Timing, responsibility, money, mess, and/or lack of maternal instinct drives many women (including myself) to build a life without children (or choose to be childfree). Since I qualify (I decided when I was twelve, thank you very much), I wanted to create a complete (alphabetical) collection of famous women without children. This list includes musicians, actors, writers, etc. who made the same choice.
I’ve seen other lists, but they often omit many of the incredible women on this list. Especially writers and other known creatives.
If you’re childfree, I hope this list inspires you to feel confident without needing to call children things like “crotch goblins” or “cum pet.” Or, perhaps worse, to call parents “breeders” or “mombies.” I don’t resent anyone’s desire to have kids (nor do I hate kids, as people tell me), it’s just not a choice that made sense for me. If you’d like to learn about how I made this decision (and how I feel about it in my fifties), say so in the comments.
If any details are wrong or anyone is missing, please let me know and I’ll consider adjustments. I focus on women who’ve openly stated they didn’t want children.
Fiona Apple
Interview Magazine, 2012
Singer/Songwriter Fiona Apple (Criminal, Sleep to Dream) said, “No, I’ve never wanted kids. But I do read about parenting a lot. For some reason it’s very interesting to me-I think because I’m just big on self-parenting. But I read this thing in a nautical book about how when ropes get frayed you’d use the whipping cords to fix the ends. The whole thing of the whipping cords is that, if I did have kids, I could either teach them how to stay out of trouble—or how to get out of trouble, which I think is more important. Because no matter how well prepared you are in life, you’re gonna fall down a hole, and if you can fix the frayed ends of things, then you’re better off.”
Leslie Bibb
The Drew Barrymore Show, 2026
Actress Leslie Bibb (Ironman, The White Lotus) said, “I said to [long time partner Sam Rockwell], ‘I don’t want children and I don’t want to get married.’ And he didn’t believe me forever. He was like, ‘I don’t want to get married and I don’t want children.’ [Then] I said to him, ‘Do you have a dog?’ And he said, ‘No.’ And I was like, ‘Well do you have a plant?’ And he goes, ‘No, I don’t do dogs and I don’t do plants.’ And I said, ‘Well if you want to do me you better do both!”
Open Book with Jenna Bush Hager, 2026
“I don’t want kids, it’s not a chip I have. And the mom I would wanna be, I’m not sure I can be. And that’s only because my mom, my dad died when I was 3 and my mom had a really hard time with it. And then she was working all the time because she had four girls and she had to. And I think I really felt the loss of her presence because she was hustling. All I wanted was her there, but she was providing for us. So, I think I knew how important that was for me, too, if I had a kid, I would want to give that to them.”
Mary J. Blige
People Magazine, 2022
Singer/Songwriter Mary J. Blige (Family Affair, Real Love) said, “I have nieces and nephews forever and I’m always watching how people are scrambling for babysitters. I don’t want to go through that. I like my freedom to go and move and do what I want to do. I don’t want to have to tend to someone all the time. I don’t think it’s gonna happen.”
Alison Brie
The Sunday Times, 2018
Actress Alison Brie (Mad Men, GLOW, married to Dave Franco) said, “Speaking of cats, they’re our children. I don’t really want to have kids. It’s great because I don’t worry about when should I get pregnant — between seasons, while we’re shooting the show — 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!”
Kim Cattrall
Oprah Magazine, 2003
Actress Kim Cattrall (Mannequin, Sex and The City), said, “I thought that without having children, I’d be missing something unique to being female. It’s incredible that the female body has such power—the gift of giving life. I wanted to know that power and fall in ‘unconditional love’ with a child. No one could ever describe that love to me except to say, ‘It’ll happen to you when you see your baby in your arms.’ I realized that so much of the pressure I was feeling was from outside sources, and I knew I wasn’t ready to take that step into motherhood. Being a biological mother just isn’t part of my experience this time around.”
