To wonder whether there will be no childless female celebrities in the future.

[JNicholson]

I’m turning 40 this year. Single. No kids. Over the last few years I’ve been conscious that there were a few female celebrities of about my age or a bit older who didn’t have kids yet - Elisabeth Moss, Hayley Atwell, Aisling Bea, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Michelle Dockery. The first three have all had a kid in the last year or so, and PWB and MD are just recently announced as pregnant.

Obviously in one way it has no bearing on my life, but it sort of feels like the opposite of what the media seem to be constantly claiming, which is that fewer and fewer women are having children. In real life most women my age that I know of have had kids, and now that all of the above celebrities have or are having kids I’m not sure I can actually think of any well-known actresses in my age group who don’t have them.

I guess I’m just thinking that I can think of several famous women 50 or older who never had kids (Helen Mirren, Kim Cattrall, Jennifer Aniston), and a few who had kids at 45+ via adoption (Diane Keaton, Kristin Davis, Sandra Bullock). But I can’t actually think of famous actresses my age who don’t have them. AIBU to wonder whether with the improvements in reproductive technology and egg freezing etc, availability of surrogacy etc, childless female celebrities will become a thing of the past? Obviously us ordinary mortals can’t afford those things, but if you’re a celebrity and you can afford to have a baby on your own timeline, and as much childcare as you want etc, there’s sort of no reason not to?

I just feel increasingly isolated in my society and wider culture I guess, really doesn’t feel like what the statistics claim about more and more women being single and childless. I don’t really feel I know anyone like me, even the couple of women my age who don’t have kids have partners.

I said we could hope. It may be years (decades, perhaps) before they become affordable and mainstream, but that’s still relatively ‘soon’ in the context of human history. The fact that they currently exist means we can hope.

IVF is a clear precedent: in just over forty years it has moved from a rare, experimental procedure to a steadily more accessible and widely used treatment. In another forty years it (in some incarnation) will be even moreso. That trajectory is typical of many medical innovations, which start out costly and limited before becoming part of routine healthcare.

I think more and more women are postponing having a child until 40s rather than outright saying they don't want them. But there is a growing amount of women younger than us who are ruling it out completely. I am 39 with several friends my age who want children but don't want them yet. But I work with many younger women who know they do not want them. So I think you maybe right for our generation but definitely younger women are saying no to motherhood.

This is the case for almost all the countries with low birth rate- singapore south Korea Japan Taiwan. I am from singapore and I don't even know anyone who had a baby out of wedlock; even when i was growing up divorced parents were unheard of. Divorce rate now is 30% but it seems to be a lot of childless couples who divorce.. One of my cousins has divorced and has kids but he is one of those men who thinks singaporean women are too modern; well both his Thai wife and Malaysian wife have divorced him..

It does mean the birth rate is a lot lower as people don't have kids until they find the right person to marry.

I’m not denying that some people always know they want to be childfree, and stay with that. But some people do think that when they’re younger, and then change their minds. I’ve seen lots of posts on here by women saying they had no interest up to x age, then suddenly and unexpectedly the desire to be a mum hit and they had a child. So I’m not sure I’d really put that much stock in what younger women are saying now. Let’s see how many of them are still childfree at 45, and whether the numbers are really so different.

I was at hen-do a couple of weeks ago. There were 14 of us, all aged between 37-42 and only 2/14 women had children or wanted children. The other 12 were happily childfree

At 39, they want DC but don't want them yet, that's extremely self indulgent, trying to squeeze the last drop of child-free months.
I'm sure their future DC can't wait to have a mother that's dealing with perimenopause when they're toddlers, full blown menopause when they're teenagers, fun times.

Obviously us ordinary mortals can’t afford those things, but if you’re a celebrity and you can afford to have a baby on your own timeline, and as much childcare as you want etc, there’s sort of no reason not to?

No matter how much money you have, you can't get away from the huge responsibility of being a parent. The endless worry is still there no matter how rich you are. Speaking for myself, even the 'good' parts of having children just don't appeal and I wouldn't want to do it even if I was loaded.

Having said that, I too have noticed a recent trend in high profile women getting pregnant in their 40s. I don't think it has an awful lot to do with the realities of life for 'ordinary' women however.

I was that younger woman who had zero interest until like you say suddenly one day the urge struck and with 4 years I had 3 children! So yes people do change their minds 🤣

I think that surrogacy isn't in the best interests of the child 99% of the time - taking a baby away from its mother at birth. And that's before thinking of the birth mothers wellbeing.

