In a current Vogue cowl interview, Timothée Chalamet raised eyebrows by suggesting that it’s “bleak” to be child-free by alternative.
The context of the quote was that he was recalling his response to an interview with somebody — whose identify he would “undoubtedly” not reveal — “bragging about not having children and the way a lot time it afforded them to do different stuff.” “Holy shit. Oh my God. Bleak,” he recalled saying to a pal.
As you’ll have seen, Timothée copped lots of backlash for these feedback. And amid the net discourse, some followers speculated that he might have been referencing Seth Rogen, who’s one of the crucial notable celebrities to have mentioned the advantages of being child-free. However, it’s price noting that TONS of celebrities have talked brazenly concerning the causes they’ve chosen to not have children. So, right here’s a roundup of stars who’re child-free and find it irresistible that means.
1. Seth and his spouse, Lauren Miller, have been collectively since 2004 and obtained married in 2011. And since then, Seth has attributed lots of his profession success to the truth that he and Lauren actively selected to not have children.
“Me and my spouse, neither of us had been like that. Actually, the older we get the extra pleased and reaffirmed we’re with our option to not have children,” he stated in 2023. “We’re within the prime of our lives. We’re smarter than we have ever been. We perceive ourselves greater than we ever have. We now have the capability to attain a degree of labor and a degree of communication and take care of each other, and a way of life we will dwell with each other that we have by no means been capable of dwell earlier than, and we will simply do this and we do not have to lift a baby — which the world doesn’t want proper now.”
Notably, Seth has confronted backlash for sharing his views on child-free life, and he adopted up earlier this 12 months by telling critics: “It’s best to solely have children in the event you really need children, and we simply don’t really need children…I take a look at my mates with children, and truthfully, I really feel like a few of them are extremely pleased and fulfilled, and a few of them seem to be perhaps they want they’d put a bit of extra thought into it. I simply didn’t need to be a kind of folks.”
2. Tracee Ellis Ross is child-free and single in her 50s — and really pleased that means. “I don’t consider that my life is unworthy as a result of I don’t have youngsters,” stated throughout an look on the New York Instances Properly Pageant this 12 months. “I don’t consider that my life is unworthy as a result of I wouldn’t have a person or companion. I do consider that I mom in every single place. I do consider that I do very valued issues on the earth and for those that I care about and love.”
3. In a 2019 interview with Elle journal, Miley Cyrus opened up concerning the judgment that comes with not wanting children, saying: “Folks really feel sorry for you, such as you’re a chilly, heartless bitch who’s not able to love…Why are we skilled that love means placing your self second and people you like first? If you happen to love your self, then what? You come first.”
In the identical interview, she acknowledged that her want to dwell a child-free life has largely been influenced by local weather change. “We’re getting handed a piece-of-shit planet, and I refuse at hand that all the way down to my little one,” she stated. “Till I really feel like my child would dwell on an earth with fish within the water, I am not bringing in one other individual to take care of that.”
4. Talking of Miley, her godmother, Dolly Parton, has additionally been very vocal about not having her personal youngsters. Dolly, who was married to her late husband, Carl Dean, for 60 years, stated throughout an interview with Oprah in 2020 that not having children allowed her rather more freedom in life.
“I did not have youngsters as a result of I believed that God did not imply for me to have children…so I may do issues like Creativeness Library [her book gifting program],” she stated. “As a result of if I hadn’t had the liberty to work, I would not have accomplished all of the issues I’ve accomplished. I would not be ready to do the entire issues I am doing now.” Realizing she made the appropriate choice, Dolly added: “I’ve made sacrifices, however I feel, like I stated, I consider what I do know I am imagined to do.”
5. In an interview with the Guardian in 2013, Christopher Walken stated he would “completely not” have the profession he has immediately if he and his spouse, Georgianne, had had youngsters. “I am certain lots of the children I knew as a baby would have continued in showbusiness, however they’d children of their very own, needed to do one thing reliable,” he stated, explaining that being child-free gave him the pliability to do no matter he needed. “I did not, so I may get by even in durations of unemployment.”
6. Kim Cattrall thought-about having youngsters by herself when she was in her late 30s, and even made “inquiries by way of my ob-gyn about sperm banks.” Nonetheless, she in the end realized that having her personal children wasn’t in her future. “After I really feel misplaced and may’t decide, I simply cease and get quiet. I take a time-out. I ask myself, ‘How does this really feel? What do I need my life to be like?’” she stated in O Journal in 2003. “I attempt to not hearken to the shoulds or coulds, and attempt to get past expectations, peer stress, or attempting to please — and simply hear…After I answered these questions concerning having youngsters, I spotted that a lot of the stress I used to be feeling was from outdoors sources, and I knew I wasn’t able to take that step into motherhood.”
