Clay Aiken’s Son Is Growing Up To Be His Look-Alike

Clay Aiken first rocketed to fame as a contestant on Season 2 of “American Idol,” when the Raleigh, North Carolina native came in second while Ruben Studdard won “American Idol.” More than 20 years later, Aiken is now father to a teenager who is basically his doppelganger.

Parker Foster Aiken joined his dad on an August 2024 episode of “Celebrity Family Feud,” marking Parker’s first TV appearance. Even though Aiken has admitted to having had plastic surgery after his time on “American Idol,” when you look at pictures of him from the reality show next to footage of Parker, you can definitely see the family resemblance. Parker’s basically got the same cheekbones and chin as his dad along with a similarly big, bright smile.

It was a full family affair on Aiken’s “Celebrity Family Feud” episode with familial connections between the opposing teams. Parker’s mother, Jaymes Foster, was on the Aiken team, as were Clay’s mom Faye Parker and his brother Brett Parker. They were playing against Katharine McPhee and her family, and McPhee is married to David Foster, the famous music producer who is also Jaymes’ brother. Small world!

Some fans online went crazy when they realized — or maybe remembered — that Clay Aiken had a teenage son after watching the “Celebrity Family Feud” episode. “So sitting here watching Family Feud Celebrity Musician edition & I must’ve missed a few chapters because Clay Aiken has a 15-year-old son, Parker, who is his mini me,” one person wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Others raved about how alike the two looked, and some really loved just how tightly Parker Foster Aiken hugged his dad after the show ended. (*Spoiler alert — the Aiken family won.)

The show aired just two days before Parker’s 16th birthday. Jaymes Foster was 50 when Parker was born while Clay was 29. The two used IVF to conceive, and in an interview with People when Parker was just seven weeks old, Foster talked about the bond that she and Clay shared. “We love each other dearly and deeply as friends, but I think as parents now, there’s an even greater bond, certainly for me,” she said. “Our job is to remain best friends for the rest of our lives and that’s the most important thing for Parker.” Clearly the two have stayed close, and we love to see it.

It was Parker Aiken’s birth that helped inspire his father Clay Aiken to publicly come out as gay. In a September 2008 issue of People, in which Clay is seen cradling his newborn son on the cover, he said that coming out, “was the first decision I made as a father. I cannot raise a child to lie or to hide things. I wasn’t raised that way, and I’m not going to raise a child to do that.”

Despite (or perhaps because of?) having parents involved in the music industry, Parker isn’t planning on pursuing that as a career, and it sounds like his dad is 100% OK with that and supporting him no matter what. “He has something else he wants to do with his life. And I’m excited for him,” Clay told E! News.

Clay himself pivoted for a bit from singing to politics, running for U.S. Congress in North Carolina in 2014 and 2022. In 2023, he returned to his “American Idol” roots by going on a short tour with Ruben Studdard. In an interview before the tour with Studdard, Clay talked about how excited he was for Parker to see him in concert and remember it — he hadn’t done any concerts since his son was four.