As someone who's chosen to remain childfree, I love finding out which famous people don't have kids. And since it's Women's History Month, I thought it'd be fun to take a look at some of the female celebs who've spoken up about the different reasons why they're childfree:
Disclaimer: This doesn't mean that moms shouldn't be celebrated, too! They have the hardest job in the world and deserve so much love and respect. But I think it's also important to highlight women who've chosen a path that's been traditionally shamed and frowned upon.
1. Miley Cyrus
During a 2019 interview with Elle, the singer voiced concerns about the state of the environment. "We’re getting handed a piece-of-sh*t planet, and I refuse to hand that down to my child. Until I feel like my kid would live on an earth with fish in the water, I’m not bringing in another person to deal with that. We [millennials] don’t want to reproduce because we know that the earth can’t handle it."
2. Mary J. Blige
Last year, the singer told E! Daily Pop, "I have nieces and nephews forever, and I’m always watching how people are scrambling around for babysitters. I don’t want to go through that. I like my freedom. I like being able to get up and go and move and do what I want to do. I don’t want to have to tend to someone all the time."
3. Dolly Parton
During an episode of The Oprah Conversation, the singer shared that not having children actually enabled her to help more kids. "I didn't have children because I believed that God didn't mean for me to have kids so everybody's kids could be mine, so I could do things like Imagination Library because if I hadn't had the freedom to work, I wouldn't have done all the things I've done. I wouldn't be in a position to do all of the things I'm doing now," she said.
4. Zoë Kravitz
Last year, the actor told Elle, "I don't feel pressured to have kids by a certain time, if I ever have kids...I still want to go on adventures, have fun nights, and see the sunrise. It's been an interesting journey of remembering that there's no finish line that I have to get to by a certain time. Playful, mischievous behavior is something I always hope to have, even when I'm 70 years old. The point of being alive is to experience life and play with it. There's still so much fun to be had."
5. Dame Helen Mirren
In an interview with British Vogue, the actor said, "It was not my destiny. I kept thinking it would be, waiting for it to happen, but it never did, and I didn't care what people thought. It was only boring old men [who would ask me]. And whenever they went, 'What? No children? Well, you'd better get on with it, old girl,' I'd say, 'No! F*ck off!'"
6. Oprah
Though the TV personality cares deeply for the students and alumni of her school in South Africa, she has no regrets about not having children of her own. "If I had kids, my kids would hate me," she told the Hollywood Reporter in 2013. "They would have ended up on the equivalent of the Oprah show talking about me; because something [in my life] would have had to suffer, and it would’ve probably been them.”
7. Margaret Cho
In No Kidding: Women Writers on Bypassing Parenthood, the comedian wrote, "Babies scare me more than anything. They’re tiny and fragile and impressionable — and someone else’s! As much as I hate borrowing stuff, that is how much I hate holding other people’s babies. It’s too much responsibility. Of course, they are lovely and warm and adorable, and it’s so funny when they decide they like you and hold you in return, but I am frightened of doing something wrong that will alter them forever. Give them a weird look, and they might be talking to their therapist about me 50 years later."
8. Chelsea Handler
For many years, the comedian has been outspoken about being childfree. A couple months ago, she told Today, "As a woman, I’m so sick — and have been so sick — of being asked that question [about having kids] repeatedly when I’ve made my views so clear to people." She's noticed a lack of representation for "people in this world that just want to be living their lives and live out loud and loving hard without a family and without that kind of societal construct."
9. Sarah Paulson
During a 2018 interview with Town & Country, the actor said she's chosen to dedicate her time fully to her career. "I don’t want to be torn. I don’t want to look at my child and say, 'You’re the most extraordinary thing that ever happened to me, but also the death knell.' It was hard for my mother to be everywhere, to come to the school play and make a living. I’ve always known what I wanted out of my professional life, and I didn’t want to turn around and go, 'If I had only made the choice to just dedicate this time in my life to me.' It’s selfish, but I think the word selfish gets a bad rap."
10. Ava DuVernay
The director told Mama Knows It All, "I don’t have children by choice. I always said that my films are my children. You know, I put my blood into them. It’s really what has my name on it. It’s what I’ll leave behind in the world."
11. Kim Cattrall
During a 2008 interview with the Advocate, the actor gave a refreshingly honest response about how she feels about children. "I enjoy kids but not for long periods. I think they're adorable and funny and sweet, and then I have a headache."
12. Alison Brie
During an interview with the Times, the actor said, "I don't really want to have kids. It's great because I don't worry about when I should get pregnant — between seasons, while we're shooting the show [Glow] — I don't think about it every day. It would be nice, but I think of all the things that would be so stressful. I think about how much we're involved in our cats' lives. Oh my god, if it was a child!"
13. Stevie Nicks
The singer decided to prioritize her creativity over motherhood. In 2002, she told In Style, "It's like, do you want to be an artist and a writer, or a wife and a lover? With kids, your focus changes. I don't want to go to PTA meetings."
14. Octavia Spencer
During a roundtable discussion with the Hollywood Reporter, the actor said, "Now, I’m thinking my eggs are dying on the shelf. They’re going to go past their expiration date. But it’s what I chose, so I’m fine with that decision."
15. Renée Zellweger
In 2008, the actor told the Times that she's never had the goal of being a mom. "Motherhood has never been an ambition. I don’t think like that. I never have expectations like 'When I’m 19, I’m going to do this, and by the time I’ve hit 25, I’m going to do that.' I just take things as they come, each day at a time, and if things happen, all well and good. I just want to be independent and be able to take care of myself. Anything else is just gravy."
16. Portia de Rossi
During a 2013 interview with Out, the actor shared that she and wife Ellen DeGeneres are perfectly fine without children. "There comes some pressure in your mid-30s, and you think, 'Am I going to have kids so I don't miss out on something that other people really seem to love? Or is it that I really genuinely want to do this with my whole heart?' I didn't feel that my response was 'yes' to the latter. You have to really want to have kids, and neither of us did. So, it's just going to be me and Ellen and no babies — but we're the best of friends, and married life is blissful, it really is. I've never been happier than I am right now."
17. And finally, Tracee Ellis Ross
In 2018, the actor told the Times, "I’m constantly asking myself questions, reminding myself, 'Are you making that decision for you or someone else?' The husband and the babies are the expectation of what's supposed to happen at a certain point, and people fall back on, 'Well, that’s the point of the human species, procreation.' And I’m like, 'I think there are a lot of babies — isn't that part of what’s going wrong, there’s too many?' Some people could be working on the world being a better place, or just being happy."
