Disney’s Bridgit Mendler Reveals She Adopted a Son — and Is Now a CEO

While revealing her latest career venture, former Disney Channel star Bridgit Mendler announced that she adopted their first child.

“The other news I wanted to share is I’m a mama to a sweet 4yo boy,” Mendler, 31, wrote via X on Monday, February 19. “Started fostering in 2021 adopted near Christmas of 2022. I’m so lucky — being a parent is the biggest gift and most defining experience there is.”

The Good Luck Charlie alum, who married Griffin Cleverly in 2019, also announced on Monday that she is the CEO and cofounder of a satellite data startup company called Northwood Space.

“At @NorthwoodSpace we have our sights on building a data highway between earth and space. We are designing shared ground infrastructure from first principles to expand access to space,” Mendler wrote via X. “We have a lot of work ahead of us but that’s the fun part. If you like building quickly and seeing your work deployed in locations around the globe with real impact, we want you at Northwood.”

Following her time on Good Luck Charlie, which aired on Disney Channel for four seasons from 2010 to 2014, Mendler took a break from the spotlight to focus on school.

In 2017, Mendler was announced as one of the MIT Media Lab’s Director’s Fellows. She later started a graduate program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a focus on improving social media.

“As an entertainer, for years I struggled with social media because I felt like there was a more loving and human way to connect with fans,” she wrote via X in 2018.

In 2020, Mendler went on to complete her graduate degree at MIT and began working on her Ph.D with MIT’s Center for Constructive Communications and Social Machines group. Along with her studies at MIT, Mendler pursued a JD from Harvard Law School, where she also served as co-president of the Harvard Space Law Society, per her LinkedIn.

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Mendler opened up about her out-of-this-world pursuits on Monday, telling CNBC that she “completely fell in love with space law” while working at the Federal Communications Commission’s Space Bureau in 2022.

“Space is getting easier along so many different dimensions, but still, the actual exercise of sending data to and from space is difficult. You have difficulty finding an access point for contacting your satellite,” she explained.

Ahead of earning her CEO status, Mendler released two studio albums during her Disney days featuring singles “Ready or Not” and “Hurricane.”