Elizabeth Taylor's 4 Children: All About Michael, Christopher, Liza and Maria

Elizabeth Taylor had four children: Michael Wilding, Jr., Christopher Wilding, Liza Todd and Maria McKeown

Elizabeth Taylor's four children — Michael Wilding, Jr., Christopher Wilding, Liza Todd and Maria McKeown — were her "best friends.”

She became a first-time mom when her son Michael Wilding Jr. was born in 1953 during her marriage to British actor Michael Wilding. The two welcomed one more son, Christopher in 1955, before divorcing two years later. In 1957, she and her husband, Mike Todd, had a daughter, Elizabeth “Liza” Todd. By the time Taylor married costar Richard Burton in 1964, she was in the midst of adopting her youngest child, Maria McKeown.

"I know I've had an extraordinary life," Taylor once told Barbara Walters. "I realized that it's like a soap opera. It's not like an ordinary life at all."

However, despite her decorated career and decades of fame, her four children were her proudest accomplishment: “They make me the proudest of anything that I’ve ever done," Taylor once said.

Now adults with children of their own, Taylor's four kids have worked hard to keep the late actress' legacy alive. Many of her grandchildren have even carried on her philanthropic work, taking on roles in the Elizabeth Taylor Aids Foundation and more.

According to Taylor's lawyer and cotrustee Barbara Berkowitz, the late actress was a “big family person."

“In the 20-plus years that I worked with her, she always had her family there for holidays. It was very important to her to be the glue that kept all of her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren together," Berkowitz told PEOPLE ahead of the premiere of Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes, a new docuseries debuting on HBO on Aug. 3.

Here's everything to know about Elizabeth Taylor’s four children, Michael, Christopher, Liza and Maria.

Michael Wilding, Jr., 71

Michael Wilding, Jr. was born on Jan. 6, 1953, in Santa Monica, Calif., to Taylor and Wilding, and spent much of his youth in Europe.

He became a father in the 1970s, welcoming daughters Laela Wilding and Naomi Wilding. In the 1980s, Michael had a successful acting career, appearing on popular shows like Guiding Light and Dallas, and in films like Deadly Illusion. He married Brooke Palance in 1982, and together they had a son, Tarquin Wilding, in 1989.

When they were younger, Michael's three children spent a lot of time with their grandmother. "She had an idea that she was responsible for raising the younger generations in the family, you know," Naomi told Today in 2021. "It was important to her that she instilled those values in us too.”

Despite the fact that the family was all over the globe, Laela described them all as very 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.”

“I’ve never felt more alive than watching my children delight in something,” Taylor said, according to her website.

Today, Michael is a sculptor and lives in Santa Fe, NM, with his wife. “I’m very moved by the shapes that occur when earth, wind and water have their way with the environment,” reads his gallery artist bio. “These are collaborations which sometimes result in great elegance and grace. I’m also interested in conveying a sense of fluidity and movement in the work. For me, sculpting is also a collaboration, a kind of improvisational journey, a conversation with stone."

All three of Michael’s children are involved with the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, which became the actor’s main passion in her later years. “I often think about how lucky I am to have been born into a group of such wacky, caring, sensitive people,” Tarquin told Town & Country in 2017. “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.”

"We know, quite simply, that the world is a better place for Mom having lived in it,” Michael once said about his mother. "Her legacy will never fade, her spirit will always be with us, and her love will live forever in our hearts.”

Christopher Wilding, 69

Taylor and Wilding's second son, Christopher Wilding, was born on Feb. 27, 1955.

Despite the enormous scrutiny and media attention Taylor faced, she did her best to shield her children from it. "Christopher Wilding once said to me, 'My mother protected us from the circus,’ ” William J. Mann, author of How to Be a Movie Star: Elizabeth Taylor in Hollywood, told ABC, according to Taylor’s website. "That didn't mean they didn't see paparazzi — sometimes, there was no way to avoid it. In general, she was very protective of them."

Christopher married oil heiress Aileen Getty in 1981, and the pair had two sons: Caleb, born in 1983, and Andrew, born in 1984. Christopher and Getty divorced in 1989 and he went on to wed Margaret Carlton. They had a son, Lowell, in 1992.

He has worked as a photographer and in films as a sound editor for movies like Tombstone and Overboard, but is now retired. As of 2016, Christopher lives with his wife in Calabasas, Calif., according to The Hollywood Reporter.

“She was so beautiful, some people tended to overlook her great acting chops, Christopher told the outlet of Taylor. “I think if she were around today, she’d be most pleased with her philanthropic work,” he told the paper.

Liza Todd, 67

Taylor's first daughter and only child with husband Todd, Elizabeth “Liza” Todd, was born on Aug. 6, 1957.

When Liza was an infant, her father died in a plane crash, leaving Taylor a grieving widow with three children under 5 years old. The actress later married Burton, who adopted Liza. As a child, Liza attended boarding school in Switzerland but also spent time on her mother’s movie sets.

Liza chose to pursue a career in art, attending Hornsey College of Art in London and the Art Institute in Los Angeles. Now, she lives in upstate New York, and is an accomplished sculptor, especially known for her equine pieces.

Liza married artist Hap Tivey in 1984, and they had two sons, Quinn Tivey, born in 1986, and Rhys Tivey, born in 1990. The couple have since divorced.

Quinn is one of the trustees of the House of Taylor and of the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation and works on continuing his grandmother’s legacy of activism. “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 — educating legislators, raising awareness for the public, disproving myths and decreasing fear and stigma,” he wrote in an essay for PEOPLE in 2021. “I know grandma would be proud of this work too.”

Maria McKeown, 63

Before marrying Burton, Taylor was in the process of adopting daughter Maria McKeown, who was born on Jan. 8, 1961. Burton eventually adopted Maria as well.

As she grew, Maria dabbled in modeling, but has largely led a private life. She married Richard Carson and they had daughter Elizabeth “Eliza” Carson in 1982. After their divorce, she married Thomas McKeown. They welcomed son Richard McKeown in 2001, but ultimately divorced.

Inspired by her grandmother, Eliza is also an ambassador for the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation.

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