A 20-year-old woman is claiming teen pop star Justin Bieber fathered her three-month-old son after a bathroom romp backstage at one of his concerts. From Charlie Chaplin to Michael Jackson, see more paternal mysteries.
Justin Bieber’s hit song “Baby” has taken on a very new meaning. Mariah Yeater, 20, is featured on the cover of Star magazine, alleging that the 17-year-old pop sensation is the father of her three-month-old son. Yeater is suing Bieber, whom she claims she met backstage at the then 16 year old’s concert at the Staples Center in L.A. She says they had sex in a bathroom (for 30 seconds) and he told her he didn’t want to use a condom because it was his first time. Yeater is seeking financial support and a paternity test from Bieber. The pop star, who just released a Christmas album called Under the Mistletoe, tweeted, “so Im going to ignore the rumors...and focus on what is real. an opportunity to help by doing what i love. Judge me on the music! Love yall!” And a rep for the minor released the following statement, “It's sad that someone would fabricate malicious, defamatory and demonstrably false claims. We will vigorously pursue all available legal remedies to defend and protect Justin against these allegations.”
Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi announced in October 2009 that she was carrying her first child. The model-turned-TV personality’s pregnancy was deemed a “miracle” by her physician because the ex-Mrs. Salman Rushdie suffers from endometriosis. Though the then-39-year-old shared the news with the world about her happy surprise, she remained tight-lipped about the baby’s father. Though online reports speculated he is Manu Nathan, a lawyer she has been linked to recently, Lakshmi’s publicist denieed the rumors, telling Us Weekly that he is actually her cousin. On Feb.20, 2010, Lakshmi gave birth to daughter Krishna Thea Lakshmi, but the baby’s father’s identity remained a mystery. A month later, it was revealed that Krishna’s dad was venture capitalist Adam Dell, with whom Lakshmi allegedly had an on-again-off-again relationship. Dell, the brother of Dell Inc. founder Michael, went on to pursue custody of Krishna in a messy court battle.
When Elizabeth Hurley announced she was pregnant in 2001, she named movie producer and heir to a half-billion dollar real-estate fortune, Steve Bing, as the father. Bing, however, claimed that he and the actress were not in an exclusive relationship when she became pregnant, and filed a lawsuit in London, eventually leading to a Maury-esque DNA test. After months of battling in the public eye, the results proved Bing was indeed the biological father of Hurley’s son, Damian Charles. Bing proved to be a reluctant father, telling Vanity Fair that he did hope to one day get married and have more kids—“Kids, that is, that I voluntarily play a part in conceiving,” he clarified. Later that year, Hurley rejected Bing’s court-ordered payment of $158,000 each year for Damian, as it was “not wanted or welcome.”
Rajanish Kakade / AP Photo; Frazer Harrison / Getty Images
Kourtney Kardashian isn’t exactly a woman of mystery—when she announced in August that she was pregnant with her first child, the 30-year-old star of two E! reality shows stayed mum about the baby’s pop for one day before announcing on The Today Show that the child’s father was her ex-boyfriend Scott Disick, whom American audiences had watched cheat on her. Following in her family’s footsteps, Kardashian continued on her media tour, telling Ryan Seacrest how often she forgot to take the pill, and giving Ok! magazine an exclusive about contemplating abortion and other details of her pregnancy, all of which are included on this season of Kourtney & Khloé Take Miami.
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Jamie Lynn Spears decided to ring in the holiday season in 2007 with the announcement that she was three months pregnant. On December 18, the then-16-year-old Nickelodeon star and young sister of Britney told Ok! magazine that her boyfriend of two years, Casey Aldridge, was the child’s father. The two took the spotlight off of Britney’s trouble for a short while as rumors swirled about possible statutory rape charges (Aldridge was 19 at the time) and two “insiders” in the Spears family claimed to Star that the real father was a Nickelodeon executive on her show Zoey 101, and Aldridge was being paid to claim he was the dad. Six months later, then Spears gave birth to Maddie Briann at a Mississippi hospital, and the young family retreated to their new Louisiana home. Though they’ve since called their engagement off and Aldridge was in a serious car accident, the two reportedly remain a couple and are “happy going about [their] little life,” she told Ok!.
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Political sex scandals may no longer be a rarity, but the Rielle Hunter-John Edwards-Andrew Young triangle is a particular gem. It’s been nearly two years since The National Enquirer unearthed the story about the former presidential candidate engaging in an extramarital affair with Hunter while his wife Elizabeth battled cancer. In December 2007, Hunter, whose production company produced videos for the Edwards campaign, claimed the North Carolinian’s former right-hand man Andrew Young (who was also married with children) was actually the father of her unborn child. However, reports began appearing that the announcement was a cover-up for the senator. Pressured by the onslaught of media scrutiny, Edwards admitted in August 2008 that he and Hunter had had an affair, but still denied that he fathered her child. Though he offered to take a paternity test, Hunter refused. While the truth about the father of Hunter’s 19-month-old daughter, Frances Quinn, remains unknown, Young’s upcoming tell-all claims he was paid to say he was the father. Edwards is now said to be contemplating admitting the baby is his, but his wife, Elizabeth, is reportedly reluctant to share those details with the public.
Jim R. Bounds / AP Photo; Seth Wenig / AP Photo
Just three days after former Playboy playmate Anna Nicole Smith gave birth to daughter Dannielynn on September 7, 2007, her 20-year-old son Daniel died of an overdose while visiting his mother and new half-sister in the hospital. Five months later, plagued by the death of her son (after whom her daughter is named), Smith also died from an accidental prescription drug overdose, leaving baby Dannielynn potentially orphaned. A paternity battle involving six potential fathers ensued over the next two months. Though Smith’s lawyer Howard K. Stern claimed to be Dannielynn’s dad and had the birth certificate to prove it, Smith's ex-boyfriend, freelance entertainment reporter/photographer Larry Birkhead, was found to be the child’s father. After the DNA results were revealed in court, Birkhead greeted reporters with an “I told you so” and headed for the toy store with his daughter.
