Four Distinguished Mother-Daughter Teams In The Hamptons

Like mother, like daughter is quite an old saying and so very true in the glamorous world of the Hamptons. With so many mother-daughter teams to choose from, it was easy to pick these four. They have starred in movies and plays, topped pop charts, and been featured in photo spreads in countless magazines. However, one thing they all have in common is they summer in high feather in the Hamptons.

1. Blythe Danner and daughter Gwyneth Paltrow have definitely made individual names for themselves as actors. Blythe Danner is a very energetic 73-year-old winner of both a Tony Award and Emmy Award, and is well known to many TV fans for her motherly role on Will and Grace. She has been in over 50 motion pictures. Born in Philadelphia as the daughter of a bank executive, she attended/graduated Bard College, and married Jack Paltrow in 1969 and remained married to him until he passed in 2002. She has two children, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jake Danner. Blythe is the proud grandmother of Apple Blythe Alison Martin and Moses Bruce Anthony Martin. She is seen all around Amagansett and East Hampton and actively supports Guild Hall in East Hampton, often appearing in productions and attending events there throughout the years.

Gwyneth Paltrow is a golden girl of the golden screen having won the Oscar for Best Actress, a Golden Globe and two Screen Actors Guild Awards, all for Best Actress. Yet, she bike rides around Amagansett with her children like so many other summer homeowners. Her recent split-up with Chris Martin (lead singer of the band Coldplay, who was this year’s Super Bowl halftime act) after a 12 year marriage was red hot tabloid material all over the world, especially when Chris was squiring around the Hamptons with another Academy Award winning Best Actress, Jennifer Lawrence. One only hopes Lawrence and Martin weren’t playing Gwyneth’s hit single with Huey Lewis, “Cruisin,” while driving all over the Hamptons. Gwyneth has always been in the tabloids after dating such Hollywood leading men such as Ben Affleck and Brad Pitt. She married Martin in 2003 and they called it quits in 2015.

Emma Walton Hamilton and Julie Andrews. (Photo: Patrick McMullan/PatrickMcMullan.com)

2. The legend of Julie Andrews and its shadow never affected daughter Emma Walton Hamilton from forming a great partnership and bond with her famous mother. They are Sag Harbor people with Julie (now 80) still shopping for her own needables at the pharmacy on Main Street, sometimes hand in hand with daughter Emma. A medical issue has long silenced Julie Andrew’s golden Sound of Music voice, yet her films live on forever as classics. Mary Poppins is etched in stone for children to enjoy year after year. Now Julie has partnered in writing children’s book with her daughter Emma.

Emma Hamilton (53-years-old) is the daughter of Julie Andrews and Tony Walton. One of Emma’s two godmothers is Carol Burnett! She is married to actor/director Steve Hamilton and they live year-round in Sag Harbor. She has two children, Sam and Hope. Emma and Steve are huge in the local Hamptons theatrical scene, such as Steve expertly directing Arthur Miller’s, All My Sons, starring Alex Baldwin at Guild Hall last summer. However, Emma and Julie have teamed up and created the very successful, The Very Fairy Princess children books series.

3. Christie Brinkley, along with daughters Sailor Cook and Alexa Ray Joel, have composed a trio of buzz in the media lately. Christie Brinkley, now even at 62, remains America’s supermodel and is now presenting her daughter Sailor (17-years-old) to follow in her footsteps. However, her other daughter Alexa Ray Joel, the daughter of Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and Long Island native, Billy Joel, has her own singing career coming into its own. Christie was born Christie Lee Hudson in Monroe, Michigan. She is the forever cover girl and “Uptown Girl,” although she reigns supreme in the Hamptons as that beautiful woman all over town. She still rocks high fashion yet is as beautiful in simple jeans and a polo shirt. She also has a 20-year-old son, Jack, who has a bright acting/modeling career ahead of him, if he so chooses.

Sailor Cook will no doubt blossom before our eyes gracing magazine covers. Most likely her career will be well managed because her mom knows the business.

Christie Brinkley with son Jack and daughters Alexa Ray and Sailor Cook. (Photo: Rob Rich/SocietyAllure.com)

Alexa Ray Joel (30) has been in the limelight her whole life with superstar parents loving her every second of it. After attending the Ross School in East Hampton, not to mention being mentored by her dad, Billy Joel, Alexa Ray is now homing in her vast musical talents to perfect her niche. I attended one of her shows at the Café Carlyle and was like everyone else there; hollering, standing and clapping profusely when it ended. Her signature song so far has been her own slower version of her dad’s hit, “Just the Way You Are.” However, someday an original Alexa Ray Joel tune will sweep the nation. Her ups and downs have been played out in public and that endears her to everyone. Lastly, she truly is a daughter of the Hamptons and a Long Island “Uptown Girl.”

4. Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone is on this list mostly because she is MADONNA. This 57-year-old woman who is almost worth a billion dollars due to commanding world attention for her gift of entertaining generations with song, dance and tabloid fodder is unique. Now with a horse farm off of Mitchell Road in Bridgehampton and her official home in New York City, Madonna really belongs to the whole world. She reigns in London, Paris, Japan, South America, and now the Hamptons. Her marriages, her family successes and family problems fill tabloid media hourly. It was a bit strange seeing Madonna at the Hamptons Classic, but quite frankly she does now own an incredible equestrian setup in Bridgehampton and rocks the horse riding outfits. Besides, I recall Madonna using a horse crop in her video years back when she wore nothing much else. All this from a girl born in Rochester, Michigan on August 16, 1958!

Madonna’s daughter Lourdes Leon was born on October 14, 1996 and is 19-years-old. She’s currently attending the University of Michigan as did her mom, although rather briefly. She is studying dance, theater and music. Her likeness to her mother now is striking. She and her mother have created a Material Girl clothing line and with almost a billion dollars of family money, Lourdes most likely will make a huge splash in future fashion, as did Paul McCartney’s daughter Stella McCartney.

Lourdes Leon and Madonna. (Photo: Clint Spaulding/PatrickMcMullan.com)

There is a cartoon I framed on my wall back in college. It showed two men in their tuxedos talking in a men’s room and the caption read: “So I gave my children the same sound business advice my father and mother gave me, here is 50 million dollars, don’t lose it!”