Who are Jean Smart's 2 kids? Everything you need to know
“Hacks” star Jean Smart and her late husband, Richard Gilliland, were married 30 years and share sons Connor and Forrest.
Smart, 72, and Gilliland welcomed Connor in 1989. Then, in May 2009, the couple adopted a baby from China. Forrest, formerly known as Bonnie, identifies as male.
It took some convincing to get Gilliland on board with having a second child. Smart has said he had some concerns about their ages.
“Well, I did have to twist my husband’s arm a bit,” Smart told Glamour, adding that Gilliland “kept saying, ‘Oh, I think we’re too old.”
But Gilliland quickly came around.
“The second this baby was handed to us, we were just so besotted,” Smart recalled while speaking to Glamour.
The "Mare of Easttown" actor went on to note that there are some important things to think about before expanding a family later in life.
"My youngest is just an amazing person, but certainly there are considerations. I mean, he lost his dad when he was 12,” Smart said while speaking to Glamour. “How do you take away that pain? That’s a trauma that people need to think of and be mindful of.”
Gilliland died unexpectedly in 2021 of a heart condition at age 71. The actor had a recurring role on ‘80s sitcom “Designing Women,” which is where he met his wife.
After losing Gilliland, Smart said she began to take her own health more seriously, and in 2023, she underwent a heart procedure.
“If I hadn’t been in the position of being a single mom, I’m not sure I would have pursued (medical attention) as quickly as I did,” she told People. “I wasn’t feeling right after working on some scenes in the show ('Hacks') and I just thought, ‘Oh, don’t be stupid. Make an appointment with your doctor.”
“I’m the one running the show now, completely on my own, and if something happens to me, what happens to my kids?” She added.
Read on to learn more about Connor and Forrest
Connor, 34
The eldest son of Smart and Gilliland lives his life outside of the public eye and is not on social media.
In 2023, Smart told People that Connor and Forrest “take very good care of me.”
“My oldest son lives with us right now. He’s been helping me a lot since we lost his dad, and so it’s been very nice to have him around. Smart said. “I don’t know how single working mothers do it. I really truly don’t!”
When Smart adopted Forrest from China in 2009, Connor was already 20. During a 2020 appearance on "The Bonnie Hunt Show," Smart joked that Connor was "more excited about the trip than the baby." That all changed when he met Forrest.
“(Connor said]) ‘This is incredible….I didn’t know I was going to feel this way... Smart recalled.
Forrest, 15
Forrest appears to be following in his parents' footsteps. In a New York Times profile published in May, Smart shared that Forrest was in rehearsals for his high school’s production of “The Pirates of Penzance.”
In 2021, while accepting the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress for her role in “Hacks,” Smart thanked Connor and Forrest.
During the speech, she called them “my two wonderful and unselfish children… who are both very courageous in their own right.”
Smart told Glamour that "kids keep you young, absolutely."
"But then you end up embarrassing them because you do things because you're feeling young and they're going, 'Don't do that. You're old. Stop it. It's embarrassing!"
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
