Teri Hatcher's Daughter Has Grown Up To Be Gorgeous
In the early '90s, Teri Hatcher starred as the iconic Lois Lane in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. Although fans rooted for romance between her character and Clark Kent, played by Dean Cain, Hatcher had a love interest off screen: actor Jon Tenney. In 1994, she and Tenney married, and, a few years later, they welcomed a child, daughter Emerson.
By 2003, though, the couple filed for divorce and agreed on joint custody of their then-5-year-old daughter. Hatcher wrote in her memoir that she'd decided to move from New York to Los Angeles around that time, as she felt she'd have an easier time finding work. And she was right. Not long after the couple's divorce, Hatcher secured a role as Susan Mayer in the hit dark comedy-drama Desperate Housewives. Hatcher wrote, "The idea was that Jon would find a place nearby (which he soon did) so Emerson wouldn't be traumatized." Despite their busy schedules, both parents remained committed to co-parenting their child in L.A.
It's hard to believe that little girl is already all grown up, but it's true. In 2018, Emerson celebrated her 21st birthday. Here's what else you should know about her.
Welcome to the world, Emerson
Before becoming a Bond girl, and even before starring as Lois Lane, Hatcher was married to a man named Markus Leithold. The two did not have children and, according to Metro, they divorced just about a year after getting married. It wasn't until Hatcher's second marriage to Tenney that she would become a mom. In November 1997, E! News announced the birth of the couple's first child, a baby girl, Emerson Rose Tenney. Hatcher and Jon Tenney didn't have any more children — together or apart — so Emerson is and has always been an only child.
Although Hatcher and Tenney divorced when Emerson was young, the actress kindly reflected on her ex-husband in her 2006 book Burnt Toast: And Other Philosophies of Life. "I married a kind man who is a good father, and I am grateful for the hard-won peace we've now found," she wrote. Hatcher further revealed that sometimes she felt like she had "figured out how to be a happy, successful, single mom." However, there were other times when she felt she still had "a long way to go." Many single parents can likely relate.
She's why Teri Hatcher spoke publicly about this
The American Pregnancy Association says "the exact date of conception is almost never known." Almost. In her memoir (via Vanity Fair), Teri Hatcher said she knows for sure when she became pregnant with her daughter. "I know exactly when Emerson was conceived, because we had sex once that year, on Valentine's Day," she wrote. According to Hatcher, the couple wasn't intimate for much of their nine-year marriage, including their honeymoon. "From the beginning, our marriage was probably more defined by friendship," she divulged.
Hatcher didn't provide further explanation until after her book was released, when she opened up to Vanity Fair and, later, Oprah Winfrey. Tragically, the star revealed that she had been molested by a relative when she was a child. In a transcript of her interview with Winfrey, the host said she could see how the couple's lack of intimacy was "connected to the abuse."
Hatcher eventually went to the police and bravely testified against her abuser, who had allegedly been abusing other girls. Chuck Gillingham, the prosecutor in the case against Hatcher's uncle, told Vanity Fair she did so for her daughter. If that had happened to Emerson, he said she would've wanted "someone to come forward and do the right thing."
Her grandparents moved to be closer to her
When Hatcher and Tenney relocated from New York to California, they shared custody, yes, but both were single parents. Although they had both decided to move, they weren't going to be sharing a residence. Hatcher's parents were already living in California in the Sunnyvale area, which is where Hatcher herself grew up. In order to be closer to their young granddaughter, they decided to pack up their things and head to Laguna, a town south of Hatcher's home in Los Angeles.
Before her parents made the move from Sunnyvale to Laguna, Hatcher and her young daughter Emerson came over to help them pare down their belongings. "They were having a garage sale, and I went up to help them pack," Hatcher said to Vanity Fair. "It was a beautiful day, and we had made chocolate-chip cookies, and Emerson had a lemonade stand."
She was raised by a busy but present mom
Emerson's mom couldn't exactly take it easy after they moved to California. Once Hatcher was cast in Desperate Housewives, ten months out of every year — for eight years — were dedicated to being on set and shooting for the show. Hatcher also worked on her memoir during her hectic filming schedule. She was certainly busy, but she was also dedicated to her role as a mom.
According to her interview with Vanity Fair, the star would wake up every morning at 5:45 a.m. to whip up some oatmeal and an omelet for her then-8-year-old daughter. Hatcher also packed her daughter's lunch every day. Oh, and it wasn't your standard peanut butter and jelly sandwich. No, it was more like pasta tossed in olive oil and truffle salt — truffle salt!