Patricia Clarkson
People Magazine, 2023
Actress Patricia Clarkson (The Station Agent, The Green Mile) said, “I made a big choice, but I knew it when I was young. I had a window to have a child, but [at] the end of the day I loved working. And you have to really be committed to having children. You have to be a great parent, and I was afraid I couldn’t be. My mother said, ‘Patty, I just don’t want you to wake up at 50 and be unhappy.’ I woke up at 50 in stilettos and a thong. I’ve had a great sexy-ass life.”
*Also chose to stay single
Ava DeVernay
Today, 2022
Director Ava DuVernay (Selma) said, “I didn’t have kids by choice, and I’m not married by choice. I was able to embrace my career later in life, in my 30s. So I’m going to do what feels good to me, and I’m going to have fun.”
*Also chose to stay single
Enya
The Guardian, 2000
Singer/Composer Enya (Orinoco Blue, Only Time) said, “That I’m not married and don’t have children has been my choice. I don’t feel I’ve missed out in any way. At school other girls talked about getting married, but it was never on my list of things to do. I was looking at something else. Actually what I went through wasn’t as traumatic as I’m making out. I didn’t think that much about it. I had to stop putting the pressure on myself, because of relationships coming and going, but if relationships aren’t working that means they’re not right.”
*Also chose to stay single
Ellen DeGeneres
E! Online, 2014
Comedian, Actress and Writer Ellen DeGeneres (Ellen, The Ellen DeGeneres Show) and wife Portia de Rossi said, “We’re not having a baby. Or are we? We’re not.” Portia de Rossi has said, “You have to really want to have kids, and neither of us did,” she said last year. “So it’s just going to be me and Ellen and no babies.”
Vivica A. Fox
BET, 2021
Actress Vivica A. Fox (Independence Day, Kill Bill) said, “Girl, I’m 57. I’ve got six god-babies. Don’t think that because I didn’t birth children that I don’t have children. I have six god-children. I do not feel less fulfilled as a woman—period. I love children. Please do not get me wrong, I absolutely love children! In my life, it was career or children and I never met the man I could have children with. I didn’t.”
Ina Garten
Today, 2024
Culinary entrepreneur Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa) said, “When I got married, I just thought I would be the wife and we would have children and we would have a traditional relationship. In my 20s, I kind of resisted having children. I was like, why would I want to re-create that nightmare that I just came from? And I thought that’s what life at home with children would be. (It) never occurred to me that other people’s lives were different because that was my experience.
“And then one day, maybe when I was around 25, I thought, I just don’t want to have children. I just don’t want to do that. And thank God (Jeffrey) is amenable to what I would I want. He wants me to be happy and it was OK.”
Elizabeth Gilbert
Time Magazine, 2012
Writer Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love) said, “The primary thing I would want to tell [my 20-year-old self] is: Look at how happy this childless woman is. Because the one future that I never imagined when I was 20 was a childless future. I didn’t know any women who didn’t have kids unless they had been struck by huge tragedy, were barren or never found love. It was always presented as the worst thing that could possibly happen to a woman. It was beyond my comprehension that there was such a thing as making that choice [to not have children] and having an amazing life. To be let off the hook from that would have brought freedom a lot earlier.”
Nicki Glaser
Today, 2012
Comedian and actress Nicki Glaser said, “You see your friends wanting it so badly — genuinely wanting it — and you feel like, ‘What’s wrong with me that I don’t want it?’ You kind of feel left out. And that’s what I’m struggling with more than just, ‘Well, should I do it?’ Because I’m kind of sure I don’t want it. But I’m like, ‘Why don’t I want this thing that everyone seems to want?'”
Lauren Graham
People Magazine, 2025
Actress Lauren Graham (Gilmore Girls, Parenthood) said, “There’s an age at which most, a lot of people do the same thing. There’s an age at which a lot of people get married, there’s an age at which a lot of people have kids, and then there are people who just are not on that timing.
“And so I don’t know whether to be the spokesperson for that or like apologetic about that or like, I don’t know. I think I was mainly in relationships where it didn’t really occur to me to say, ‘This is what I would like, this is not what I would like.’ I thought that happened just organically.”
