Meet Hollywood's strictest parents - including Victoria Beckham's insistence on 'impeccable manners'

Despite being somewhat of a rebel herself with her boundary-pushing music career, Madonna is one of the strictest mothers in Hollywood. According to the 'Like A Prayer' singer, she is just as hard on her eldest daughter, Lourdes, as any parent would be. 

"No boys for Lourdes until she's 18 years old," Madonna shared in 2007, as per WENN. "She doesn't have it easy. Late-night TV, junk food and mess are not tolerated in my house." The star added: "My daughter has a problem picking things up in her room. So if you leave your clothes on the floor, they're gone when you come home."

Lourdes spoke to Interview magazine about how in her mother's effort to raise her children with humility, she sometimes came down hard. "Obviously, I grew up with extreme privilege. There's no denying that. But I think my mum saw all these other kids of famous people, and she was like, 'My kids are not going to be like this,'" the 28-year-old said. 

"Also, I feel like if your parents pay for things, then it gives them leverage over you. My mum is such a control freak, and she has controlled me my whole life. I needed to be completely independent from her as soon as I graduated high school."

Lourdes' younger brother, Rocco, confirmed that while their upbringing was strict, it made sense as a family in the public eye. "She's a good mother. Yes. That's all I have to say. She's very strict but in a good way,” he said on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. The music legend has six children: Lourdes, 28, Rocco, 24, David, 19, Mercy, 19, and 12-year-old twins Stella and Estere. 

The Scooby-Doo co-stars are as strict as they come, with the pair trying to protect their kids from the dangers of social media and the showbiz industry. "Our rules are probably stricter than most. Our kids don't have social media," Sarah told So Mini Ways. "They're allowed to look sometimes when it's our phones."

She added: "Sometimes, our kids will be like, 'You guys are the strictest household!'" Her eldest, Charlotte, is looking to follow in her parent's footsteps and build a Hollywood career; however, Sarah and Freddie are strict about allowing her to enter such a world. 

"We have rules in place. She can't be in front of a camera until she graduates high school," Sarah told The Hollywood Reporter. "She says to me, 'That's unfair. You were a child actor,'" the 48-year-old shared. "Yes, I was. But I was not the child of two famous parents."

"I'll never stop her from being on a set," she concluded. "But she's just not going on camera while she's living under our roof. There'll be different expectations for her, so she needs to learn everything there is first."

The couple are strict when it comes to their kids contributing equally to the household. "They have to understand the value of working for stuff," Sarah told People. "And so I don't believe in paying kids for chores, I feel like that's part of living in a house and you're responsible for keeping the house." The pair also share a 12-year-old son, Rocky. 

The Desperate Housewives actress welcomed her only child, Santiago, with her husband José Bastón in 2018, and is just like any other mother when it comes to laying down the law. 

“I'm the discipline. I'm very tough. I'm a disciplinarian,” she said on Who’s Talking To Chris Wallace. “We have structure; bedtime [is] bedtime, no candy is no candy,” she continued. “If there's candy, it's one. If he wants to play a game on the iPad, there's a time limit.”

“He picks up his plate every time he eats; he has to take it to the sink,” Eva added, sharing that Santiago is learning to clean up after himself. “He picks up all. He has to do cleanup…He hates it,” she said. Despite being a strict mother with solid ground rules, the 50-year-old parents “with a very, very big loving hand.”

“But I have a lot of structure. Yeah, I'm a tough mum,” she finished.

If the A-list couple have imparted any lessons onto their four children, it’s that manners are everything. "We've always been strict with the children," Victoria explained on Good Morning America. "They have great manners. They always say 'please' and 'thank you’, and I think that's very important."

David and the former Spice Girl grew up with disciplinarian parents themselves, and have passed that on to Brooklyn, 26, Romeo, 22, Cruz, 20, and Harper, 13. “Me and Victoria were brought up with strong discipline by our parents and to have respect for people and our [kids] have definitely got that,” the father of four said in an interview with Kidspot. “They've been saying their ‘please’ and ‘thank you’s’ since they were two or three years old. They're very polite.” 

“That's one of the first questions that we ask when we go for meetings at school is about their manners and it's one of the first things their teachers say – that they've got impeccable manners,” he added. 

The football legend and the fashion designer are particularly strict about bringing phones to the dinner table, ruling that the meal is for family time only. "We've always been about sitting down every evening at 6 pm, and we all eat together as a family, and we're lucky with that,” David told People. "There's music, but no screens."

