All About Stephen Colbert's 3 Children, Madeleine, Peter and John

Jessica Sager, Christopher RudolphThu, May 21, 2026 at 9:00 PM UTC

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Stephen Colbert with his wife Evelyn McGee-Colbert and their two kids on November 19, 2016 in Newark, New Jersey.
Credit: Dave Kotinsky/Getty -

Stephen Colbert and his wife, Evelyn McGee-Colbert, share three kids: Madeleine, Peter and John

Madeleine has followed in her father's footsteps and is working in TV

Peter and John made a cameo in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Stephen Colbert is a late night TV legend — but at home, he's a dad to three kids, Madeleine, Peter and John.

The Daily Show alum hosted his own programs — The Colbert Report and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert — for years, but offstage, he was raising a family with his wife Evelyn McGee-Colbert, in Montclair, N.J. (The Late Show is ending after 11 seasons on May 21.)

While they were growing up, Stephen didn't allow his kids to watch his work on TV, but he brought his same sense of humor home, albeit toned down. In the 2011 biography And Nothing But the Truthiness: The Rise (and Further Rise) of Stephen Colbert, he revealed that he did "silly" things to get his daughter and sons to laugh, like falling and speaking to inanimate objects. The TV personality also encouraged them to practice their wit with him.

“For a solid year, Madeleine and I made up jokes on the spot before she went to bed," The Late Showstar said in the book.

Here's everything to know about Stephen Colbert's children, Madeleine, Peter and John.

Madeleine Colbert

Stephen Colbert and his daughter Madeleine Colbert arrive at the 38th Annual Kennedy Center Honors Gala on December 6, 2015 in Washington, D.C.
Credit: Kris Connor/Getty

Stephen and Evelyn's daughter Madeleine was born around 1995.

Madeleine has the distinction of having a celebrity as her former babysitter: Jennifer Garner. Stephen met Garner when they guest starred in an episode of Spin City in 1996. At the wrap party for that week's episode, Garner offered to watch Madeleine while Evelyn attended Italian classes.

"I remember your gorgeous little girl. She was such a little peanut," Garner said on The Late Showin May 2017. "She was really smart, she was very verbal, and she was precocious and adorable."

In the years since, Madeleine graduated from Yale and held several positions as a journalist at different publications, where she goes by the name Madeleine Carlisle.

Apart from working as an editorial fellow at The Atlantic, she was also a reporter and staff writer for TIME, where she covered national news, legal affairs, gender and sexuality, among other topics.

Stephen Colbert and Madeleine Colbert arrive at the 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards on January 31, 2010.
Credit: Jeff Vespa/WireImage

According to her LinkedIn, Madeleine is currently an associate producer at 60 Minutes. Madeleine was also credited as his makeup artist for an episode of The Late Show when Stephen filmed at home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a February 2014 interview with BuzzFeed, Stephen shared that his favorite memories with Madeleine were conversing with her when she was learning to talk. As she grew, she also demonstrated that she was wise beyond her years, particularly during a family disagreement.

Stephen explained that one night after his youngest child, John, was born, his wife went out while he stayed to watch the kids — and within five minutes of her leaving, everyone was upset, leading him to raise his voice.

"My daughter said, 'Why are you yelling at us?' and I said, 'I'm trying to discipline you!' And then she looked up at me with her tear-stained eyes and said, 'This is how you teach children, by making them cry,' " he recalled.

Stephen continued, "It was such a clenching reminder — she won not only the argument, but she won life with that statement. I just burst out laughing, and I think they were so surprised that I burst out laughing, that they did too."

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Peter Colbert

Stephen Colbert and son Peter Colbert attend a benefit for the Montclair Film Festival on December 2, 2011.
Credit: John W. Ferguson/Getty

Stephen and Evelyn welcomed their second child, Peter, around 1998.

In the 2011 biography, And Nothing But the Truthiness, the SNL alum revealed his kids were allowed to watch half an hour of TV per day during the week — and more on weekends, when he and his wife slept in. Despite having a set schedule, Stephen still had to add a caveat to their viewing because of Peter's funny behavior.

"I've instituted a new rule that when commercials come on, my daughter has to press the mute button," he said. "Otherwise, Peter falls into a trance: I want that. I want that. I hear, and I obey."

Though Peter wasn't immersed in his dad's TV work, he still took an interest in the entertainment industry, where he uses his mom's last name, McGee. After he appeared alongside Stephen and his younger brother John in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug as hooded Laketown spies in 2013, Peter went on to work behind the scenes for several projects.

While attending Northwestern University in 2018, he wrote and directed the short At the Crossroads Down Yonder, and the following year, he served as co-executive producer and director of the comedy series Where's Noah?. Most recently, Peter worked in the sound department for the short film Those Who Move Mountains in 2020 and starred as Doug in the 2024 short film The Virgin, per his IMDb.

Peter is also working with his dad on the screenplay for a new Lord of the Rings movie, a project that was announced in March 2026.

John Colbert

Stephen Colbert, Evelyn McGee-Colbert, and John Colbert at the 66th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards on August 25, 2014 in Los Angeles, California.
Credit: Barry King/FilmMagic

Born in 2002, John is Stephen and Evelyn's youngest child. In 2014, Stephen joked that John was his only kid who got along with him at the time.

"The 12-year-old still seems to like me," he told BuzzFeed. "That's nice! I think all three of them like me, but I've got two teenagers, and a 12-year-old. He's within months of being a teenager. Then it's all over. Then my wife and I might as well live alone."

Aside from his cameo with his dad and brother in The Desolation of Smaug, John has kept himself busy in film.

He's appeared in several shorts, most famously as a teenager named Hugo, whose best friend and confidante is a cardboard cutout of Danny DeVito in Cardboard by Your Name (a play on words for the 2017 romantic drama Call Me By Your Name).

Stephen Colbert, Evelyn Colbert, and sons Peter and John pose with Goofy at Disney California Adventure park in on August 28, 2010.
Credit: Paul Hiffmeyer/Disney/Getty

Like his siblings, John keeps a low profile online, but viewers spotted him in an episode of The Late Show in April 2020 when Stephen was shooting segments at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to CNN, in May 2026, John graduated from Yale.

Speaking to Buzzfeed, Stephen also reflected on what he had learned about parenthood.

"No one tells you anything about being a parent," he told the outlet. “You just can't explain what it's like to be a parent until you are a parent. It's like, poetry might get at it, but it's such an experience.”

The Strangers with Candy star added, “I didn't know what to expect. But I think the most surprising thing is that … even the hard parts are just beautiful.”

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