Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr.'s 2 Kids: All About Charlotte and Rocky

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Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr. welcomed a daughter in 2009 and a son in 2012

Jamie McCarthy/WireImage
Jamie McCarthy/WireImage

Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr. consider themselves "pretty strict" when it comes to parenting their two kids.

The Buffy the Vampire Slayer alum and She's All That actor share daughter Charlotte Grace, whom they welcomed in 2009, and son Rocky James, who arrived in 2012.

Gellar and Prinze Jr. first met on the set of 1997's cult-classic horror film, I Know What You Did Last Summer, before reconnecting romantically a few years later. After getting engaged in 2001, the Scooby-Doo costars said "I do" at a resort in Mexico in 2002.

At the time, Prinze Jr. already had eyes towards expanding their family, telling PEOPLE, "We will make great parents, because we had great role models who raised us." Both actors were raised by their mothers; Gellar was estranged from her father from a young age and Prinze Jr.'s dad died at age 22, just 10 months after the actor was born.

Reflecting on how his father's death impacted ​​his own relationship with his kids, Prinze Jr. later told PEOPLE, "I had kids and not having a dad, it was always more important to me to be a present father."

Gellar also believes in the power of being present, telling Parade in 2019: "I believe that wherever you are, at any given moment, you have to give 100% to that part of your life. If I'm with my kids, I need to be 100% present. My phone goes off and I'm in their activity."

To that point, Prinze Jr. and Gellar both made the decision to step back from acting when their kids were young to focus on raising their families.

Sarah Michelle Gellar Instagram
Sarah Michelle Gellar Instagram

For Gellar, spending time with her kids tops even her most once-in-a-lifetime experiences. "I've done some pretty amazing things. I've hosted Saturday Night Live. I've traveled the world," she told Parade. "But for me, all that pales in comparison to bedtime [with my kids]." Motherhood, she told the outlet, "offered a missing part of myself that I never knew I was missing."

The couple also admits that they're strict with their kids, making sure they pitch in with household chores like washing their own dishes, making their beds and cleaning their rooms. "They have to understand the value of working for stuff," Gellar shared on PEOPLE Now. "And so I don't believe in paying kids for chores, I feel like that's part of living in a house and you're responsible for keeping the house."

In July 2023, Prinze Jr. and Gellar took their kids on a vacation to Italy. The Wolf Pack star shared a few rare family photos on Instagram from the trip.

Here's everything to know about Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr.'s two kids, Charlotte and Rocky.

Charlotte Grace Prinze, 14

Phillip Faraone/Getty
Phillip Faraone/Getty

Six years after tying the knot, Gellar and Prinze Jr. became first-time parents when they welcomed their daughter, Charlotte Grace, on Sept. 19, 2009. "The family is over the moon," a rep for the actress confirmed to PEOPLE.

Opening up about why they waited until their 30s to start a family, Gellar explained, "Becoming a parent is the most selfless act, and you need to be at a point in your life where you can give up anything and everything for a child." She continued, "I don't know if you know how to do that when you're in your 20s."

Prinze Jr. shared similar sentiments, saying, "I'm so happy we didn't have kids in our 20s — I just didn't know a thing. You have so much more patience in your 30s, and I feel like I appreciate this so much more."

While the actors rarely post about their little ones on social media, they have shared a few glimpses and fun facts about their daughter over the years. Speaking to PEOPLE ahead of Thanksgiving in 2019, Prinze Jr. revealed that Charlotte takes after him in the kitchen.

"My daughter is very involved in the process," Prinze Jr, who went to culinary school, explained of Thanksgiving prep. "She makes a side dish, at least one, every year. My son just eats. It works out! But she really has a joy for it, a love for it, and she asks all the time — even if I don't want her help, she's helping."

Sarah Michelle Gellar Instagram
Sarah Michelle Gellar Instagram

Her mom has "won big mom points" for taking her to see some of the world's biggest pop stars in concert, from Katy Perry to Taylor Swift. Gellar posted a photo of a backstage meet-and-greet with Swift and Charlotte on Instagram in 2018, writing, "I don't often put pictures of my kids on here, but last night was truly special. Thank you to the incredible @taylorswift for being so kind to Charlotte. She was so in awe, she could barely speak. Thank you for being the kind of role model young girls need to see."

Charlotte made a rare public appearance with her mom in September 2022, hitting the red carpet in a hot pink blazer alongside Gellar for a special screening of the actress' Netflix movie, Do Revenge.

Just a few days after her glammed-up red carpet evening, Charlotte celebrated her 13th birthday. To mark her debut as a teenager, she asked her mom for a rather sophisticated soirée: "My daughter told me she wanted a cocktails and caviar spa party for her 13 birthday … so we had to make that happen," Gellar wrote on Instagram alongside scenes from the special self-care day, noting it was "mocktails for the kids and cocktails for the moms."

Charlotte has also expressed interest in following in her famous parents' footsteps. Gellar talked about her daughter's interest in acting with The Hollywood Reporter in January 2023.

"Does it scare the s--- out of me?" she mused. "Well, we have rules in place. She can't be in front of a camera until she graduates high school."

The actress admitted Charlotte wasn't thrilled with her mother's stance. "She says to me, 'That's unfair. You were a child actor,'" Gellar explained. "Yes, I was. But I was not the child of two famous parents."

While filming two recent projects, Wolf Pack and Do Revenge, Gellar's coworkers pushed her to let Charlotte make a cameo, but she stood firm.

"I'll never stop her from being on a set," she said of the decision. "But she's just not going on camera while she's living under our roof. There'll be different expectations for her, so she needs to learn everything there is first."

Rocky James Prinze, 11

Sarah Michelle Gellar Instagram
Sarah Michelle Gellar Instagram

The couple expanded their family three years and one day later, welcoming son Rocky James on Sept. 20, 2012.

"They are thrilled that Charlotte [has] a little brother," a source close to the couple told PEOPLE of the new arrival.

True to his name, Rocky took up boxing at a young age, with Gellar proudly posting photos of him gloved-up at the punching bag in 2016. "The #Olympics don't end in our house today, we are hard at work preparing for pajama boxing 2028 #futureolympian," she playfully captioned a shot of her then-3-year-old boxing in a onesie.

While Gellar rarely discusses Rocky publicly, she did reveal to Today in October 2020 that her son had been diagnosed with myopia, or nearsightedness.

"I really chalked it up to screen fatigue because my kids didn't have a lot of access to devices (before the coronavirus quarantine,)" she told the outlet of first noticing his frequent blinking while staring at a screen. An eye doctor confirmed that it was "progressing extremely rapidly" and set Rocky up with contacts. Gellar also shared that he is left-handed, lamenting, "the world is not set up for left-handed people."

Sarah Michelle Gellar Instagram
Sarah Michelle Gellar Instagram

The proud mom shared a sweet tribute to her son on his 7th birthday, reflecting on how he changed her life. "And just when I thought it wasn't possible to love another human the way I loved my daughter, seven years ago today, my son was born, and I learned that was not the case," she wrote. "Rocky on the day you were born, I swear my heart tripled in size. Your laugh is the only medicine I will ever need, and your excitement for life is my motivation."

Rocky might be growing quickly, but Gellar and Prinze Jr. are doing their best to protect him and his sister from life in the spotlight.

"Our rules are probably stricter than most. Our kids don't have social media," Gellar said in an October 2022 interview. "They're allowed to look sometimes when it's our phones."

She added, "Sometimes, our kids will be like 'you guys are the strictest household!' But I say, 'yes, but everyone still wants to come here!' "

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