Since 1997, Ashton Kutcher has been a star on our screens and found success as an investor. Where did his story start and who are his parents?
Ashton Kutcher’s parents are Larry Kutcher, a factory worker, and Diane Finnegan, who worked for Procter & Gamble. He was born Christopher Ashton Kutcher on February 7, 1978, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Kutcher has Irish ancestry, presumably from his mother’s side, as well as Czech and German. He has mentioned that his Catholic family was “relatively conservative”.
For more on Ashton Kutcher’s parents and his early life in Iowa, read on.
Kutcher’s Parents
We don’t know a great deal of information about Ashton Kutcher’s parents, who seem quite content to leave the Hollywood spotlight to their son.
We do know that they were called Larry M. Kutcher, who worked in a factory, and Diane Finnegan, who worked for Procter & Gamble. Procter & Gamble, also known as P&G, is an American multinational specializing in personal care and hygiene products.
Kutcher has stated that he has German, Czech, and Irish ancestry and we can assume that his Irish blood comes from his mother, given her Irish surname. It isn’t clear where his Czech blood derives from but his father likely has German ancestry, as Kutcher is an Americanized version of the German surname Kutscher.
The couple already had a daughter, Tausha, when Ashton was born. They were living in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, by the time they had their sons. Christopher Ashton Kutcher and Michael Kutcher were born on February 7, 1978.
They are fraternal twins, meaning they were two separate eggs that shared the womb rather than identical twins, who the result of one egg dividing into two. Ashton was the bigger of the two twins and Michael suffered significant issues with his physical development.
Michael was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy during infancy and underwent a heart transplant at 13 after cardiomyopathy threatened his life.
Life in Iowa
Kutcher has described his family life as being “relatively conservative”. His parents are Catholic, though Kutcher does not seem to be a practicing member of the faith as an adult, having taken more of an interest in Kabbalah.
Michael’s health issues were difficult for the teenaged Ashton to deal with. He has spoken about how his home life became increasingly stressful and that he stayed away from the house because he couldn’t face going home to receive more bad news about his brother.
The family moved to Homestead, Iowa after Ashton’s freshman year in high school. His difficulties at home saw Ashton heading down an unfortunate path and he was arrested in his senior year after breaking into his high school in an attempt to steal money.
Larry and Diane divorced when Ashton was 16, with Ashton continuing to live in Homestead with his mother following the separation. He enrolled at the University of Iowa in 1996, planning to major in biomechanical engineering, motivated by wanting to help find a cure for his brother’s heart condition.
To pay his college tuition, he worked at the General Mills plant in his hometown of Cedar Rapids, but he dropped out after being discovered by a model scout and winning a modeling competition. He moved to Hollywood to pursue a career in show business, having discovered a passion for acting during high school.
In May 2015, Ashton surprised Diane by remodeling her home for Mother’s Day. This included completely overhauling her basement into a space for her grandchildren, as well as adding a canning room for Diane to preserve her homemade salsa.
Kutcher planned the work on Houzz, a home design site and app, and one of his many investments in technology over the past decade. Ashton talked about how it was just a way of trying to thank his mother, saying that his parents made great sacrifices to give him the life he has.