Inside Michelle Pfeiffer's Private World as a Mom and New Grandma

Each in their 30s at the time, "We were both adults," Pfeiffer, who was previously married to Peter Horton, continued. "It’s not like we were kids anymore, and we were both at the age where we were ready to start a family. So we both got to see each other as parents before we progressed in our relationship together, and in a strange way, it took the pressure off us, as a couple. We had something else to focus on. It was sort of perfectly timed."

They grew their family by welcoming son John Henry in August 1994.

"I love these two rascals," Pfeiffer reflected in a 2021 Instagram post. "From the moment they were born they gave me and continue to give my life a depth of meaning beyond measure. 18 months apart. Best friends. Inseparable."

Already a Hollywood icon with three Oscar nominations for Dangerous Liaisons, The Fabulous Baker Boys and Love Field and box-office hits like Batman Returns, Pfeiffer often brought her children to set. Still, she tried to keep her work and family lives separate—to the point that her kids didn’t initially grasp her level of fame.

"They’re not that interested in my movies," the One Fine Day star told The New Yorker in 2021. "I actually went overboard in separating the kids from my work, so much so that they found out through their friends how famous I was."

Realizing, "the world knew more about my work" than her kids, Pfeiffer added, she decided to introduce them to one of her films.

"They were maybe 6 or 7 years old," she continued. "So I showed them something that I felt like, 'OK, they can watch this.' Maybe it was Grease 2. I don’t know what it was, but they watched about a quarter of it, and then they wandered off."

After a while, Pfeiffer and Kelley decided to wander away from Los Angeles and relocate their family to Northern California—with her stepping away from making movies for almost five years around the early to mid-aughts.

"Look, it’s challenging no matter where you raise kids," the 68-year-old shared on The Skinny Confidential in 2023. "I didn’t set out to stop working. It wasn’t my plan, but I became so difficult in terms of my prerequisites in terms of, 'Well, where does it shoot? How long does it shoot? What time of year does it shoot? Can I bring the kids? Is it during the school year?' It was just too difficult to hire me honestly, and I was OK with that."

In fact, Pfeiffer noted it was her children who encouraged her to return to acting.

"'Mom, are you ever going to go back to work?'" she remembered them asking. “I said, 'What do you mean? Isn’t it great that I’m home?' And they’re like, ‘Well, you know.' And they actually love to travel because they grew up traveling."

Over the years, Claudia and John made a few red carpet appearances at their parents’ events, including at the premieres of Pfeiffer’s 2007 movies Hairspray and Stardust, her Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony that year, the 2010 Oscars, 2011 Golden Globes and 2012 Dark Shadows screening. However, the children have since grown up to live more privately.

"You do feel empty when they leave," Pfeiffer admitted on The Drew Barrymore Show in December. "It doesn’t last. I mean, you miss them terribly. It’s like an appendage is gone….You do recover."

And in 2024, Pfeiffer took on a new role.

"I’ve been very quiet about it," the former Catwoman noted on the SmartLess podcast in 2025 about becoming a grandma when daughter Claudia welcomed a baby girl the year before. "It’s heaven. It’s ridiculous."

In fact, it's inspired Pfeiffer, who runs fragrance company Henry Rose (a combo of her kids' middle names) in addition to acting and producing, to take another break.

Because while she’s grateful for all the opportunities, "little did I know that my daughter was planning on getting pregnant, which she did successfully, and lo and behold here I am working a lot,” she told Fox News Digital in November. "So I think I’m going to have probably the most of next year off, which I’m really looking forward to."

"Look, it’s an embarrassment of riches, honestly. It’s like, 'Wah!'" Pfeiffer continued. “I’m just really wanting my choices and the way I spend my time—whatever time I have left, to spend it meaningful is what I’m really focusing on.”

But first she'll focus on the Emmys Sept. 14 along with these other nominees.