscar-winner has three kids of her own: Deacon Phillippe, Tennessee Toth, and Ava Phillippe who is a nearly identical remake of her mom.

High School Musical star took on the role of mom in 2021 when she welcomed her baby, Jupiter. She told Bustle what it was like to be a new mom: “Before, obviously, I could just do my own thing, but now, my schedule really revolves around her.” She also knows how wild it is for her fans to see her, someone they still think of as Sharpay Evans from the hit Disney series, as a mom. She said, “To kind of go from that to like, ‘I have a baby!’ It’s so crazy for people.”

Kenan Thompson might have first been introduced to fans as knuckle puck master Russ Tyler in D2: The Mighty Ducks, but his career really took off when he starred as one-half of Nickelodeon’s iconic comedy duo Kenan & Kel. And who could forget him showing off his sketch comedy prowess on the hit teen show All That. Since then, he’s used that improvisational foundation to continue making us laugh on Saturday Night Live, and likely to keep his daughters Georgia and Gianna laughing too.

Kids from the ’90s likely remember Danielle Fishel as the spirited big-haired Topanga of Boy Meets World. She also had appearances in other hit shows like Full House and more recently reprised her role as Topanga Lawrence-Matthews in the teen sitcom reimagining of her series called Girl Meets World. Mom is a role the star has portrayed IRL since 2019, and she recently announced that she’s expecting a second baby, who will be a little sibling to her son Adler.

Danica McKellar first entered our living rooms in the role of Winnie Cooper in the nostalgic series The Wonder Years. Now that ABC is rebooting the series, Danica is paying tribute to her role. In an Instagram post, she shared a photo from her time in the life changing role, sharing, "#TBT to my days as Winnie Cooper, the mostly unrequited love interest for young Kevin on The Wonder Years 😉... and a HUGE congrats to Milan Ray who plays the young love interest in the new Wonder Years reboot that started shooting this week!” And although she doesn’t mind answering to “Winnie,” Danica also responds better to “mom” thanks to her son, Draco.

In the ’90s, teen twin sisters Tia and Tamara Mowry kept us laughing on their sitcom Sister, Sister, and even when taking on roles in hit teen television shows like Are You Afraid of The Dark? Since then, Tia has starred in the hit series The Game, the sitcom Instant Mom, and even the current series Family Reunion. Her favorite role to date, however, has been as mom to Cairo Tiahna and Cree Taylor.

Tia’s sister, Tamera Mowry-Housley has also become a parent. The former host of The Real is mom to daughter Ariah and son Aden. And although her life looks completely different than it did when she was sharing the small screen with her Tia during those Sister, Sister days, she looks back on that time fondly. She told People, “To see the younger generation loving it just as much as our generation did, it’s really cool to relive that moment. I think in a way [we’re] experiencing why something becomes a classic.”

When it comes to being queen of the classic ’90s movie, Christina Ricci reigned supreme. From The Adams Family, Casper, Now and Then, The Ice Storm, and Mermaids, fans had more than a few options to choose from when it came to picking up a film to watch from Blockbuster. Although she was a natural in films, she told IndieWire that it didn’t always come easy to her. “I had a very hard time with fame as a child, being interviewed and being asked about my life,” she said. She added that this is why she keeps her son Freddie out of the limelight. “No child should be held up for adults to criticize, question, interview, weigh in on. It’'s the reason we don’t have pictures of our children up online. It’s the same thing,” she said. Christina recently announced that she’s expecting another child and will likely share that mindset with them as well.

Who could forget Marla Sokoloff who played Stephanie’s bad influencer and BFF Gia Mahan in Full House, a role so near and dear to fans that she even reprised it for the show’s reboot. A lot has changed since Marla took on that role, but she still loves the fans who changed her career. In an interview with Bustle, she said, "Full House and Fuller House have some of the nicest, most supportive fans, and most excited fans. I feel like the energy is nothing I’ve experienced before.” Now she’s a mom to Olive Mae and Elliotte Anne.

Speaking of Full House, fans will recall Cameron Bure as older sibling DJ Tanner on the show — and in the Netflix spinoff series Fuller House. And although she’s been on the small screen all of her life, she doesn’t mind being protective of what her kids watch and even told People that she kept an eye on their screens. Lucky for her, Full House is super family-friendly, so her three children — Natasha, Lev, and Maksim — are safe to tune in.

If you’re a ’90s kid, you best know Anna Chlumsky for her role as Vada Sultenfuss in the movie My Girl. The movie was an instant classic, though Anna did reveal to Bustle that being a child star wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. “When you're a kid, other people are making decisions for you, and you’re just doing it for adults’ approval. ... It's your parents’ egos,” she said. Now, Anna is best known for her role on HBO’s political comedy Veep and a more important role as a mother of daughters Penelope and Clara.

Fans likely remember Kyla Pratt as the voice behind Penny Proud on Disney Channel’s animated series Proud Family. But since then she’s taken on plenty of roles, including playing Eddie Murphy’s daughter in the Dr. Dolittle films and reprising her role in The Proud Family Movie. Fans can still catch her on VH1’s Black Ink Crew and on Fox’s Call Me Kat. She’s also very proud to call herself mom of daughters Lyric and Liyah.

Hayden Panettiere welcomed her daughter Kaya into the world in 2014. And although we know Hayden from movies like Remember the Titans and the film Bring It On: All Or Nothing, the star got her start acting at just 5 years old, playing Sarah Roberts on the daytime drama One Life To Live. She reminisced on those early days on an episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: “Your confidence is through the roof” she said. “I don’t know where that went ... I’m saying you could be in your birthday suit and you could be the most confident person in the room at 7 years old.” Hopefully, for Kaya’s sake, that confidence is hereditary.