Hatcher also spent an hour and a half driving her daughter to and from her progressive school each and every day and then she took horseback riding alongside her daughter in the afternoons. Emerson's mom may have been one of Hollywood's elite, but she was all about DIY parenting.
She learned about death early on
After Hatcher received a phone call from a veterinarian letting her know their dog had passed away, the actress didn't know what to do. At first, she pretended all was well and dropped young Emerson off at school as if it were any other day. She consulted her friends, her therapist, and even Emerson's pediatrician about how to handle the situation. While their opinions varied, Hatcher ultimately decided to be honest.
She picked Emerson up from school, took her to the park, and told her their beloved Bluto had died. In her memoir, Hatcher revealed that she brought her daughter to the vet, where Emerson then said a tearful goodbye to her pet before she and her mom bought a tombstone and buried him. Although she was unsure at the time, Hatcher thinks she made the right decision. She and Emerson learned that they "could survive it." She continued, writing, "That's kind of how it went with the divorce. We stayed in the feelings and didn't force them to heal any faster than they could."
She was a paparazzo for a day
Although Emerson received a progressive education — and even attended a school that required cloth napkins as opposed to paper — her upbringing was surprisingly normal. Well, as normal as it could be for being Teri Hatcher's daughter. The paparazzi often hounded the mother-daughter duo, according to Hatcher (via People). Although they often only captured the two running pretty mundane errands — like going on a Starbucks run on a Saturday morning — they apparently kept at it.
When Emerson was 9 years old, Hatcher was brought on as a guest editor for Glamour and figured she'd let her daughter photograph the paparazzi for an article she was writing. The star said it wasn't done to be "nasty," but, after getting hounded at the ATM machine, she handed her daughter the camera. That's when Emerson began walking "towards the cars and started shooting them," the actress revealed (via People). "Since this article came out, they have really laid off and I [don't know] if it's because of that or I'm just suddenly not hot anymore, but what was important about it was it was really empowering to her."
Her mom was determined not to raise a brat
Instilling "compassion and generosity" in her daughter was of the utmost importance, Hatcher told People. While that sounds easy enough, Emerson's upbringing wasn't exactly traditional. She's the daughter of two celebrities, after all. Still, it seems Hatcher made sure her daughter's childhood wasn't over the top. The actress also took extra steps to keep Emerson grounded. "I think when you have fortune, one of the most important things to do as a parent is to not raise a brat," she shared with the publication.
That's not to say Hatcher completely kept Emerson out of the spotlight. In 2007, the mother-daughter pair made an appearance on The Rachael Ray Show and cooked up their favorite Thanksgiving recipe together. Emerson may have been a kid at the time, but she chopped up pears and mixed together stuffing like she'd been doing it her whole life, which maybe she had. When Emerson was a young teenager, Hatcher also brought her daughter to events like The Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides premiere in Disneyland. Hatcher didn't keep Emerson hidden, but Hollywood events weren't exactly a daily occurrence either.
She did charity work as a teenager
Teenagers aren't generally thought of as a selfless group. In fact, they're pretty infamous for being self-centered and, according to researchers, they're actually "hard-wired" to be that way. Now you know. Emerson Tenney, however, was an exception. Soon after her 17th birthday, Emerson, with her mom, began scouting out colleges. Emerson recognized that attending college was a privilege not afforded to all and she knew she wanted to provide resources to underprivileged students so they too might earn a degree.
"The older she gets, now things are beginning to come more and more from her," Hatcher told People at the time. "This idea of wanting to really help education locally in our community really came from her." And so, while Emerson was busy applying for colleges, she was also working hard to help others do the same. At just 17, she started raising money for the charity Fulfillment Fund by writing a blog, Reachandsafe.com, bringing awareness to the cause. Hatcher certainly did as she set out to do: instilling "compassion and generosity" in her daughter.
She's gone on plenty of adventures with her mom
Emerson has been able to go on some pretty incredible trips with her mom. From camping trips in what Hatcher described as her "olive green '78 Volkswagen minibus" complete with its "Scooby-Doo curtains" to even a Croatian cruise, the mother-daughter duo have enjoyed traveling anywhere and everywhere together.
