Elizabeth Taylor’s 10 Grandchildren: All About Her Grandsons and Granddaughters (2024)

Silver screen icon Elizabeth Taylor is as well-known for her iconic roles in films like Cleopatra, her activism through the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation and her highly publicized love life — the actress was married eight times, twice to the same man, and had four children and 10 grandchildren.

She welcomed two sons — Michael Wilding Jr. and Christopher Wilding — with her second husband, British actor Michael Wilding. After divorcing Wilding in 1957, she married producerMike Todd, with whom she shared a daughter, Elizabeth “Liza” Todd. The actress also adopted daughter Maria McKeown during her first marriage to Cleopatra costar Richard Burton.

Taylor's four children eventually made her a grandmother of 10 over the years. Her older son Michael Jr. has three children from different relationships: daughters Laela and Naomi and son Tarquin. Christopher also has three kids, sons Caleb, Andrew and Lowell. Her daughters Liza and Maria both have two children: Liza is a mother to two sons, Quinn and Rhys, while Maria has a daughter, Elizabeth “Eliza,” and a son, Richard.

Here is everything to know about Elizabeth Taylor’s 10 grandchildren: Laela, Naomi, Tarquin, Caleb, Andrew, Lowell, Quinn, Rhys, Eliza and Richard.

Taylor's family has always been close

Despite Taylor’s glamorous career and her globetrotting lifestyle, she always kept her family close.

“Family was number one for her,” Laela told PEOPLE in 2016. “We had a family where we all loved one another — her children and her grandchildren and it comes from her desire to bring us all together.”

In 2021, Naomi and Laela went on Today and shared memories of their grandmother. “Just because somebody is a superstar doesn't also mean that they can't be a loving, squishy, delicious grandma who was always welcoming us in,” Naomi said.

"She had an idea that she was responsible for raising the younger generations in the family, you know," she continued. "It was important to her that she instilled those values in us too.”

The grandchildren played dress-up in Taylor’s famous closet

In 2016, Laela spoke to PEOPLE about what it was like to spend time at Taylor’s house when she was young — and it included memories of seeing the star’s legendary jewelry up close.

“I remember how we’d lay on the bed in the bedroom and just talk,” she said. “Just snuggling and chatting and eating lunch and watching movies. We’d take a trip to the jewelry closet and she’d open up the drawers and talk about the pieces, who gave them to her."

Laela continued, "We’d hang out and put lipstick on — she had all the colors. We’d chat about boys and dating and I would paint my toenails.”

Taylor was Eliza’s personal stylist

When she was in high school, Eliza had an unusual stylist — her grandmother, who did her hair and makeup for both junior and senior prom.

"Once, while we were discussing makeup, I told her we should go to Sephora, which turned out to be a terrible idea,” Eliza told Town & Country in 2016. “We had fun for the first 15 minutes, but then she was recognized, and we quickly had to be escorted out."

Eliza also revealed that she has keepsake pieces of her grandmother’s jewelry. "She was so generous. I was on my way out to a New Year's Eve party and she said, 'No, no, no, take off what you have on right now! You're wearing these,’ ” she added. “They were these beautiful, huge chandelier earrings from India with rose quartz, diamonds, and pearls. I will absolutely keep them for the rest of my life."

Naomi was inspired by Taylor using her star power for good

In 1992, Naomi accompanied her grandmother to the Freddie Mercury tribute concert in London’s Wembley Stadium following his 1991 death from an AIDS-related illness. At the tribute, Taylor addressed the crowd.

“We are here to tell the whole world that [Freddie] like others we have lost to AIDS, died before his time,” she said. “It needn’t have happened. It shouldn’t have happened. Please, let’s not let it happen again!”

Naomi recalled the moment as “electrifying” when she spoke to PEOPLE in 2018. “I think it was the first time I ever witnessed my grandmother’s effect on people. [It was] like being transported to another place, another level in time and space.”

“I felt deeply proud that she was my grandmother,” Naomi added. “That she was a leader.”

They made Taylor homemade gifts as kids

Finding the perfect gift is always a challenge, but it’s even more difficult when the person you’re shopping for owns a 68-carat diamond so singular that it was renamed in her honor. For the grandkids, though, it was easy — just make Grandma something.

“My sister and I would always ask ourselves, ‘What should we get her? You know, Michael Jackson is going to give her a ring so what are we going to do?’ ” Laela told PEOPLE in 2016. “We made her things, like handmade books, and she kept them by her bed, next to her Faberge eggs. She loved them equally.”

The family carries on Taylor’s activist legacy

Later in life, Taylor became a passionate advocate for the LGBTQ+ community and an AIDS activist, creating two foundations for AIDS research: in 1985, she co-founded the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR), and in 1991, she started the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation (ETAF).

The actress was one of the earliest celebrities to use her star power to support AIDS patients and to bring awareness to a then-controversial cause, including influencing President Reagan to make his first public statement about the epidemic.

