Alex Martin Biography

Alex Martin appeared on screen for the first time in the movie that made her mother, Whoopi Goldberg, famous. In 1985, Goldberg was cast in her breakthrough role as Celie, a mistreated woman in the Deep South, in Steven Spielberg's period drama film 'The Color Purple', which earned her an 'Academy Award' nomination and a 'Golden Globe Award'. In the film, Alex appeared in an uncredited role as a little girl. She earned recognition in 1993 when she acted in the musical comedy 'Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit' and the fantasy sword and sorcery film 'Quest of the Delta Knights'.

In 1994, she was selected as 'Miss Golden Globe', an honor that is usually bestowed upon the offspring of a celebrity who then assists in the annual 'Golden Globe Awards' presentations by handing out trophies to the winners and escorting them off stage. She subsequently appeared in a few other films like 'American Intellectuals' (1999), 'Call Me Claus' (2001) and 'Strange As Angels' (2003). She later turned producer with the 2008 animated short film 'Descendants'. In 2015, she appeared on six episodes of her half-hour reality documentary series 'According to Alex', which she also executive-produced.

Alexandrea 'Alex' Martin was born on May 9, 1973 in the United States. Her mother, Whoopi Goldberg, struggled with heroin addiction as a teenager and subsequently became involved in a relationship with her drug counselor, Alvin Martin. She became pregnant with Alex at the age of 18, and dropped out of high school before she was born. Goldberg married Martin in 1973, but the relationship ended in divorce in 1979.

Ambitious despite being a single mother with no job, Whoopi Goldberg moved to Los Angeles with Alex and took any job that helped her survive, including working as a bricklayer and mortuary cosmetologist. Talking to theGrio.com, Alex said she has clear memories of her early childhood when they had to live on welfare. Up until she was about ten years old, Alex had experienced how hard her mother had to fight to make both ends meet. Alex told Wendy Williams that she and her mother still maintain a strong bond, and talk to each other multiple times throughout the day about anything and everything. In fact, talking about Alex on her show 'The View', her mother called Alex her best friend. She also thinks Alex is a "better mother than she ever was". Her mother Goldberg was married twice more; to cinematographer David Claessen in 1986 and to union organizer Lyle Trachtenberg in 1994, none of which lasted more than a couple years.

Alex Martin, who had been born to a teenage mother, herself became pregnant for the first time at the age of 16. On her mother's 34th birthday in 1989, her first child, daughter Amarah Skye was born. The identity of her father is not known. She later began dating Bernard Dean, whom she eventually married. They shared two children together: Jerzey (born in 1995) and Mason (born in 1998). However, the couple has broken up and got back together several times in the past.

According to reports, the two have married three times over the past three decades. During one time when the two were not together in the early 2000s, she was involved in a relationship with drummer Steve Jordan, but they separated six years later in 2007. Alex and Dean again patched up in the following years, and married for the third time on October 15, 2011 at a private event in Las Vegas. While it is not known what caused them to separate multiple times in the past, they have been together for over seven years now. Her oldest child, Amarah, is married to Christopher Burr Reynaud, and they already have a daughter named Charli Rose Burr-Reynaud (born on March 15, 2014).