I hope that legislation reduces this option, particularly when done for lifestyle reasons eg I didn't want to be pregnant due to my work schedule/ figure etc.

I think that as the effects of climate change become more and more evident, more and more women will choose not to have children. Surely the best reason not to have a child is a realistic assessment of how difficult life would be for that child? It's not all about money, either. The world is starting to go downhill very quickly, and it's a one way trip.

Out of all of my close female friends only one had kids and we always joked that if I ever wanted one, she would carry it and I would pay for her boob job and tummy tuck.

Surrogacy is already completely banned or highly restricted in most of the world. 'Lifestyle' surrogacy is mostly an American thing, and then only in a few states.

So men thinking local women are “too modern” and them desiring silent bangmaids is a global thing, I see! 😆

Ew.

I’m 44 and child free and would say 70 percent of my friends are too. Maybe it’s the circles you mix in but I’ve known these women years and many could have had children and are in relationships but haven’t wanted to.

Gosh OP, I’m finding the exact opposite. I am coming across more and more female celebrities who are child-free at 40. I posted this on another thread but copying here:

“Celebrities turning 40 in 2026” popped up on my Instagram, so I googled the women to see how many had children:

Lady Gaga - 0
Lindsay Lohan - 1
Lena Dunham - 0
Mischa Barton - 0
Leighton Meester - 2
Brittany Snow - 0
Megan Fox - 4
Alexandria Doddario - 1
Mary-Kate Olsen - 0
Ashley Olsen - 1
Charlotte Le Bon - 0
Amanda Bynes - 0
Kat Dennings - 0
Emilia Clarke - 0
Jameela Jamil - 0”

The other thing is, whenever I watch a series, I google the cast and in most cases at least half the actresses who are 45+ are child-free. I watched White Lotus S3 not long ago and in just one season of that show alone there were multiple child free actresses:

Parker Posy (57)
Leslie Bibb (52)
Natasha Rothwell (45)
Jennifer Coolidge (64)

I have no idea who these celebrities are. I know many women who decided not to have children.

Re-reading your post, you’ve definitely (consciously or unconsciously) cherry picked those celebrities!

How about:

Alexa Chung
Miquita Oliver
Anna Kendrick
Tessa Thompson
Perdita Weeks
Aubrey Plaza
Britt Lower
Janelle Monae
Marin Ireland
Cici Coleman
Bella Mackie
Lana Del Rey
Cheryl Burke
Mircea Monroe
Sian Clifford
Avril Lavigne
Cristin Milioti
Natalia Tena

All 40-45, all child-free.

If you think perimenopause with a toddler or menopause with teenagers is the wotse thing than can happen then you have very little life experience. Read books. Women have always had babies in their late 30s and 40s, it's not something feminists invented with the Pill.

Same, I'm 46, got plenty of friends, all between 35 and 55. most of us have no kids by choice. A good 85% I'd say.

iirc about 15-20% of English women never had children in the 1800s, I think a lot were never able to marry for financial reasons or there were no men of suitable status or income (guess this problem had always been with us tbh)

I mean, none of this is a surprise to those of us who read Jane Austen, but the general decline in TFR in modern times is more related to married couples limiting the size of their families. Although the rise of singles is definitely a factor too.

Yeah but part of my original point was that with advances in reproductive technologies, 40 is no longer the cut-off date for female celebrities who can afford them that it is for ordinary mortals. E.g. Elisabeth Moss having her first child at 42 and Michelle Dockery at 44. I bet a significant number of the women you list here have frozen their eggs, and (by that means or not) will have at least one child in the next 5-10 years.

ETA: and before anyone pops in to say so, yes I know non-celebrity women do also sometimes have children over 40, but you need to be lucky and/or wealthy.

In the case of Lena Dunham who is one of the people on your list, she’s had significant health problems and I think has acknowledged she won’t be having a biological child, but she was talking fairly recently about plans to expand her family, and has always said she wanted kids. So I don’t think ‘child-free’ is the right term there.

Why do you think the only reason for people being childless is the lack of reproductive technology. It doesn’t matter what technology exists there will always be childless people: voluntarily and involuntarily.

Also OP conceiving from frozen eggs has very low success rates.

Why do you think the only reason for people being childless is the lack of reproductive technology.

I don’t. But as I said in my original post, some of the other reasons, e.g. cost and time of raising a child solo if you don’t have a partner (or even if you do have one), aren’t prohibitive for celebrities in the same way.

Also OP conceiving from frozen eggs has very low success rates.

I know, that’s why I said ‘by that means or not’.