“My grandmother was a huge, iconic, unforgettable star, and I’m just a person, but I really want to do whatever I can to continue her work,” Naomi told The Telegraph in 2015. “The best lesson she taught my cousins and siblings and I, was to use whatever skills we have to help others. God knows she used what she had to huge effect.”

In 2017, Laela spoke to PEOPLE about Taylor’s legacy. “Our grandmother was relatively ambivalent about fame and celebrity,” she said. “It was not always something she would have chosen but later on, when looking back, she realized her life had led her up to this point.”

“All the trials which came before gave her the strength and determination to carry on her life and she used that on behalf of others,” she added. “Her activism gave her a sense of purpose and gave a sense of purpose to everything that came before.”

Today, most of Taylor’s family is still involved in ETAF, either working for the foundation or supporting it by helping to fundraise and raise visibility.

“It’s one of the most beneficial things that we as a family for ETAF have done,” Naomi told PEOPLE ahead of AIDSwatch 2019, which she attended with sister Laela and cousin Quinn. "It keeps us involved. It makes us also feel like we’re part of a community, which is really important to us.”

Many of Taylor's grandchildren have artistic careers

A few of Taylor's grandchildren have followed in her creative footsteps. Laela is a graphic designer, who lives in Portland, Ore. and largely lives a private life — though she’s an ambassador for the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation.

Her sister Naomi is a fashion stylist and runs the Wilding Gran Gallery in Los Angeles with her husband, Anthony Gran. She’s also an ambassador for ETAF.

Rhys is a musician and songwriter while Tarquin is an actor who has appeared in Shameless. Andrew is also an actor, cinematographer and producer who has worked on projects like Freestyle and Everything Carries Me to You.

Quinn is a trustee of Taylor’s estate and the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation

Growing up, the larger-than-life star was just a person to Quinn. “I always just knew her as Grandma,” he told Town & Country in 2017. “She was the woman I could lie in bed with to chat and watch movies.”

Now, he’s one of the three trustees of House of Taylor, named by the star herself, to manage her affairs and her posthumous legacy. He’s also a trustee of the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation.

After Taylor’s death, Quinn and Tarquin were asked to participate in an event honoring the actor, and that experience inspired him to continue her work. “Hearing from people personally about how the work that she had done touched so many people, my cousin and I were both so moved,” he said. “I immediately thought, I need to get more involved. I want to dive into the deep end of this. Through that experience we had the opportunity to see how crucial it was for her family to be participating in her legacy.”

On the 30th anniversary of Taylor founding ETAF, Quinn wrote an essay for PEOPLE about her work. “The fight against HIV/AIDS was such a vital part of her legacy, and although the fight is far from over, I'm honored to see ETAF continue her work,” he wrote in 2021. “I know grandma would be proud of this work too.”

They all knew they could count on Taylor in a crisis

When Naomi was 24 and living in New York, she said she was robbed of nearly all her possessions just days before Christmas. “They took all the jewellery [sic] my grandmother had given me over the years,” she told The Telegraph in 2015. “When I told her about it she just said: ‘Come home. I’ll take care of you.’ Actually her house wasn’t my home. I’d only ever spent holidays there, but she liked to think of it as a home and a refuge for the whole family. She loved to help people in a crisis: that was her thing.”

Laela has similar memories of her grandmother’s big heart. “There was a real tenderness and vulnerability to her,” she told PEOPLE in 2016. “In that way, she had the soul of an artist. She was sensitive and a good listener. You could cry on her shoulder and tell her anything. And she was a really good hugger.”

Lowell works on the Elizabeth Taylor Archive

Like many of the grandkids, Lowell works to preserve his grandmother’s legacy — but his work is with the Elizabeth Taylor Trust, which is part of ETAF. As a part of the trust, he works on the official Elizabeth Taylor Archive.

“I was always in total awe of the good my grandmother was able to accomplish in her lifetime,” Lowell wrote on the ETAF website. “She could so easily have done nothing, like so many others. Instead she fought, she cared, and she worked for people suffering with HIV/AIDS. I hope to do whatever I can to preserve and continue that legacy.”

Taylor’s “humanitarian side” inspires Eliza’s work

In 2016, Eliza told Town & Country that her grandmother’s humanitarian work inspired her choice of career.

"She always stood up for what was right,” Eliza said. “I work for the Department of Child Protection in Manhattan. I'm doing social work. And I'm also an Ambassador for the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, along with my cousins."

Naomi sees the grandkids’ activism as keeping Taylor’s legacy alive

While she was one of the most famous women in the world for decades, her family wants to make sure her legacy remains strong for years after her 2011 death.

“As time goes by, there will be people who don’t know who our grandmother was,” Naomi told Town & Country in 2017. “What we’re trying to do is to make issues around HIV and AIDS more visible using her name, and with luck people will come to know what she did for that community.”

Tarquin added that their work together keeps the family close. “I often think about how lucky I am to have been born into a group of such wacky, caring, sensitive people,” he said. “We admire my grandmother for her boundless generosity, and I believe that we all feel grateful to be able to honor and continue her legacy. Especially together.”