Despite laying out strict ground rules for their family, the pair still wished for their children to have a happy and carefree childhood as much as possible. "They're still fun and they still run around the house and they're still crazy and they're dancing and they're kicking footballs around, which I don't allow them to do,” Victoria told GMA. “That seems to be the one area I can't discipline them; they will not stop playing football in the house."

The ‘Jenny From The Block’ singer may be strict during the week, but when Sunday rolls around, her twins Max and Emme have free reign. Speaking to E! News, Jennifer explained that the 17-year-old pair have to earn the right to use their technology and play video games on what she has dubbed, “Sunday Funday”.

"It starts with a late breakfast. We sleep in, even the kids sleep in. And Sunday Funday, they work towards that because they don't get to use their iPads during the week," she said. 

"Or play video games or anything because it's school time. And they have to be good in school and then they get Sunday Funday. It's something I made up so they could work towards it and behave!" 

Nicole and her husband Keith are strict about keeping their young daughters grounded in the public eye, ensuring that they stay away from social media for as long as possible. 

"I won't let them be on Instagram. I have a 12-year-old right now who is chomping at the bit and wants to get into all of that,” Nicole said on Loose Women. “It's just that constant push, pull. I'd say a lot of parents would say the same thing. I think it’s keeping their confidence and their self-esteem intact." 

The Aussie couple also stand their ground when it comes to allowing Sunday, 16, and Faith, 14, to follow in their famous footsteps. The Babygirl actress wouldn’t bring Sunday to see a fashion show until she was 16, as she told Vogue Australia. 

While Keith couldn’t have been prouder of Sunday after she walked the runway for the Miu Miu Spring/Summer 2025 show in October, he explained that she still needed structure and boundaries to stay grounded. 

"It's all a challenge. I mean, raising kids is a challenge, period," he told People. "It's all a process, but I think balance is key. Keeping her firmly with schoolwork and structure and everything balanced in its place is key." 

Growing up in the White House is an experience only a select few can relate to, and Michelle ensured that her daughters Malia and Sasha knew who was in charge to keep them humble. 

“I had to raise them to be stand-up young people on their own, especially as the daughters of a former president,” she said on The Moments That Make Us podcast. “I never felt my job was to create mini-mes, or create people who were going to live out some brokenness in me or fill some hole or to be my friend.”

She added: “As my girls joke, I always said – my favourite line was, ‘I’m not one of your little friends.’” Michelle’s own mother, Marian Robinson, agreed that the former First Lady was strict, revealing that the girls were let off the hook with their grandma. 

“I follow the rules at Michelle’s house. At my house, they’re my rules,” she explained, as per People. “I know Michelle is strict…When I’m at their house, the girls are doing all the stuff their mother has told them to do, there’s not much left for me to do! But when they’re at my house, they don’t have to scrape the dishes – and they get to watch TV.”

The Running Point actress is such a strict parent that her own mother, Goldie Hawn, described her as “Attila the Hun” when it comes to keeping her kids in line. Kate, who is a proud mum to Ryder, 21, Bingham, 13, and Rani, six, describes herself as uncompromising, telling People that her parenting style "came as a surprise to my entire family when I became a mother."

"But it's the things that I'm strict about," she continued. "Where I am strict is that there are certain rules that I put down. I don't negotiate with my kids about certain things. And what I realised about that is that when you set that standard in your home, you don't end up in long-winded negotiations. When I say no, it's done."

"As far as I'm concerned, there's what you're entitled to and then there's your privileges," she added. "The only things you're entitled to are a roof over your head, food, and my love. Everything else is a privilege and I'll take it away in a heartbeat if you're not respecting our home's moral compass."

The 43-year-old is a strict mother to her kids Honor, 16, Haven, 13, and Hayes, seven – but only because she was a rebellious child. “I'm the disciplinarian,” Jessica told Parenting magazine. “I think it's because I was kind of a naughty kid myself – I'd push my parents' buttons and test them to see how much I could get away with.” 

She continued: “So when Honor tries to do something she shouldn't, I have to say to [their dad, Cash Warren], ‘Let her know right from the beginning that she can't’. I'll put her in time-out and tell her, ‘Think about the choices you've made.’”

Despite splitting from Cash in January after their 16-year marriage ended, Jessica is committed to maintaining a normal family structure for the three kids to grow up in.

“I’m probably on the stricter side of lenient. But I think boundaries are good for kids – and structure,” she told People. “I find that my kids thrive when they know where the boundaries are and the comfort zone and where they can be creative and play.”