Lucy Liu is beloved for the mix of grace and strength she brought to movies like Charlie’s Angels and Kill Bill and shows like Ally McBeal and Elementary, and as one of the few Asian-American stars in the spotlight in the ’90s and ’00s, she’s a true Hollywood trailblazer. Liu is also something of a trailblazer in her personal life, as she made the unconventional choice not to marry and instead become a single mom via surrogate.
Here’s a look at Liu’s love life and her decision to choose motherhood in her 40s.
Lucy Liu’s relationship philosophy: ‘I do what I want according to how I feel’
In 2004, Liu was engaged to director and playwright Zach Helm, and she starred in his play Good Canary. They broke up later that year, and she then dated actor and screenwriter Will McCormack. Liu was also rumored to be dating George Clooney during his bachelor phase in the aughts. In 2014, she dated billionaire businessman Noam Gottesman.
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Since then, Liu has kept her personal life private, and when asked why she never married in 2021, she gave a spot-on response, saying, “I do what I want according to how I feel. I don’t have to fall into a social norm of ‘now you’re going to get married.’ No! Not because I’m rebelling against it. When it’s right, it’s going to be right. But I’m not going to do it for the sake of doing it. Marriage is not on my bucket list. I don’t have a bucket list.”
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Lucy Liu’s unique path to motherhood
In 2015, at age 46, Liu welcomed her son, Rockwell, who was born by a surrogate. When it came to choosing single motherhood, she said, “I didn’t have a plan. I just thought, ‘I want to change the conversation a little bit.’”
Liu was determined to raise her son in New York, and she chose not to read parenting books or stress over the decision to become a mom in her 40s, saying, “I didn’t mull it over too much. I didn’t do a lot of research, I just pulled the trigger. I can think myself out of something easily; if I think too much I won’t do it. It’s better for me to feel something and just go for it.”
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Liu doesn’t see single motherhood as a challenge. In fact, she said, “I think maybe it’s easier in some ways if you’re a single mom. You don’t have to deal with someone else’s opinion. And honestly, the other parent can be a toddler more than the child.”
Liu has also shared some moving words about her son, saying, “Having him know that this is home, and I’m home, is really a nice feeling,” and sharing an Instagram post with the caption, “My son opens my eyes to the beauty of being present every day—nature in its purest form.”
As for why she chose to have her son delivered by a surrogate, Liu said, “It just seemed like the right option for me because I was working and I didn’t know when I was going to be able to stop. I decided that was probably the best solution for me, and it turned out to be great.”
Liu has called motherhood “a magical experience,” and the actress is living proof that such magic doesn’t have to follow the typical template.
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