The adorable face on Gerber baby food inspired millions of loyal customers, but no one knew who it belonged to. Artist Dorothy Hope Smith used her five-month-old neighbor as the model for a sketch she was sending to a contest for a baby food ad campaign. The illustration was so popular that Gerber trademarked it in 1931, but kept the identity of the baby secret until 1978. After 40 years and much speculation that the angelic symbol of Gerber was everyone from Humphrey Bogart to Elizabeth Taylor, the company revealed the baby as a retired English teacher Ann Turner Cooke. Since her identity put her in the spotlight, Cooke used her fame to become a mystery novelist.
AP Photo
There’s nothing like having the whole world see you naked before your first birthday, but that’s the cross now 20-year-old Spencer Elden has to bear. He was the dollar-seeking infant on the cover of Nirvana’s 1991 sophomore album Nevermind. Elden told MTV News his first gig makes him feel “like the world’s biggest porn star.” Elden was paid $200 for the photo shoot, where his parents dropped him in a pool of water and underwater photographer Kirk Weddle (a friend of Elden’s father) snapped an entire roll of film. Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain chose the photo for Nevermind’s cover--and reportedly promised to take Elden out to dinner when he got older. Now an artist, Elden unfortunately never enjoyed that meal with the late Cobain, but he did enjoy his 15 minutes. “Quite a few people in the world have seen my penis so that's kinda cool," he told NPR.
Splash News / Newscom
The rescue of Baby Jessica captivated the nation so much that President Ronald Reagan said, “Everybody in America became godfathers and godmothers of Jessica while this was going on.” At 18-months-old, Jessica McClure fell into a well when her teenage mother briefly stepped away to answer the phone in October 1987. For two days, the nation watched as rescuers tried to reach Jessica, who was singing a Winnie the Pooh song from 22 feet below ground. Though she lost a toe to gangrene and has a scar from her hairline to the bridge of her nose where her head hit the side of the well, Jessica miraculously survived. But the woman now known as Jessica McClure Morales said she does not remember the rescue at all. She turned 25 on March 26 and is now a mother herself to a four-year-old son, Simon, and 18-month-old daughter, Sheyenne. “She's a good mom and keeps her eyes on her kids,” her father recently told the AP.
NBC; inset: Eric Gay / AP Photo
Mary-Kate and Ashley may have stolen the Full House twin spotlight, but the other twins on the 1990s family series were Uncle Jesse (John Stamos) and Aunt Becky’s (Lori Loughlin) sons, Nicky and Alex Katsopolis, played by Blake Tuomy-Wilhoit and Dylan Tuomy-Wilhoit. The Tuomy-Wilhoit twins signed on in season six when the Full House producers decided to recast the babies as toddlers. After the series ended, the duo quit acting to pursue a “normal” childhood, which they seemingly did. Both Blake and Dylan graduated from Burroughs High School in California last year and are reportedly attending college. They are no longer acting.
ABC / Getty Images
It seems passé now, but in 1978, the whole world was fascinated by Louise Brown—the world’s the first in vitro baby. Known as the “test tube baby,” doctors actually filmed Brown’s birth to prove their scientific approach. Even the pope weighed in, reportedly saying he worried that the procedure would lead to “baby factories.” Growing up, Brown said everyone knew about her fame and at times, she told BBC News, she felt “completely alone.” Now in her 30s, Brown is a mother herself to a son named Cameron— conceived naturally. She kept in touch with the doctor who pioneered the procedure, Robert G. Edwards. He went on to win the Nobel Prize in 2010 for developing in vitro fertilization, which has led to 4 million in-vitro babies since Brown.
AP Photo; Chris Radburn, PA / AP Photo
Sara Elizabeth Whitehead was born on March 27, 1986 in New Jersey as the daughter of William Stern and a surrogate, Mary Elizabeth Gould (nee Whitehead). But she made headlines as “Baby M” when Stern, his wife Elizabeth, and Whitehead became locked in a landmark custody case. Stern and Elizabeth sought a surrogate since Elizabeth could not bear children. After giving birth and handing the child over to the Sterns, Whitehead insisted that they return the baby and then ran off with her, leading the Sterns to freeze her bank accounts and seek a warrant for her arrest. Initially, a judge awarded custody to the Sterns due to their binding legal contract; but another judge later awarded Whitehead parental rights. At the age of 18, Baby M—now known by Melissa Stern (her legal name)—terminated Whitehead’s parental rights and formalized Elizabeth Stern’s adoption. Melissa went on to attend George Washington University, where she studied religion and joined a sorority. “I love my family very much and am very happy to be with them,” she told New Jersey Monthly while at college. “They're my best friends in the whole world, and that's all I have to say about it.”
Peter Canata / AP Photo