Regardless of not pursuing motherhood within the conventional sense, Kim has been very clear about the truth that she nonetheless considers herself to be a “mother or father.” “There’s a method to develop into a mom at the moment, which doesn’t embrace your identify on the kid’s start certificates. You possibly can specific that maternal facet, very clearly, very strongly,” she advised the BBC in 2015. “I didn’t change nappies, which is okay with me, however I did assist my niece get by way of medical college. I did sit down with my nephew when he was [going through] a really powerful time to affix the military. And people are very motherly issues to do, very nurturing issues to do.”
7. In 2023, Margaret Cho stated that she merely didn’t prioritize having children as a result of it “doesn’t appear to be enjoyable.” “I feel my life would’ve been very completely different if I had youngsters. I in the end determined to not as a result of I simply do not need to love anyone that a lot, and that is a tough alternative,” she stated throughout an interview for The Midst. “I see that occur with my family and friends and their children, and I am like, ‘That does not appear to be enjoyable.’”
8. Although he’s beforehand joked that he might need some children working round on the market, Jared Leto advised ES Journal in 2017 that he’s far too busy to decide to fatherhood. “I feel it’s actually necessary to be current when you’ve got youngsters,” he stated. “I’ve lots of…issues to care for.”
9. Oprah Winfrey has lengthy stood agency in her choice to not have youngsters or get married, regardless of being in a relationship with Stedman Graham because the Nineteen Eighties. “If I had children, my children would hate me,” she advised the Hollywood Reporter in 2013. “They might have ended up on the equal of the Oprah present speaking about me; as a result of one thing [in my life] would have needed to undergo and it could’ve most likely been them.”
She doubled down once more in 2019, telling Folks that her work on The Oprah Winfrey Present confirmed her “the depth of duty and sacrifice that’s really required to be a mom.” “I spotted, ‘Whoa, I’m speaking to lots of messed-up folks, and they’re tousled as a result of they’d moms and dads who weren’t conscious of how critical that job is,’” she stated. “I don’t have the flexibility to compartmentalize the way in which I see different ladies do. It’s why, all through my years, I’ve had the very best regard for ladies who select to be at dwelling [with] their children, as a result of I don’t know the way you do that each one day lengthy.”
10. In 2024, John Cena candidly stated that the rationale he and his spouse, Shay Shariatzadeh, haven’t had children is just because they “don’t need them.” “I’ve a sure curiosity about life, and I additionally know the funding that it takes,” he stated on the Membership Shay Shay podcast. “I do not suppose I am personally prepared, nor will I ever be, to speculate the time it must be an excellent mother or father as a result of I need to dwell life for all it’s…And I nonetheless have so much to do. And I nonetheless need to do so much. I’ve an exquisite companion I do it with. We have had open conversations about this. We share the identical values.”
11. Mary J. Blige is “Simply Advantageous” with not having children. “I’ve nieces and nephews eternally, and I’m at all times watching how persons are scrambling round for babysitters. I don’t need to undergo that,” she advised E! Day by day Pop in 2022. “I like my freedom. I like with the ability to rise up and go and transfer and do what I need to do. I don’t need to should are inclined to somebody on a regular basis.”
12 & 13. Portia de Rossi and Ellen DeGeneres love children, however they’re pleased to not have their very own. “At this level, I really feel like I am disappointing the entire of America, not simply my mom,” Portia joked throughout an interview with Jimmy Kimmel in 2014. “[Kids are] lovely and we love them and we play with them, after which we depart.”
That very same 12 months, Ellen made related feedback throughout an interview with Folks, saying, “We might most likely be nice dad and mom. Nevertheless it’s a human being, and except you suppose you’ve got wonderful expertise and have a drive or craving in you to do this, the quantity of labor that that’s and duty — I would not need to screw them up.”
14. Chelsea Handler is solely not interested by having youngsters, however that doesn’t imply she doesn’t love them. “Folks suppose I hate children,” she stated throughout an look on Jimmy Kimmel Dwell this 12 months. “I do not hate children, I simply don’t need one. It is similar to, I do not need spaghetti bolognese — I am not , you recognize?” She beforehand advised Us Weekly: “I am not the marrying variety. I’m not on the lookout for youngsters. I simply need to have plenty of love tales.”
15. Again in 2008, Renée Zellweger advised The London Instances that “motherhood has by no means been an ambition” for her. “I do not suppose like that,” she defined. “I by no means have expectations like, ‘After I’m 19 I am going to do that, and by the point I’ve hit 25 I am going to do this.’ I simply take issues as they arrive, every day at a time, and if issues occur, all nicely and good. I simply need to be impartial and have the ability to care for myself. Anything is simply gravy.”
Years later, in 2025, Renée talked to The Irish Instances about how she feels the societal conversations round child-free residing have modified. “To decide on to not have youngsters isn’t that distinctive, is it?” she stated. “I feel it’s fairly frequent.” And this listing exhibits that she’s proper!
