Morgan Freeman’s family

Morgan Freeman is a popular actor and producer, born on June 1, 1937, in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. Over his career of more than 50 years, he has worked in many different genres. He initially gained popularity for his work in TV, particularly for his role on the children's show The Electric Company (1971-1977). Freeman got his breakthrough role as Hoke Colburn in the film Driving Miss Daisy and also won a Golden Globe for his performance.

Freeman is best known for his work in films like Street Smart (1987), Driving Miss Daisy (1989), The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Se7en (1995), Million Dollar Baby (2004), The Dark Knight Trilogy (2005–2012), Now You See Me (2013), etc. He has won many major awards including an Academy Award, 2 Golden Globe Awards, and 2 Screen Actors Guild Awards. Apart from being a renowned actor, Freeman is also a father of 4. Let’s take a look at Morgan Freeman’s family.

Morgan Freeman’s parents

In June 1937, in Memphis, Tennessee, Morgan Freeman was born to Mayme Edna and Morgan Porterfield Freeman. His mother was a teacher and his father was a barber. According to Hello, from a young age, he lived with his maternal grandmother in Charleston, Mississippi, until she passed away when he was 6 years old. After that, he traveled a lot with his mother. They moved from Chicago to Nashville, Tennessee, and then to Greenwood, Mississippi, where they finally settled. His father passed away in 1961 due to cirrhosis and later his mother died in 2000.

Morgan Freeman’s partners

Morgan Freeman has been married twice in his life. He got married for the first time on October 22, 1967, to Jeanette Adair Bradshaw. Freeman already had two sons, Alfonso and Saifoulaye Freeman, from his previous relationships, and Bradshaw also had a daughter, Deena Adair. The couple also had a daughter named Morgana Freeman, born in 1971. After more than 10 years of marriage, the couple decided to get a divorce in 1979.

On June 16, 1984, Freeman got married to Myrna Colley-Lee. They met each other in an off-broadway theatre production in 1976. She was a costume designer who started working in the late 1960s and was considered one of the foremost costume designers in the Black Theatre Movement. After more than 20 years of marriage, the couple got separated in December 2007, and their divorce was finalized in September 2010.

Morgan Freeman’s children

Alfonso Freeman

Morgan Freeman’s first child, a son named Alfonso Freeman, was born in 1959. He grew up with his mother, Loletha Adkins, as Morgan was absent during his childhood. In an interview with Esquire in 2012, he left Alfonso’s mother when he got to know that she was pregnant. In an interview with USA Today, Alfonso Freeman shared that he wasn’t aware in his childhood that Morgan Freeman was his father and said, “I grew up watching The Electric Company and Easy Reader. I had no idea that was my dad."

He met his father when he was in his 20s and later followed in his father’s footsteps and became an actor. He played many minor roles in films from the 1980s to 1990s, including The Shawshank Redemption and Se7en. He has also acted in TV shows like West Wing, ER and Southland. He got married twice. His first wife was Cynthia Gafford. They were married for 7 years, from 1982 to 1989, and had 3 sons together: Alfonso II, Joshua, and Donovan. In 1994, he got married for the second time to Larcenia Letice.

Saifoulaye Freeman

Morgan Freeman’s second child, a son named Saifoulaye Freeman, was born in 1960. His mother’s identity is not known to the public. Unlike Freeman’s other children, there is not much information about him available on the internet, as he keeps his life low-key. He was not even present at the Screen Actors Guild Awards in 2018 when Freeman was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award when the rest of his family was there with him.

Deena Adair

Morgan Freeman and Deena Adair’s mother, Jeanette Adair Bradshaw, got married in 1967. It was Freeman’s first marriage. According to Esquire, Deena was 4 years old at the time of her mother’s wedding, and later Freeman legally adopted her. Deena became a hair and makeup artist in Hollywood and often worked for her father. She has worked in many films, including Bruce Almighty, Million Dollar Baby, The Dark Knight, and many more. She has been nominated for 2 Emmy Awards for her work as a hairstylist. She gave birth to a daughter named E'dena Hines in 1982 and she was raised by Freeman and his 2nd wife, Myrna Colley-Lee.

Morgana Freeman

Morgan Freeman's first wife Bradshaw gave birth to a daughter named Morgana in 1971. She has made many red-carpet appearances with her father over the years. According to Morgana’s LinkedIn, she graduated from Spelman College in Atlanta with a degree in economics. Later, she studied cosmetology and now owns 2 salons in Georgia. She is also an executive director of her father’s NGO, the Tallahatchie River Foundation. The foundation works to provide education to children in Mississippi.

E'dena Hines

E'dena Hines is the daughter of Freeman’s adopted daughter Deena Adair. Freeman and his 2nd wife Colley-Lee raised his granddaughter. In an interview with People in 1988, Colley-Lee shared, “His daughter Deena was having a hard time, so I asked for E'Dena to live with us. Morgan functions more like a grandfather, but he's happy I got this chance at parenting." E'dena Hines was born on March 4, 1982.

She studied acting at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts from 2008 to 2011. She started her acting career with minor roles in the TV show A Minority Report and the short film Cohab. She got her biggest role in the film Landing Up, but before it was released, she was brutally murdered by her boyfriend, Lamar Davenport, in 2015.

Also read about: Morgan Freeman's Movies