Zoe Grace Quaid is the twin daughter of actor, Dennis Quaid and his third wife, Kimberly Buffington. Born in 2007, the 16-year-old celebrity child nearly lost her life to an accidental drug overdose when she was still a baby.
On his part, her father has enjoyed a successful acting career with wide-ranging roles in Breaking Away (1979), Parent Trap (1998), and American Underdog (2021) among many others. Being the only daughter of the iconic actor, there are many things about her that are quite interesting.
Elusive Facts About Zoe Grace Quaid That You Should Know
1. Who Is She?
She is the twin daughter of Dennis Quaid and Kimberly Buffington. Zoe was born on November 8, 2007, in Santa Monica. She was birthed together with her twin brother, Thomas Boone Quaid who arrived two minutes before her.
The Quaid twins were born four weeks pre-mature and since then, their life became closely linked with each other. Also, her parents were already established by the time they had them. Her mother is a real estate broker while, as indicated, her dad is a widely acclaimed actor.
2. Her Parents Had Her Via Surrogacy
Zoe and Thomas Quaid were born through gestational surrogacy. In this form of surrogacy, Dennis and Kimberly are the biological parents of the twins.
While Kimberly was 36 years at the time of the twin’s birth, their reasons for choosing a surrogate are not clear. Drawing from the experiences of other celebrity couples who had children via surrogate, many chose it due to underlying health conditions with the common being adenomyosis-a condition where cells from the uterus lining grow into the uterus muscle.
Whatever the case, Kimberly, 52, and Dennis announced Zoe and Thomas’s birth with joy.
3. She and Her Brother Nearly Lost Their Lives Due to an Overdose
Following an infection that Zoe and her brother suffered as infants, Dennis and Kimberly took them to their pediatrician who referred them to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Santa Monica for a follow-up.
While at the hospital, they were diagnosed with a staph infection and placed on antibiotics. However, things took a turn for the worse when they were accidentally given over 1000 units of Heparin-a blood thinning drug mostly used to stop blood clotting. As it turned out, they were injected twice with Heparin instead of 10 units of Hep-lock, the blood thinner suitable for children.
Fortunately for the twins, the hospital staff realized the mistake and they were given protamine sulfate- a drug that reverses the effect of heparin.
While this was going on, Zoe’s parents had no idea that their children’s lives were at stake till they visited the hospital the day after.
4. Zoe Grace Quaid’s Parents Sued The Makers of Heparin
After the near-death experience of their infants, Dennis Quaid and Kimberly took up legal action against the makers of Heparin-Baxter Healthcare Corp.
The then-couple held them accountable for their failure to put indications on the drug vials. Also, they felt that the company failed to recall the drug following the death of other infants that had taken the drug.
Even though Zoe’s parents wanted to hold the drug manufacturer responsible for the error, the lawsuit did not succeed as it never made it to trial. This is because the case was filed in Illinois where Baxter Healthcare Corp is located whereas, the overdose happened in California. As a result, Quaid’s claim was dismissed.
5. The Hospital Settled With Zoe’s Parents for the Overdose
Apart from the manufacturers of the drug, her famous parents also dragged the hospital to the Los Angeles Superior Court.
The hospital issued an apology for the incident and settled with the family for the sum of $750,000. They were also fined the sum of $25,000 by the California Department of Public Health.
Remarkably, the incident led Cedar-Sinai to improve some of the protocols in order to avoid such occurrences.
6. Zoe and Her Twin’s Near-death Experience Influenced Their Father’s Health Advocacy
Their experience showed a deeper issue with the law regarding suing drug companies. Moving forward, Zoe’s parents, Dennis and Kimberly appeared before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to give their testimony. They pushed for a look into federal and state conflicting laws that prevent the suing of drug companies.
Not only that, her father became an advocate for patient health safety. Dennis Quaid produced documentaries as well as made magazine features to make his point. So far, his advocacy work includes;
- Chasing Zero: Winning the War on Healthcare Harm(2010)
- Surfing the Healthcare Tsunami: Bring Your Best Board(2012)
7. Her Parents are No Longer Married
Despite her parent’s celebrated marriage, it did not last long. Dennis and Kimberly got married in 2004. Yet, the years following the birth of Zoe and Thomas were not all smooth for the couple. Her parents filed for divorce for many times between 2012 and 2016. Apparently, their union had issues that were kept far away from their successful careers.
Kimberly filed for a divorce in 2012 when Zoe and Thomas were just 5 years old. They didn’t go through with the divorce after she withdrew the case. After this, they made more attempts at working on the union.
Unfortunately, their differences ran deeper, leading to a final divorce filing in 2016. The divorce process took the next two years before it would officially be finalized in 2018.
8. Zoe Grace Quaid and Her Brother Will Be Spending More Time With Both Parents
Since her parent’s divorce in 2018, Zoe and her brother had been with their mother most of the time. As per the arrangements then, Kimberly kept Zoe and Thomas for 75% but recent changes indicate that this arrangement will change.
As reported, the teenagers move to High School at different schools led their parents to make new arrangements. Thus, they will now share their custody equally in a 2-week in-2-week-out arrangement. Accordingly, their mother will look after them if their father is unable to do so. But this does not come free, as she will collect $225 per child from him.
While the twins will become adults in the next four years, it is unclear if this new arrangement will last till then.
9. Her Parents Have Since Moved On
Zoe Grace Quaid’s parents have since moved on from their failed marriage which lasted twelve years. Though her mother lives away from the media and has not revealed the new man in her life. As for her father, the Parent Trap actor is always in the spotlight.
He grabbed the attention of many when he announced his engagement to Laura Savoie, 31, a student at the University of Texas, Houston, on October 21, 2019. This led to many reactions with regard to the 39 years age gap between them.
Despite this, he indicated they would be getting married within a year. As it turned out, their plan to get married in Hawaii was affected by Covid 19. Hence, they postponed the wedding to 2020. As it turned out, The Breakaway actor eloped to California and got married to the Ph.D. student in a secret ceremony on a beach in Santa Barbara in an event attended by only their pastor.
His marriage to Savoie, younger or not is the fourth one for the veteran actor. Though he maintains that this will be the last one for him, only the future will tell as per his first two marriages with;
- P.J. Soles: Dennis Quaids was first married to her between 1978 and 1983. She was three years older than him at the time they got married.
- Meg Ryan: His second marriage to Ryan who was ten years younger than him was a highly publicized one. They tied the knot in 1991 and had a son, Jack Quaid(32) before their divorce in 2001. Unlike his other marriages, Meg was blamed for the failure of their marriage probably due to the fame and career growth she had during the marriage.
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10. Where is Zoe Grace Quaid’s Now?
Though there was the possibility of an adverse effect of overdosing on her and her brother in later life, this has not played out in their lives so far. The 16-year-old has moved beyond a rocky past and is now now thriving as revealed by her father revealed.
Moreso, she and her brother are starting high school in different schools in the fall of 2022. As of this writing, the names of the school are not yet known nor is their reason for attending different schools.
Zoe Grace Quaid is the only daughter of the Parent Trap actor. Like his many movie portrayals as a father, he has shown this side of him in the attention she and her siblings get from him. Despite his fame, Zoe has not indicated any interest in following in his footsteps.