16. Maybe my favourite no-BS reasoning for not having youngsters, Stevie Nicks advised In Type in 2002: “I do not need to go to PTA conferences.” “It is like, Do you need to be an artist and a author, or a spouse and a lover?” she defined. “With children, your focus adjustments.”
17. Sam Rockwell and his long-term companion, The White Lotus star Leslie Bibb, have been collectively for practically 20 years, and their lives are completely nice with out children. “We similar to it the way in which it’s,” Sam advised The Normal in 2022. “Pay attention, if I knew they’d prove nice, then perhaps — however there’s simply no assure…I don’t need to be egocentric and be a foul mother or father. It takes so much to be a mother or father.”
18. Again in 2007, Rachael Ray stated she merely had an excessive amount of happening in her life to be a mother or father. “I don’t have time,” she advised Folks. “I work an excessive amount of to be an acceptable mother or father. I really feel like a foul mother to my canine some days as a result of I’m simply not right here sufficient. I simply really feel like I might do a foul job if I took the time to actually give start to a child proper now and try to juggle every thing I’m doing.”
In 2025, Rachael mirrored on the backlash she confronted for opting to not have children, however made it clear that she has no regrets in any respect. “Boy, did I get bashed for it over the many years,” she stated on her I am going to Sleep After I’m Lifeless podcast. “For me, if I’ve absolutely the worst day, or I am sick as a canine — because the expression goes — the factor that makes me really feel finest is to go dwelling and actually climb into mattress underneath a blanket with my canine.”
19. Lily Tomlin stated there “would not have been room in [her] life to lift youngsters.” “I did not need to — and I am glad I do not — have any youngsters. God solely is aware of what I might have accomplished with them, poor issues,” she advised Metro Weekly in 2006. “I used to be so concerned with my profession, and I might have had to surrender the profession largely as a result of I couldn’t presumably have shortchanged the kid.” When requested if she would’ve been mom, Lily replied: “I most likely would have been. However I used to be egocentric. I didn’t need to be.”
20. Ava DuVernay is child-free by alternative, however feels that her movies are her youngsters. “I put my blood into them,” the Selma director advised Mama Is aware of It All. “It’s actually what has my identify on it. It’s what I’ll depart behind on the earth.”
21. In 2018, Sarah Paulson advised City & Nation that she’d chosen to give attention to her performing profession, not elevating children. “I don’t need to be torn,” she stated. “I don’t need to take a look at my little one and say, ‘You’re essentially the most extraordinary factor that ever occurred to me, but additionally the loss of life knell.’”
“It was laborious for my mom to be all over the place, to return to the college play and make a residing,” she continued. “I’ve at all times recognized what I needed out of my skilled life, and I didn’t need to flip round and go, ‘If I had solely made the selection to simply dedicate this time in my life to me.’ It’s egocentric, however I feel the phrase egocentric will get a foul rap.”
22. Alison Brie married Dave Franco in 2017, and since then, she’s talked candidly about the truth that neither of them are interested by having children. “I don’t actually need to have children,” she advised The London Instances in 2019. “It’s nice, as a result of I don’t fear about when ought to I get pregnant, between seasons, whereas we’re capturing [Glow], I don’t give it some thought day-after-day. I take into consideration how a lot we’re concerned in our cats’ lives. Oh my God, if it was a baby.”
23. Ricky Gervais and his spouse, Jane Fallon, are very a lot united of their choice to not have youngsters. And up to now, Ricky has shared the “many causes” for this life alternative. Having beforehand joked concerning the world being “overpopulated,” Ricky advised Ellen DeGeneres in 2019 that parenthood would trigger him means an excessive amount of anxiousness. “I would fear sick a few child. I’ve a cat and I fear about that. I test the door thrice earlier than I am going out,” he stated. “I put meals and water in each room in case the door closes and he is peckish for 20 minutes.”
24. Gloria Steinem has credited the feminist motion for giving her the boldness to decide on a child-free life. “I accepted it for a very long time, and I assumed that ‘OK, I am getting married. I am having youngsters. I am undoubtedly doing that, simply not proper now.’ I would put it sooner or later after which, luckily, the ladies’s motion got here alongside and made me understand I used to be really pleased and that there have been extra methods to dwell than one,” she stated on the Feminist Makers Convention in 2014.
25. Dame Helen Mirren advised British Vogue that having youngsters was not a part of her “future.” “I stored considering it could be, ready for it to occur, nevertheless it by no means did, and I did not care what folks thought,” she stated. “It was solely boring outdated males [who would ask me]. And at any time when they went, ‘What? No youngsters? Properly, you’d higher get on with it, outdated lady,’ I would say, ‘No! Fuck off!’”
So, do any of those examples resonate with you? If you happen to’re somebody who doesn’t need children, be happy to inform me about it within the feedback! Alternatively, in the event you favor to stay nameless, please use the shape under.