Chelsea Handler
Variety Magazine, 2025
Comedian Chelsea Handler (Chelsea Lately) said, “People think that since I don’t want children that I hate them. I don’t hate children. I have a lot of children in my life, and I actually have a lot of bandwidth for children because I don’t have my own children. So, if I had my own children, I’d probably be a lot more centered on that, but I’m able to give out a lot, and I’m able to make contributions in a bigger way because of being freed up in that way.”
People Magazine, 2023
“I’m very outspoken about not wanting to be a parent, because I don’t think I have the skills. I’m not equipped with what it takes to answer all those questions from children because they don’t just ask you once. They come in, and in, and in.”
Ashley Judd
All That Is Bitter and Sweet, 2012
Actress and activist Ashley Judd (Someone Like You, Double Jeopardy) said, “The fact is that I have chosen not to have children because I believe the children who are already here are really mine, too. I do not need to go making ‘my own’ babies when there are so many orphaned or abandoned children who need love, attention, time, and care. I have felt this way since I was at least eighteen. [I believe we] should focus on the children already born and suffering so needlessly. [It is] selfish for us to pour our resources into making our ‘own’ babies when those very resources and energy could not only help children already here, but through advocacy and service transform the world into a place where no child ever needs to be born into poverty and abuse again. My belief has not changed. It is a big part of who I am.”
Anna Kendrick
The Guardian, 2024
Actress Anna Kendrick (Pitch Perfect, Up In The Air) said, “Here’s the best argument for why I don’t have kids. I’d have an easier time falling asleep with the weight of a cat on me. But I’m not responsible enough to own a cat. Someone should really make a robot cat that does all the purring and the kneading.’ And then I was like: wait, I’m not even up to the ‘cat lady’ part! Why would anyone trust me with a kid?”
E! Insider, 2016
“I will always feel children aren’t for me. If I have kids, it’s just another kid that your kid’s gonna have to fight when the water wars come. The zombie apocalypse is coming. And with these genes? I don’t think [my kids] would last. Upper body strength, coordination. These are not things that I would pass on. So, you know, they’re just going to be food.”
Jen Kirkman
Time, 2013
Comedian and writer Jen Kirkman (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Chelsea Lately) said, “As a woman of a certain age — and really ever since I hit puberty and my baby-making parts were suddenly subject to public debate — I’ve been told over and over again that I will ‘change my mind’ about not wanting kids.
“Once, at a friend’s wedding, I was cornered by another guest and forced to answer the question, ‘Well, what would happen if you accidentally got pregnant?’ She was implying that under that circumstance, I would have to change my mind. A passing acquaintance, at a wedding, was basically confronting me about whether I would choose abortion over my silly little lifelong commitment to not raising children, you know, if push came to shove.”
Helen Mirren
AARP Magazine, 2014
Actress Helen Mirren (The Queen, Gosford Park) said, “I never felt the need for a child and never felt the loss of it. I’d always put my work before anything.”
Vanity Fair, 2016
“[Motherhood] 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].”
Megan Mulally
People Magazine, 2012
Actress Megan Mullally (Will & Grace), who’s married to actor Nick Offerman, said, “No Desire. Or a lack of an organic, burning desire. If you’re in a place financially where you can’t afford to have your own life and feel like you’re able to be creative, then that could make you a lot more resentful.”
Stevie Nicks
In Style, 2002
Singer/Songwriter Stevie Nicks (Edge of Seventeen, Landslide with Fleetwood Mac, said, “It’s like, Do you want to be an artist and a writer, or a wife and a lover? With kids, your focus changes.”
You Magazine, 1989
“I would never have had a baby out of wedlock. That would hurt my parents too much. Anyway, my children would have to have a mother and a father. I used to think about it and despair of ever finding the answer. The fact that I am old enough to be the mother of grown-up children [at 40] and could have them all around me now but in reality am all alone, really kills me. That was my ultimate sacrifice for Fleetwood Mac, and when you sacrifice yourself in such a way, you don’t just up and leave a band or let it fall apart around your ears.”
Dolly Parton
People Magazine, 2025
Singer/Songwriter, actress and philanthropist Dolly Parton (Jolene, 9 to 5) said, “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.”
