Meet Neil Diamond's 4 very private kids he shares with 2 ex-wives

Neil welcomed his first child, daughter Marjorie, with his high school sweetheart and first wife, Jayne Posner, in 1965.

Not much is known about Marjorie, but she lived in New York before moving to New Jersey when her mom remarried following her 1969 split from Neil.

Neil revealed that his eldest daughter came up with the title for one of his most popular songs, "Beautiful Noise," while they were staying in a hotel room in NYC during a parade.

"We were looking at the parade and all the noise coming up from the parade to the hotel room," he said during an interview with the U.K.’s TV-am in 1992. "And Marjorie, my eldest daughter, said, 'Daddy, what a beautiful noise!' And I said, 'Marjorie, tonight, we're going to write a song called 'Beautiful Noise.' It just struck me as something only a child could think of, and that night I wrote 'Beautiful Noise' from beginning to end."

Marjorie lives in New York City and has at least one son, Alexander, who was born in 1995.

Elyn is the second daughter of Neil and Jayne, and she was born in 1968. Like her older sister, Elyn prefers a life out of the spotlight, but she has attended several events with her dad over the years.

Elyn founded the Children Who Never Forget Foundation, an organization that aids children who have experienced abuse, and in October 2000, she and her dad held a benefit in its honor.

Elyn is reportedly married to Mitchel Resnick, and they welcomed their first child, daughter Avery Max, in Los Angeles on December 20, 2004.

Neil and his second wife, Marcia Murphey, welcomed their first child, and Neil's first son, Jesse, on May 1, 1970.

Jesse followed in his dad's footsteps and pursued a music career during his early 20s, even touring with Neil. "It's just good fun for me," Jesse said on TV-am in 1992. "I don't get paid; I'm just really along for a great time."

"He took to it. He loves it," Neil added of touring with his son. "He plays drums, he writes music, he's a terrific writer, and he's now taking guitar. It's a pleasure for me to have him with me. It's a big kick, it's something that I dreamed about for a long time. I was on the road, I thought, 'Someday, maybe I'll take Jesse with me.'"

After studying music and visual arts at the California Institute of the Arts, Jesse began his own photography business, The Street Studio, and over the years, his work has been shown in exhibitions in L.A., NYC, and Germany. He has also published several books and won awards for his photography, including Fine Art Photographer of the Year at the International Photography Awards in 2004.

Jesse and his ex-wife, actress Sheryl Lee, share a son, Elijah Diamond, who was born on May 2, 2000. He began dating his long-time friend, therapist Elana Belzberg, in 2016, before they married in June 2019.

Neil and Marcia welcomed their second son, Micah, in 1978, and like his older brother, he is a photographer. Micah and Jesse co-founded Eyeist, an online platform that connects "top photo industry experts with photographers worldwide, in March 2011.

Micah and Jesse both took photos for their dad's 2020 album, Classic Diamonds, but apart from the album cover, the majority of the images were captured by Micah. "He took it with a lot of soul and a lot of passion, and he nailed it," Neil said of Micah in an interview with Forbes.

Little is known about Micah's private life, but according to photos on Jesse's Instagram, he has at least one daughter and a partner.

While Neil has spoken about wanting to give his kids a "normal life," he previously admitted that his hectic touring schedule and workload put a strain on his family.

"There were always tears. The kids cried, my wives cried, I cried," he told 60 Minutes Australia in February 2020. "Somehow, they don't remember that so much. But I walk around with a sense of guilt still because I left them more than I should have, but the work required it. It was that simple."