6 Stars Who Won’t Be Leaving Their Fortunes to Their Kids
6 Stars Who Won’t Be Leaving Their Fortunes to Their Kids
Joyann JeffreySun, May 31, 2026 at 11:30 AM UTC
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Anderson Cooper, Marie Osmond and Jeff Goldblum
Credit: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty for Warner Bros. Discovery; Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic; Image Press Agency/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
Not all celebrities plan to leave their riches to their kids.
In May 2026, Sting said during an appearance on CBS News Sunday Morningthat he believes creating a life for your kids where they don't have to work is "a form of abuse that I hope I'm never guilty of." Instead, he said he wants his six children — Joe, Fuschia, Mickey, Jake, Eliot and Giacomo — to make their own way in life.
"All of my kids have been blessed with this extraordinary work ethic, whether it's the DNA of it or whether I've said to them, 'Guys, you've got to work. I'm spending our money, I'm paying for your education. You've got shoes on your feet. Go to work,' " the singer, whose real name is Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, said.
Sting noted that his decision to help his kids be independent is "not cruel," rather, "there's a kindness there and a trust in them that they will make their own way."
Sting isn't the only celebrity who has spoken about not leaving his fortune to his children — Gordon Ramsay and Jeff Goldblum are two stars who have expressed the same.
Below, here are six celebrities who won't be leaving their fortune to their kids.
01 of 06
Gordon Ramsay
Gordon Ramsay attends the 2026 FOX Upfront
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Ramsay has spoken about giving his kids monthly allowances, but he and his wife, Tana Ramsay, don't plan on leaving their fortune to their six children.
“It’s definitely not going to them, and that’s not in a mean way; it’s to not spoil them,” he told The Telegraph in April 2017. “The only thing I’ve agreed with Tana is they get a 25% deposit on a flat, but not the whole flat."
“I’ve been super lucky, having that career for the last 15 years in the US," the celebrity chef continued. "Seriously, it has earned a fortune and I’ve been very lucky, so I respect everything I’ve got.”
02 of 06
Marie Osmond
Marie Osmond attends the 13th Annual Essence Black Women In Hollywood Awards Luncheon
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Marie Osmond's eight kids — Stephen Jr., Jessica, Rachel, Michael, Brandon, Brianna, Matthew and Abigail — shouldn't expect much from her will. In February 2020, the Paper Roses singer told her co-hosts on The Talk that she finds it a "disservice to hand" over her finances to her children.
“I’m not leaving any money to my children. Congratulations kids,“ she said. “My husband [Steve Craig] and I decided, I think you do a great disservice to your children to just hand them a fortune because you take away the one most important gift you can give your children and that’s the ability to work."
Osmond noted that she believes wealth can ruin a person's life, especially if they don't understand the value of a dollar.
“You see it a lot in rich families, where the kids, they don’t know what to do and so they get in trouble," she said. "Let them be proud of what they make and I’m going to give mine to my charity.”
03 of 06
Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis
Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis attend the 83rd annual Golden Globe Awards
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Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis have said they are leaving their fortune to charity and "various things," but not necessarily their two kids, Wyatt and Dimitri.
"I'm not setting up a trust for them," Kutcher said on a February 2018 episode of Dax Shepard's Armchair Expert podcast. "We'll end up giving our money away to charity and to various things."
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However, the actor said that he would give them money if they ever needed some funds to start a business.
"If my kids want to start a business, and they have a good business plan, I'll invest in it. But they're not getting trusts," he said. "Hopefully they'll be motivated to have what they had."
04 of 06
Jeff Goldblum
Jeff Goldblum arrives at the 2026 Vanity Fair Oscar Party
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Goldblum wants his two kids, Charlie and River, to support themselves.
During an April 2024 appearance on the Table for Two with Bruce Bozzi podcast, Goldblum said he wants his children to work for their riches.
"It's an important thing to teach kids. I'm not going to do it for you. And you're not going to want me to do it for you," he said.
"You've got to figure out how to find out what's wanted and needed and where that intersects with your love and passion and what you can do," the Wicked actor continued. "And even it if doesn't, you might have to do that anyway."
05 of 06
Kevin O'Leary
Kevin O'Leary attends the Pegasus World Cup 2026
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Shark Tank star Kevin O'Leary made a fortune when he sold his software company Softkey Products to Mattel for $4.2 billion in 1999, per Fortune. Though he made a lot of money from the sale, he says he won't be leaving all of his money to his two kids, Trevor and Savannah.
In a September 2021 interview with CNBC Make It, he said he only plans to take care of his children until they graduate from college — and then that's it.
“I sat down with the estate planners and built a generational skipping trust that provides for any child in my family from birth to the last day of college and then zero,” he said.
O'Leary said he decided to do this to not "curse" his kids.
“No free lunch, it’s just the wrong thing to do,” he said. “You curse a child when you de-risk their lives. But that doesn’t mean you can’t help them. And listen, if [my son] ever has a kid, that trust is going to take care of that child from birth to the last day of college."
06 of 06
Anderson Cooper
Anderson Cooper attends the Warner Bros. Discovery Upfront 2026
Credit: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty for Warner Bros. Discovery
Anderson Cooper wants his two sons, Wyatt and Sebastian, to be independent.
During a September 2021 episode of the Morning Meeting podcast, the journalist said he didn't plan on leaving an inheritance for his son Wyatt (Sebastian was born the following year).
"I'm not that interested in money, but I don't intend to have some sort of pot of gold for my son," Cooper said. "I'll go with what my parents said … 'College will be paid for, and then you gotta get on it.' "
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
