Cobie Smulders has built an impressive Hollywood career playing tough, capable women, from Robin Scherbatsky in How I Met Your Mother to Maria Hill in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But her most meaningful role? Being mum to two daughters, she once feared she’d never have. Shaelyn Cado Killam, 16, and Janita Mae Killam, 10, have been raised with intention, privacy, and a whole lot of love by Smulders and her husband, comedian Taran Killam.
What makes this family’s story particularly remarkable isn’t just the typical celebrity juggling act of work and parenthood. It’s that these two girls exist at all, considering their mother was told she’d likely never conceive naturally after a devastating cancer diagnosis at 25.
Shaelyn Cado Killam
Shaelyn Cado Killam was born on May 16, 2009, making her 16 years old as of December 2025. Smulders chose the name because she’d always loved “Shay” and hadn’t heard it used much before. The middle name Cado comes from Old French, meaning “little fighter,” a fitting choice given everything her mother had been through with cancer.
At three years old, Shaelyn served as a flower girl at her parents’ 2012 wedding. According to family stories, the toddler was far more interested in her white shoes and the wedding cake than the actual ceremony itself.
Now a teenager, Shaelyn is living the adolescent life with parents who’ve made deliberate choices about privacy and screen time. She’s been spotted with her mother on occasion but has no documented red carpet appearances or social media presence.
Janita Mae Killam
Janita Mae Killam arrived around January 2015, roughly six years after her older sister. While her exact birthday remains private, Smulders confirmed that she brought a three-week-old baby to the Sundance Film Festival that month. Janita is currently 10 years old.
In a sweet bit of Hollywood trivia, Janita’s real sonogram actually appeared in the film Killing Gunther, which her father, Taran, directed. Like her sister, Janita has been kept almost entirely out of the public eye.
The six-year age gap between the sisters has worked well for the family. “Because my kids have a big age difference, it’s been manageable,” Smulders has explained.
The Cancer Battle That Made Motherhood Uncertain
In 2007, Smulders was 25 and filming Season 3 of How I Met Your Mother when doctors diagnosed her with borderline ovarian cancer that had spread to her lymph nodes and surrounding tissues. It wasn’t aggressive enough for chemotherapy, but wasn’t benign enough to ignore.
Radiation therapy would have annihilated her fertility, so Smulders underwent multiple surgeries over two years that left her with just one-third of one ovary. Doctors told her natural conception was unlikely.
“I had a great fear of not being able to have kids,” she told PEOPLE. She kept working through treatment, kept the diagnosis private for nearly eight years, and finally went public in May 2015 through Women’s Health magazine. By August 2019, she was officially in remission.
Within a year of her final surgery, Smulders got pregnant with Shaelyn. Then Janita came along too, and both conceived naturally. “When I say that out loud, I can’t even believe that happened,” she reflected. “When I was able to have kids, that was everything.”
Their Parents’ Relationship
Smulders and Taran Killam met at a mutual friend’s 30th birthday party in 2005 when both were 22. They got engaged in January 2009, right around when Smulders was pregnant with Shaelyn, and married on September 8, 2012, at California’s Alisal Guest Ranch and Resort.
Three-year-old Shaelyn served as flower girl at the ceremony, which was attended by about 300 guests, including Smulders’ HIMYM co-stars. Now married for over 13 years and together for two decades, the couple has successfully balanced dual Hollywood careers while prioritising their family.
How They’re Raising Their Daughters
Smulders and Killam’s primary parenting goal is simple: “For my kids to be able to talk to me about anything. That’s my dream as a parent.”
The family operates under a “no jerk” policy focused on kindness, empathy, and supporting others. When dealing with teenage emotions, Smulders tries to remember what she was like at 13, which she admits was “a monster” emotionally, helping her stay patient.
Screen time is heavily limited in the Killam household, and social media is completely off-limits for both girls. “We don’t do a lot of screens,” Smulders explained in 2022. She sees social media as a dangerous comparison tool and wants to protect her daughters from cyberbullying as long as possible.
Instead, the family prioritises outdoor activities like hiking, biking, and swimming. They watch documentaries together, and reading is central to their home life, from Harry Potter to graphic novels. Both parents also bring the girls to film sets to teach them about teamwork and respect for everyone’s contribution.
On raising daughters specifically, Smulders acknowledges the challenges but feels encouraged. “It’s a real challenging time to be raising women right now in this country,” she’s said, but she’s proud of how outspoken and confident her girls are compared to how she was at their age.
Smulders and Killam have kept Shaelyn and Janita almost entirely out of the public eye. Neither daughter has documented red carpet appearances, and both parents avoid posting identifying photos on social media. When Smulders and Killam attend premieres or events, they appear as a couple without their children, maintaining strict boundaries between their professional lives and their daughters’ privacy.
In January 2025, the family’s Pacific Palisades home was destroyed in devastating wildfires. The $5.6 million property, which they’d purchased in 2017 and renovated with eco-friendly features, was lost entirely. Both parents have since been actively volunteering with LA fire relief efforts.