Laura Dern is one proud mama! The 55-year-old Jurassic Park star took to Instagram on Monday, Nov. 28 to wish her youngest child, daughter Jaya, a happy birthday with some never-before-seen photos of Jaya growing up, which can be seen below. In the first photo, a very young Jaya smiled wide as the wind whipped through her curly blonde hair. She looked adorable in a pink and white striped tank and a tie-dyed pink and white choker necklace with a daisy charm. The second photo was a recent selfie of Jaya and her famous mother taken in a tree-filled park, and the next photo showed Jaya as a very young child in a sweet white and pink checkered dress.
“My girl is 18 today!!!” Laura captioned the sentimental slideshow. “Happiest birthday, Jaya! You teach me every day about what it means to be an honest and profound empath, artist, and activist. I love you with everything.” Although Jaya was not tagged in the photo, she does have a public Instagram page with 15,000 followers.
Jaya celebrated her big 1-8 by posting a throwback snapshot of herself sitting on a cloud-covered beach. She looked at the camera with a smile in her eyes, but with her actual smile hidden by her arm that was crossed over the bottom half of her face. She captioned the post with a simple birthday cake emoji.
Laura had a lot to celebrate this week, as on Tuesday, she shared a photo with her mother, Diane Ladd, for her 87th birthday. “Happy birthday, goddess mama!” the Golden Globe winner captioned a snap of her and her mom smiling in red dresses. “You are my endless inspiration and my favorite buddy to go for a swim with!! And just the best darn actor EVER!”
Both of Laura’s kids celebrated milestone birthdays this year, as her son, Ellery, turned 21 years old. Laura shared a throwback pic of him as well, which showed him smiling and lying in shallow water in a white Quicksilver rash guard. A second photo showed Jaya, Diane, Ellery, and Laura posing together for a beautiful family photo.
“Greatest gift I could have ever dreamt up. Happiest 21st birthday to you my amazing son/friend/inspiration,” she gushed in the caption of her eldest child’s birthday tribute. “You teach me every day…about art..empathy..and grace. You are a profound human and artist. And you are such a kind and amazing man. I’m so blessed and lucky to love you and learn from you. And you make me laugh every day.”
The Big Little Lies star shares her children with her ex-husband of eight years, Ben Harper. Ellery is a model who has walked the runway for YSL and Louis Vuitton and scored a campaign with Mercedes Benz in Nov. 2021. He’s also a musician who goes by the name Crazy Mike on Spotify. Meanwhile, his younger sister is a budding actress who made her debut in 2021’s film Teenage Emotions. She’s also an activist who focuses on women’s rights and safety.