In 2007, a woman named Kali Bowyer sued Chris Rock for child support, claiming the comedian had fathered her 13-year-old son. The case put Rock in the position of having to address a child whose paternity had apparently gone unquestioned for over a decade. A DNA test concluded that he was not the boy's biological father, bringing the lawsuit to an end. | © Netflix Is A Joke / YouTube
In 2006, a 29-year-old Australian woman named Carmel Sloane publicly claimed that Mel Gibson was her father. Several outlets reported at the time that a paternity test was in the works to address the claim. Whether the test ever actually happened was never confirmed, leaving this one as one of the murkier paternity stories to surface around a major star. | © Global Film
Michael Lohan, best known as the father of actress Lindsay Lohan, took a paternity test to determine whether he was the father of Ashley Kaufmann. The DNA test confirmed that he was, adding another child to a family history that had already seen its share of public drama. For a figure whose personal life had long played out in the tabloids, the confirmation was just one more chapter in a very public story. | © Entertainment Tonight / YouTube
In 2019, amid a long and very public estrangement from his son Marquise Jackson, 50 Cent made the startling comment that a blood test had shown the two weren't related. The claim was difficult to take at face value, given that their father-son relationship had been well documented for years and the remark landed in the middle of an ongoing feud. It was never substantiated, and most read it as a pointed jab in a bitter falling-out rather than a literal statement of fact. | © FLAGRANT / YouTube
In 2003, a dancer named Elizabeth Leyva filed a paternity suit against Marc Anthony, putting the singer at the center of a public legal dispute. The matter went through more than one round of DNA testing before reaching a conclusion. The results confirmed that Anthony was not the father, clearing him of the claim after multiple tests had weighed in. | © Marc Anthony / YouTube
A man named Rymir Satterthwaite has claimed for years that Jay-Z is his biological father, pursuing the matter through repeated legal efforts. In 2023, he filed a fresh court order seeking to compel the rapper to take a DNA test. Unlike most entries on this list, this one never reached a clean resolution, with the case stalling out before any definitive test settled the question one way or the other. | © GQ / YouTube
A woman named Keiotia Watson spent years maintaining that Lil Wayne was the father of her son, a claim that eventually made its way through the courts. The paternity test results came back in 2018 and were negative, confirming the rapper was not the father of the teenager at the center of the case. The timeline meant the question had hung around for the better part of Dwayne Brown's childhood before science finally provided a definitive answer. | © Lil Wayne / YouTube
Model Janice Dickinson long believed, and convinced Sylvester Stallone, that her daughter was his, and for years the assumption went unchallenged. A DNA test eventually entered the picture and proved that Stallone wasn't the father after all. The revelation rewrote a piece of personal history that both parties had simply taken as fact for a considerable stretch of time. | © Netflix
In 2011, a woman named Mariah Yeater claimed that a then-teenage Justin Bieber had fathered her three-month-old son. The allegation made plenty of headlines given how famous Bieber already was at the time, but it didn't hold up under scrutiny. A DNA test proved he wasn't the father, and the claim quickly fell apart along with the lawsuit attached to it. | © Justin Bieber / YouTube
In 2003, a woman named Karla Knafel sued Michael Jordan for $5 million in a case tangled up with claims about a child. A DNA test ultimately confirmed that Jordan had not fathered the child, which undercut a key part of her case. The judge denied her the money she was seeking, bringing the legal fight to a close in Jordan's favor. | © NBC News
When Sophie Brussaux gave birth to Adonis in 2017, Drake wasn't initially convinced the child was his and wasn't shy about saying so. It reportedly took not one but two DNA tests before he accepted the results confirming he was the biological father. He eventually came around fully, publicly embracing fatherhood and even featuring Adonis on his album artwork, a long way from his early doubts. | © Drake / YouTube
In June 2023, an 83-year-old Al Pacino was reportedly stunned to learn that his girlfriend Noor Alfallah was pregnant, enough so that he asked for a DNA test before accepting the news. The results came back positive, confirming he was the father of their son. Becoming a dad again in his eighties made for one of the more attention-grabbing celebrity baby stories of the year, paternity test and all. | © Paramount Pictures
Eddie Murphy took a paternity test in 2007 to settle questions over whether he was the father of former Spice Girl Melanie Brown's child. The results confirmed that he was indeed the father of her daughter, Angel Iris Murphy Brown. The middle names made the outcome fairly clear even before the science weighed in, and the test simply made official what the naming had already suggested. | © Paramount Pictures
After Kylie Jenner gave birth to daughter Stormi in February 2018, she named Travis Scott as the father, though that didn't stop speculation about her previous relationship with Tyga. Reports at the time suggested Tyga wanted a paternity test to rule out any possibility the child was his. The test confirmed he wasn't the father, putting an end to the rumors and leaving Scott's role as Stormi's dad uncontested. | © Apple Music / YouTube
A Canadian woman named Karen Sala took Keanu Reeves to court, claiming he had fathered her four adult sons, seeking a frankly staggering amount in retroactive support. The figures involved were eye-watering, with demands of millions per month in spousal support and six figures monthly in child support stretching back years. A DNA test settled the matter cleanly by proving Reeves wasn't the father, bringing one of the more outlandish paternity claims in recent memory to a quiet end. | © Paramount Pictures
Fame, money, and public attention have a way of attracting paternity claims, and plenty of celebrities have ended up settling the question the only way that really counts. These 15 stars took DNA tests for reasons ranging from genuine doubt to outlandish lawsuits, with results that confirmed, denied, or occasionally surprised everyone involved.