On her now-deleted blog, Emerson revealed more details about the vacations spent with her mom. "I have memories of kissing a giraffe with a 21 inch tongue in Africa, to swimming with 8 Minke whales off the Great Barrier reef." After graduating high school, Emerson and her mom, along with Emerson's best friend Claire and her mother, Christina, traveled 3,000 miles to explore colleges all over the United States. "This may be the last big mother daughter trip we take for a while, but it's not sad, it too is just another rite of passage on the road to adulthood," she wrote.
She's still close with her dad
Emerson has gone on plenty of adventures with her mom, but that doesn't mean her dad isn't in the picture. In a since-deleted blog post, Emerson revealed, "I'm from a divorced family, so summertime has always meant spending 21 vacation days with each parent." While those three weeks with her mom were often spent traveling, her time with her dad was likely a little more low-key.
In 2016, Jon Tenney shared a photo of Emerson and himself. "My daughter's first vote! So proud! Have you done your civic duty?" he captioned the picture. In 2017, Emerson posted a photo to Instagram of her and her dad sitting with a box of half-eaten donuts. "Today, there was no line at PVDonuts ... A true family weekend miracle," she wrote. While going out for donuts is not exactly the same as an African safari, Emerson seems to enjoy the time she gets to spend with both of her parents.
She was a student at Brown University
After traveling the country in search of her ideal college, Emerson applied and was accepted to Brown University as a literary arts major. This was no easy feat, considering less than ten percent of applicants are invited to attend an Ivy League school. Emerson certainly made a good decision by choosing Brown.
According to Thebestschools.org, Brown University is, well, one of the best schools one can attend for creative writing. The university claims that the literary arts program, which was started in the 1960s by poet Edwin Honig, "has been a creative and intellectual center for the U.S. literary avant-garde." The university's website further reads, "Along with a handful of other writing programs nationwide, Brown provides a home for innovative writers of fiction, poetry, digital language arts, and mixed media."
In 2017, Emerson revealed that she was busy studying for her midterms, and they must've went well. In September 2018, Hatcher revealed in an interview on the British show Loose Women that her daughter had recently begun her second year at Brown. By May 2020, Emerson had graduated from Brown, as she shared on Instagram.
She probably won't pursue a career in Hollywood
Emerson has two acting credits to her name. She was the voice behind Magic Dragonfly in 2009's Coraline and provided some voiceovers for the 2013 film Planes. Despite both of her parents being actors and Emerson having already secured a foot in the door, she's not exactly working toward a career in show business. If her major didn't give it away, Emerson is an aspiring writer. And, as it turns out, she's already started her writing career.
In spring 2018, Emerson's poem Walks was published on The College Hill Independent website. Later that same year, her essay Baked: Because Bread is Fundamental was published on the site. Emerson also writes for Spoon University. In her bio on the site, she confirmed that she writes poetry as well as creative nonfiction at Brown University. In 2019, the young writer also contributed to Gucci's Irregular Report about gender fluidity in the Generation Z demographic. We have a feeling she's going places!
She ran the New York City Marathon in 2018
On Nov. 4, 2018, Teri Hatcher and her daughter took to the streets of New York City to run their very first marathon together — and all to benefit the Save the Children foundation. Ahead of their 26.2-mile race, People caught up with the then-20-year-old.
"As incredible of a physical achievement as a marathon is, that has never been my main motivation," Emerson told the publication. "I want to run the NYC marathon because I want to run it with my mom." Aw. She continued, "I'm grateful that as I get older, we can share so many experiences together, and I'm lucky that my mom is such a bada** that she's able to inspire me and push me to try things outside of my comfort zone." Emerson added that the run will be about "celebrating mother-daughter relationships." Umm, best mom-daughter duo ever? Sounds like it.
She continues to have a great relationship with her mom
Teri Hatcher and her daughter, Emerson Tenney, didn't just show up in New York City and run a marathon together. They actually trained side by side. Hatcher divulged to People that she and Emerson were trained by Luke Milton, the founder of TrainingMate. "It basically involves a couple of shorter, medium-length runs a week and one longer run and then some strength training on other days," Hatcher explained. Although the actress admitted that she doesn't really enjoy running, she was excited to run the marathon with her daughter.
"We have a really close great relationship, but I think that she would say, and I agree with this, that this is different than just going on a trip or spending time together," she said, adding that "it's just a bonding thing that you can't really replace or have from any other experience." Even after the marathon was over, this awesome mother-daughter pair continues to work out together when their busy schedules allow.