Celebs Who Raised Their Kids Without Nannies

Jenna Fischer's character on The Office, Pam Beesly Halpert, was a very relatable, working parent, but how does Fischer herself stack up? "It's so funny because I think there's the perception that every [famous] woman has a driver and a chef and a personal trainer and a nanny," the actress explained to People when her son, Weston Lee, was just 10 months old. Fischer clarified, "I don't have any of those things. Like other working moms, I'm trying to figure out how to balance it all."

Fischer added that people are sometimes "cynical" and assume she utilizes extra help. While she does have the means to do so, she admitted that she's "just trying to figure out how" to do everything on her own, and wants others to know that about her. Of course, even if she did decide to use a nanny, that's her prerogative. Though, it is great to see her achieving her goal of figuring it out this whole parenting thing on her own.

When Celine Dion gave birth to twin boys, Nelson and Eddy, she was committed to raising them without professional assistance. In an interview with the French magazine Gala (via Female First), she explained, "I didn't have these children to not take care of them, to give myself to them 200 – 300 per cent." Whether it's changing diapers or breastfeeding, she experienced "intense joy" raising her twins despite being very tired.

How did she manage caring for two newborns and then-9-year-old son René-Charles? "I take things day by day. That's the secret to me," she told the magazine. Although Dion was quite adamantly against having a child care provider, she did recognize the need for some occasional support from her mother, Therese, and her sister, Linda — at least when it came to keeping up with housework, preparing meals, and doing the shopping. As they say, it takes a village!

Just three months after Matthew McConaughey and Camila Alves had their third child, Livingston, Alves went back to work as a spokesmodel for I.N.C. apparel for Macy's. "It's hard to be back to work with such full force early on because your brain is not fully there. You have baby brain," she joked in an interview with People. Despite heading back to work after just a few months of maternity leave, Alves and McConaughey didn't secure a nanny. 

When asked how she establishes a work-life balance by Today's Parent, she admitted, "I don't really know how I do it yet. It's very challenging." She explained that she and her mother work together to take care of the children. "I don't have a bunch of different nannies that circle around," said Alves, "There's nothing wrong with a lot of nannies. I just like to be very hands-on."

Alves and her mother make the children's lunches each day, ready them for school, and do the pick-ups and drop-offs. The key to making it all work, she says, is to be organized. No doubt!

Jerry O'Connell and Rebecca Romijn are a great team — especially when it comes to taking care of their children, Dolly Rebecca Rose and Charlie Tamara Tulip. In an interview with Redbook Magazine, Romijn detailed how she and her husband run their household. "We're each other's assistants. We pick up each other's slack," she said, "Whoever is less busy helps the busier one." Fair enough! Balancing the needs of their children along with their careers is another area in which the couple excels — all without a full-time nanny. 

Ironically, Jerry O'Connell actually played a nanny — a hunky manny — on the show Mistresses. Perhaps his salacious role is why he's not too keen on hiring a manny for his own children. In an interview with Us Weekly, he admitted, "I wouldn't be comfortable with [hiring a manny]." He added, "I'm sorry if that's closed-minded of me." It doesn't much matter anyway, though, as the couple doesn't have a nanny — male or female.

Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes aren't just a power couple, but power parents as well. After their first daughter, Esmeralda, was born, Mendes told InStyle (via Hello! magazine), "I'm a very hands-on mom; I don't have a nanny. No matter how tired I am, I just do it."

As a new mother and face of Estée Lauder's anti-aging skin care line, it was certainly hard to hide the tiredness. When does she fit in her beauty regimen? "Well sometimes I do it at 4am," she told the magazine, "I'm no longer in control of my schedule, and I try to take advantage of the time when she's sleeping." 

Mendes has even had to skip out on award shows to stay home with her little ones. When Gosling accepted his Golden Globe award for best actor for his role in La La Land, he thanked his wife who was watching from home.

After Brad Paisley and Kimberly Williams-Paisley had their first child, William 'Huck' Huckleberry, one could assume the working couple would hire a nanny. That wasn't the case, however. Paisley explained to People that he never wants to lose touch with "working class, everyday people." That seems to include raising children. "I don't care how high and mighty you are: Change a diaper, man," he added. Instead of hiring a nanny, Paisley said they rely on one another, as well as their own mothers, to take care of little Huck.

That said, it's not an all hands on a deck situation. Paisley said the family "take turns" in caring for the couple's son, or, as he put it, "take turns in dealing with him." With the arrival of their second son, Jasper Warren, you can imagine even more help was needed to care for two young boys. Nevertheless, they seem to have remained nanny-less.

Although Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe are no longer married, they can both look back with fondness on how they raised their children together. "I imagine it would have been more difficult if we weren't as hands-on as we were or allowed them to be raised by nannies, I think then they would become spoilt," Phillippe admitted to Contact Music. Instead of hiring a nanny, Phillippe says he and Witherspoon cared for them on their own. "We have two incredible little people that we've raised," he gushed, "I'm proud of us for that fact."

Phillippe also told the publication that he, along with Witherspoon, are often floored by the compassion of their kids. There's no denying that these two celebrities did a really awesome job in raising good kids, and they also serve as a great example for exes who want to successfully co-parent after a divorce.