'Confessions of a Shopaholic' Author Sophie Kinsella Has Five Kids from Preteen to Adult

In April 2024, Confessions of a Shopaholic author Sophie Kinsella announced she has a rare form of cancer. In an April 17 Instagram post, she wrote, “I’ve wanted for a long time to share with you a health update and I’ve been waiting for the strength to do so. At the end of 2022 I was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a form of aggressive brain cancer. I did not share this before because I wanted to make sure that my children were able to hear and process the news in privacy and adapt to our ‘new normal.’”

This has us wondering about her children. How many kids does the extremely successful and prolific 54-year-old author Sophie Kinsella (real name Madeleine Sophie Wickham) have?

Sophie and former headmaster Henry Wickham have been married since 1991. That marriage has produced five children: four boys named Freddy (born in 1997), Hugo (born in 1999), Oscar (born in 2006), and Rex (born April 2010), and one daughter named Sybella (born December 2011).

Though the author is quite private about her family life, she did open up for a profile in the Irish Independent in February 2012. Speaking about the 15-year age gap between her oldest and youngest kid, she said, “In principal, I'd always liked the idea of a big family. But I couldn't have had five close together. It's been more of a case of realizing that our first two, who are close in age, were growing up really quickly and so there was a bit of, 'Are we done with being parents? No, we're not' involved."

In the same profile she also spoke about having a girl. "When I was told it was a girl, I either got the reaction of, 'How lovely, friend for life, you can go shopping,' or those who said, 'You don't know what you're in for.' It's a challenge, but bring it on."

That baby girl is now 12 years old. Though Sophie rarely shares photos of her family on social media, she does occasionally post a photo of her kids.

Sophie has sold over 45 million copies of her books in more than 60 countries. Her work has been translated into over 40 languages. There’s been a major motion picture based on her bestselling work, Confessions of a Shopaholic.

But Sophie’s net worth remains a mystery. We can guess she’s not wasting it. Before becoming a bestselling author she worked as a financial journalist and earned a Politics, Philosophy, and Economics degree.

According to the Mayo Clinic, "Glioblastoma is a type of cancer that starts as a growth of cells in the brain or spinal cord. It grows quickly and can invade and destroy healthy tissue. Glioblastoma forms from cells called astrocytes that support nerve cells."

According to the NIH, "Despite modern therapies, it is still fatal with tremendously poor prognosis with a median survival of 14 months."

There's no cure for glioblastoma. Treatments might slow cancer growth and reduce symptoms.

In her Instagram announcement post, Sophie wrote, "At the moment all is stable and I am feeling generally very well, though I get very tired and my memory is even worse than it was before!"

She also expressed sympathy to others with similar diagnosis. "To everyone who is suffering from cancer in any form I send love and best wishes, as well as to those who support them. It can feel very lonely and scary to have a tough diagnosis, and the support and care of those around you means more than words can say."