Getty Some of John McCain's children with wife Cindy.
On August 25, 2018, Senator John McCain may have lost his battle with cancer, but he won the war in patriotism and honor across the nation. Just one day after announcing that he had decided to end treatment for his brain cancer, McCain passed away. The NY Times released McCain’s statement, which read, “Last summer, Senator John McCain shared with Americans the news our family already knew: He had been diagnosed with an aggressive glioblastoma, and the prognosis was serious. In the year since, John has surpassed expectations for his survival. But the progress of disease and the inexorable advance of age render their verdict. With his usual strength of will, he has now chosen to discontinue medical treatment.”
In the wake of John McCain’s death, some members of his family posted individual statements about their grief online. Several of these were from McCain’s children. Upon his death, McCain has left behind a family of seven kids. Read on below for all the details on his sons and daughters, their names, ages and significant others.
Meghan McCain
Getty
Meghan McCain was born on October 23, 1984, making her 33 years old in 2018. She is the oldest of the children that John McCain shared with wife Cindy. Many know Meghan as a columnist and former Fox News correspondent, as well as a co-host on The View. In November 2017, Meghan got married to a man named Ben Domenech, who is a writer and TV correspondent. Her father was able to attend the wedding.
After her father’s death was announcement, Meghan took to Twitter to express her pain and talk about the love she had for her dad. Meghan wrote, “I was with my father at his end, as he was with me at my beginning … All that I am is thanks to him … My father’s passing comes with sorrow and grief for me, for my mother, for my brothers, and for my sisters … The days and years to come will not be the same without my dad.”
During one of the events involved with John McCain’s funeral, daughter Meghan was photographed crying over her late father’s casket, in a truly heartbreaking moment.
Bridget McCain
Cindy and John McCain adopted their daughter Bridget from an orphanage in Bangladesh, but it was actually Cindy who made the choice on her own. In an interview with Dad Mag, John revealed, “It was primarily my wife’s Cindy’s idea. She was in Bangladesh and she and some of the medical personnel visited Mother Theresa’s orphanage to try and help the children there. There were two little baby girls there. One had a heart problem the other a severe cleft palate. Cindy was very concerned about their ability to survive and their need for medical treatment, so she decided to bring them here for medical treatment. She fell in love with both of them. We decided to adopt Bridget.”
Bridget McCain was born on July 21, 1991, which makes her 27 years old in 2018. She is the youngest of the McCain brood.
Bridget was one of the speakers at a service for her father, after his death. Her siblings Andrew and Meghan McCain were also speaking at different times during the funeral and memorial ceremony events. Bridget’s reading is from Chapter 3 of Ecclesiastes. The verse states, “There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens. A time to give birth, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant.”
John Sidney McCain IV
John Sidney McCain IV was nicknamed Jack and he attended the Naval Academy, later becoming a Navy helicopter pilot. His mother, Cindy McCain revealed to The New York Times that it was the only school he applied to when he was younger and that he said, “I want to be a part of our family legacy.” Jack McCain was born in 1986, two years after his sister Meghan. According to ABC News, Jack and his mother bond over their love of NASCAR.
Jack married his wife, Renee Swift McCain, who was an Air Force Reserve captain, in 2013. After her father-in-law John McCain’s death, Renee posted this heartfelt message on Twitter, “I wish you fair winds and following seas ahead.” Renee and Jack married at San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral.
According to Madame Noire, Jack and his wife met when they were both stationed in Guam. Their relationship grew into romance, then marriage, and then parenthood.
James McCain
Unlike his father, James McCain did not join the Navy. James, who is known to his family as Jimmy, actually enlisted in the Marines. His mom, Cindy McCain, told the NY Times that Jimmy is “the sensitive one” of the bunch. James McCain is the youngest son in the family, born in 1988.
According to ABC News, James is no longer in the marines, but while enlisted, he did a tour in Iraq. According to James’ brother, Jack, their mother had a difficult time with James joining the marines at just 17 years old. WUSA9 reported that Jack stated, “My brother ended up going the quicker route and going the significantly more dangerous route and I think it took quite a few years for my mom to really come to grips with it.”
Jimmy McCain married in April 2016 to his wife Holly Ross.
Sidney McCain
Getty
Sidney McCain was born to dad John and mom Carol Shepp, just one year before her father’s plane was shot down over Vietnam and he was captured, in 1966. Sidney recalled to The New York Times that, “I didn’t really have a father to miss because I didn’t know what a father was … I was very spoiled at the time in the sense of complete strangers would come up and give me things like a P.O.W. bracelet or a stuffed animal.”
According to The New York Times, Sidney and sister Meghan McCain are very close. Instead of politics or the armed forces, like many of McCain’s other kids, Sidney went on to work in the music business for years. Grant Woods, a former chief of staff for Mr. McCain, told the NY Times, in 2007, that, “Sidney is a character. I think she stretched him a lot. Sidney has been very involved in the entertainment industry and taken him to the award shows even though her interests have been quite divergent from his. He is very close to her as well.” Echoing this, Sidney admitted, “I was the boundary pusher. In high school I was very rebellious. I needed to look at all sides. At least he would hear me out.”
AZ Central reported that, at a couple of the funeral events for John McCain, Sidney greeted members of the public, along with some of her brothers.
Andrew McCain
Carol Shepp married John McCain in 1965 and she already had two boys from a previous marriage to Alasdair E. Swanson, but John took the boys in as his own, according to Town & Country. Two years after marrying, John became a prisoner of war and was not released back to his family until 1973. In turn, Shepp had to raise her sons and the couple’s daughter for an estimated six years, on her own. Andrew, who is often referred to as Andy, recalled in the documentary John McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls that his father’s career took him away from the family a lot. He explained, “As dad progressed, he was gone a lot, doing a lot of international travel, and it was putting a little stress on the marriage.”
Because of his dad’s absence, at times, Andy said his dad had trouble fitting into his role in the household. Andy told The New York Times, “He had to find his way into the family dynamic that didn’t wait for him. My mom was running the show there for a long time and he wanted to set the tone quickly, and that was an evolution. But we didn’t have a problem knowing who was in charge. If you wanted to deviate from expected policy and he said no, he never felt an obligation to give you a reason.”
In the beginning of his father’s relationship with second wife Cindy, they had a strained relationship, but, over the years, they warmed to each other. Cindy is the heir to the company Hensley Beverage Company and Andrew has become a top executive at the highly successful company over the years.
Douglas McCain
Doug McCain is the eldest of all the McCain children. He was born from Shepp’s first marriage, but was adopted by John McCain, just as his brother Andrew was, after his mother married John. Following in John McCain’s footsteps, Doug went on to become a pilot in the Navy. Town & Country reported that he is currently a captain for American Airlines. In honor of John McCain’s passing, American Airlines released this statement, “Senator McCain will be sorely missed but his impact lives on. We will not forget his shining example of patriotism based on the ideals of freedom and equality for all and global leadership by the United States in support of those ideals.”
In an interview with The New York Times, Douglas once explained why some of John McCain’s children stayed out of the spotlight. Douglas stated that, “I think he’d prefer the family kind of stayed private. I just think he is a big believer in individuals doing their own thing.”
Douglas and his brother Andrew’s biological father, Alasdair E. Swanson, was actually a former classmate of John McCain’s.