Celebrity Parents Whose Kids Are Autistic
About 1 in 68 children in the United States has autism spectrum disorder and a child can be diagnosed with it, irrespective of social or economic status, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Several celebrities' kids also have been diagnosed with autism and they have shared their experiences about raising such kids.
Last year in March, Hollywood actor Robert De Niro revealed that his son Elliot has autism. “Grace and I have a child with autism and we believe it is critical that all of the issues surrounding the causes of autism be openly discussed and examined,” he said in a statement amid a controversy around the planned screening of the anti-vaccination documentary film "Vaxxed" at the Tribeca Film Festival. Although De Niro has always been reserved about his private life, he has given hints in the past about raising a child with special needs, according to People.
Read: Here are 11 Most Inspirational Quotes About Autism
The "Rocky" and "Rambo" star, Sylvester Stallone, has a son who is autistic. Seargeoh, who was born in 1979, was diagnosed with autism at the age of 3. In an interview from the early 1980s, Stallone said, "You can’t force him into your world. I sort of go along with whatever he is doing."
Actress and singer Tisha Campbell-Martin has a teenaged son, Xen, who was diagnosed with autism as an infant. Since then, Campbell-Martin and husband Duane Martin have dedicated their lives to helping raise awareness and tolerance about the disorder. In 2013, while giving an interview with Essence, she described her son's status: "Xen says that he’s not autistic anymore. This is my baby’s reality. Just so I can give you a perspective, Xen was non-verbal; he would flap his arms and rock back and forth. He’s never been in a special needs class because I wanted him to model after typical kids and now he’s a typical kid."
Tommy Hilfiger, the world-renowned American fashion designer, had revealed in 2012 that both his teenage daughter and stepson were affected by autism. He was told his daughter was "developmentally delayed" when she was 5 years old. Since then, Hilfiger has strongly campaigned for the disorder to raise awareness and funds for it, according to Daily Mail.
The "Unbreak my heart" singer Toni Braxton had opened up about her son Diezel, born in 2003, being diagnosed with autism in 2006. Initially, she believed that her son's autism was god's way of punishing her for going for abortion in 2001. She later said, "When my youngest son was diagnosed with autism I feared that I was being punished for my earlier actions. I have since realized that my son is special and learns in a different way," according to TWCC.
Actor John Travolta and wife Kelly Preston had a son, Jett, who was diagnosed with autism. In 2009, the couple lost their son. “[Jett] was autistic. He had seizures and when he was very young, he had Kawasaki Syndrome,” Preston said in a talk show in 2012. Jett died after he hit his head in a bathtub during a seizure, according to Huffington Post.
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