Entertainment

Joe Corrigan/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images
13 Celebrity Parents Who Make Co-Parenting Work

by Meg Kehoe

Raising children is like climbing a mountain. You can do it alone, but it's much easier if you have a partner along for the ride. Even if your parenting partner isn't your life partner, your husband, wife, or otherwise, having someone to help you raise your children certainly helps. Co-parenting, while not necessarily easy, puts children first. And although not every couple or ex-couple can make this work there are a few celebrity parents who make co-parenting work that'll leave you feeling inspired.

From couples who have split recently to those who have been separated for a decade or more, many celebrity couples have put aside their differences, bitterness, and baggage, to raise their children together. Co-parenting presents its own set of unique challenges, and A-listers are just as likely to encounter those issues as everyday people. But the one thing they all successful co-parents do, no matter their place on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, is put their children first. Because even though they couldn't make it work as a couple, they make some sort of relationship work for their kids. Admirable, isn't it? Here are a few of Hollywood's former hot couples who have found a way to be A-list co-parents.

1

Reese Witherspoon & Ryan Phillippe

Kevin Winter/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

During the course of their seven year marriage, Witherspoon and Phillippe had two children . They've remained in close contact for co-parenting since their split in 2007, and Witherspoon has been very vocal about that fact. "My ex-husband is very involved in raising our beautiful children," she told Parade in 2008.

2

Jennie Garth & Peter Facinelli

Handout/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Married for 11 years before they split in 2012, Facinelli told People in 2012 that, "co-parenting takes two great parents to put their differences aside and focus on the children."

3

Pete Wentz & Ashlee Simpson

Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Wentz and Simpon co-parent their son Bronx, which they found to be pretty easy. "I feel like we both realize that we're parents and we're in it for our kid," Wentz said in a 2013 on Watch What Happens Live. "That's made it really easy."

4

Demi Moore & Bruce Willis

Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Perhaps the best known co-parents in Hollywood, Moore and Willis seem to have it all figured out. Married for 13 years, the pair have since won an award for co-parenting according to NPR, and can often be found at events at a family.

5

Kate Hudson & Chris Robinson

Kevin Winter/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Hudson and Robinson split in 2007, but continue to co-parent their son, Ryder. "Being a single parent can be difficult, but I don't feel I am one,"Hudson told InStyle UK in 2009. "Chris and I are co-parenting."

6

J. Lo & Marc Anthony

Ethan Miller/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Though Lopez and Anthony split in 2011, the two maintain a friendship. According to Huffington Post, Lopez considers them a nontraditional family, and couldn't be happier about it. "We need to make sure that we are what they need us to be first," Lopez told Harpers Bazaar in 2013. "Our feelings and our struggles come second."

7

Kate Winslet & Sam Mendes

Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Winslet and Mendes split in 2010, and have been co-parenting their son Jack since. "We have a child together who we both love and raising him together, jointly and without any conflict, is absolutely key," Winslet told Harpers Bazaar UK in 2001. She also co-parents her daughter Mia from her first marriage to Jim Threapleton. Basically, Winslet's a co-parenting queen.

8

Halle Berry & Gabriel Aubry

Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Though their public and fairly nasty divorce in 2010, Babble noted that Berry and Aubry have put their disputes aside to raise daughter Nahla.

9

Angela Kinsey & Warren Lieberstein

Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Divorced since 2010, Kinsey and ex-husband Lieberstein remain good friends and have worked hare to create a happy environment for their daughter. "We may not be a traditional family on paper but we are a family and I tell her that families come in all shapes and sizes," Kinsey told the Huffington Post in 2013. "But [a family is] love and I see her really flourishing because she sees two people treating each other with respect.”

10

Tiger Woods & Elin Nordgren

KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images

Although things were pretty dramatic when their divorce occurred in 2010, Woods and Nordgren are now best friends. In 2015, Woods told Time that his ex is one of his best friends. "We’re able to pick up the phone, and we talk to each other all the time," he said. "We both know that the most important things in our lives are our kids. I wish I would have known that back then."

11

Heidi Klum & Seal

GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty Images

Though they split in 2012, both parents have since managed to make a friendship work for their children. As Klum told Entertainment Tonight in 2015, "co-parenting is very important and he is a great man."

12

Maria Shriver & Arnold Schwarzenegger

HECTOR MATA/AFP/Getty Images

After a 25 year marriage, Shriver filed for divorce in 2011. The following year, Schwarzenegger told Extra, "ee work together even though we're going through a divorce," adding that Maria "has been a terrific mother."

13

Courtney Cox & David Arquette

Kevin Winter/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Cox and Arquette called it quits after 11 years of marriage, but have vowed to stay friends and co-parent their daughter, Coco. "We remain best friends and responsible parents to our daughter and we still love each other deeply," the pair said in a statement to Us Magazine in 2013.