Danny Moloshok / AP Photo; Sara De Boer / Retna
Former Spice Girl Melanie Brown began dating Eddie Murphy in the summer of 2006. Tabloids had a field day with the couple’s budding relationship, claiming they’d inked each other’s names on their bodies and were planning a wedding. But in October of that year, the rumors took a new turn when Brown announced she was carrying Murphy’s child. When the alleged baby daddy was asked if the reports were true at the Dreamgirls film premiere, which he attended with new girlfriend Tracey Edmonds, he responded, “We’re not together anymore…I don't know whose child that is until it comes out and has a blood test.” The one-time Scary Spice responded, “I was astonished at what Eddie said—there is absolutely no question that Eddie is the father.” Brown reportedly didn’t even know their relationship was over until she received calls from friends alerting her of Murphy’s interview. Two months after Brown gave birth to her daughter, Angel Iris, Murphy took a paternity test and the results proved he was the father. The saga wasn’t over—Brown’s lawyer said she wanted Murphy to “see his child, spend time with her, hold her, love her and bond with his daughter” along with paying child support. Once she found a new man, however, Brown allegedly said, via The Daily Mail, “The less said about the Beverly Hills Cock the better.”
Fame Pictures; Chris Pizzello / AP Photo
In 1942, silent film legend Chaplin had a brief affair with then 22-year-old actress Joan Berry, who had come to New York from Detroit and was being considered for a starring role in Chaplin’s film Shadows and Substance. Berry was reportedly signed to a $75-a-week contract when she allegedly began harassing Chaplin and displaying signs of a serious mental illness (including a reported suicide attempt), and the actor ended both the contract and their relationship. The following year, Berry filed a suit against Chaplin, claiming he was the father of her new baby. Though blood tests proved this was not the case, Berry’s attorney reportedly convinced the court that the DNA results were inadmissible as evidence and ordered Chaplin to pay child support. The case went down in history—it led to a change in California law to allow blood tests as evidence. But Chapin was not rid of the scandal that had disgraced his name, and Berry’s fate was similarly doomed. A decade later, after she was found wandering the streets barefoot carrying a pair of baby sandals and a child’s ring, Berry was institutionalized.
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In July 2009, Jude Law announced he was expecting his fourth child, and within the next 48 hours, tabloids discovered the baby’s mother was his former flame, actress and model Samantha Burke. As the actor took the Broadway stage to star in Hamlet, Burke gave birth to daughter, Sophia, on September 22. A DNA test Sunday proved Law (who has three children with his ex-wife, actress Sadie Frost) is Sophia’s dad, according to the News of the World, which also claims that lawyers are now planning a meeting between the famous father and his new baby.
Fame Pictures; Evan Agostini / AP Photo
Michael Jackson first met dermatology nurse Deborah Rowe in the mid-1980s when he was diagnosed with the skin condition vitiligo. Rowe spent years treating the King of Pop, becoming a source of emotional support, a friend, and eventually a romantic partner. Rowe became pregnant in 1996 with Jackson’s first son, Michael Joseph Jr. (commonly referred to as Prince), and on the urging of Jackson’s mother, the couple married in Sydney on November 14, 1996 during the Australian leg of Jackson’s HIStory World Tour. The following year, Rowe gave birth to Jackson’s daughter, Paris-Michael Katherine. After their divorce in 1999, Rowe granted full custody of their children to the superstar. In 2002, Jackson had a third child, Prince Michael Jackson II (nicknamed “Blanket”), though the identity of his mother has never been revealed. Jackson said the child was the result of artificial insemination from a surrogate mother and his own sperm cells. Since Jackson’s untimely death this summer, the children’s faces are no longer shielded from the public, but Blanket’s mother is still unknown.
Mark J. Terrill / AP Photo; Michael A. Mariant / AP Photo
After German tennis champion Boris Becker lost as his last match at Wimbledon in 1999 he had a two-hour argument with his wife, Barbara, who was seven months pregnant with their second child. The argument ended when Barbara believed she was experiencing labor pains and left for the hospital with a friend. Becker left as well—to posh London eatery Nobu, where he had a drink and spotted Russian model Angela Ermakova for the second time. He wrote in his autobiography that he noticed Ermakova two weeks earlier when she glanced at him. After she walked by him twice, Becker followed her to the bathroom and the two took to the broom closet for their first and only sexual encounter. In February 2000, Becker received a fax from Ermakova, telling him their child was due the following month, but it wasn’t until after a DNA test the following year that Becker, who had since divorced his wife, acknowledged paternity of one-year-old Anna. Seven years later, Becker obtained joint custody of the child after expressing concerns over Ermakova’s parenting—allowing Anna to be free to appear on TV and in fashion shows.
Florian Seefried / Getty Images; Daniel Roland / AP Photo
Apple CEO Steve Jobs dated Chris-Ann Brennan throughout high school and began seeing her again after a chance meeting at Los Altos Zen Center a few years later. At the age of 23, Jobs reportedly impregnated Brennan, but denied paternity for two years, claiming in court he was sterile. Brennan gave birth to their daughter Lisa Nicole in 1978 and was forced to go on welfare to support her daughter. During that time, the Apple co-founder began pitching a new generation business machine, not coincidentally named LISA (Local Integrated Software Architecture). In 1980, Jobs—who was adopted as a child and discovered as an adult that he had a biological sister, novelist Mona Simpson—finally acknowledged Lisa as his daughter.
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