Ann Patchett
“These Precious Days” ,2021
Writer Ann Patchett (Bel Canto, The Dutch House) wrote, “That was the one part of the decision not to have children that did in fact make me feel like I missed out. I am deeply moved by what a woman’s body is capable of, but just because I could do something didn’t mean that I should”
“The uncertainty, the complete lack of autonomy or control, leaving places you never wanted to leave to go to places you never wanted to go, the fear, the bullying, the helplessness, the awkwardness, the disappointment and shame, the betrayal by your own body. To have a child required the willful forgetting of what childhood was actually like; it required you to turn away from the very real chance that you would do to the person you loved most in the world the exact same thing that was done to you. No. No, thank you.”
Sarah Paulson
Town & Country, 2018
Actress Sarah Paulson (American Horror Story), said, “I don’t want to be torn,” she says. “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.”
Tracee Ellis Ross
Unite for America Rally, 2024 at 1:04:15
Actress Tracee Ellis Ross (Black-ish, Girlfriends) said, “I would like to say to you two women, ‘Thank you for what you represent.’ Because as a 52-year-old, childless woman, I wanna say to the people who think that a woman’s worth is measured in her baby count – I mean, shoutout to all the amazing mothers – but childless women have been mothering the world and elevating the world as aunties, godmothers, teachers, mentors, sisters and friends. The list goes on. You do not have to push out a baby to help push humanity forward.”
Winona Ryder
ET Online, 2016
Actress Winona Ryder (Stranger Things, Heathers) said, “I’m getting asked a lot, ‘You don’t have kids, so how do you know how to act like a mother? I know nothing could compare, and I haven’t had that experience, but when my niece was born, I felt like I would jump in front of a car and die for this little person I didn’t even know yet.”
Sarah Silverman
Stylist, 2017
Actress, writer and comedian Sarah Silverman (Bob’s Burgers) wrote, “As a comic always working and on the road, I have had to decide between motherhood and living my fullest life and I chose the latter. Men don’t have to do that. I’d so love to be a fun dad, coming home from the road and being my best fun dad self. So this is just a lil f**k all y’all, because you can’t be a woman without sacrifice, and that’s the fact, jack.”
Octavia Spencer
Essence, 2020
Actress Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures, The Help) said, “I should be married and have 19 kids. And 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.”
Amy Tan
CBS News, 2001
Writer Amy Tan (The Joy Luck Club), said, “[I] has often thought about how [I] would deal with a child…say, a son who wanted to ski without a helmet. I would be saying, ‘You’re gonna crack that precious brain of yours.’ And he’d say, ‘Why do you always have to be so vivid about being so negative in life?’ You know, I imagine these things that I would have gone through. I think it’s those fears and those worries that also kept me from having kids.”
Marisa Tomei
Yahoo News, 2012
Actress Marisa Tomei (My Cousin Vinny, The Big Short) said, “[I] never really thought of life as a wife and mother and [don’t] understand why it seemed to be so necessary. [I’m] not that big a fan of marriage as an institution… [I don’t] know why women need to have children to be seen as complete human beings.”
*Also chose to stay single
Lily Tomlin
Prevention, 2020
Actress and comedian Lily Tomlin (9 to 5, Grace & Frankie) said, “I mean, sometimes I think it would be nice to have somebody who looks like a replica of you in some fashion. But I don’t think it ever was an aspiration of mine.”
“Well, we could get his sperm and I could bear his child. I wouldn’t want to, but I could. I’m glad I didn’t. I would have to get up and fix breakfast for the kids and all that… So in retrospect, we say every day, ‘I’m so glad we didn’t have any children.’ When I think of the world now, I don’t want to even deal with having to raise a child.
“[Johnny Carson] was asking about me not being married, and don’t I want to have children? This was ’73. Females didn’t say that in public then. If you didn’t want to get married or have children, well, that’s off the scale. So the audience just got dead silent, because they were like, ‘What’s she going to say? What’s she going to say? And I said what I said, ‘Well, I like children, but I don’t want to bear children. By the way, who has custody of yours?’ And everyone laughed. It diffused the tension in the moment.”
Aisha Tyler
ABC News, 2014
Actress Aisha Tyler (Criminal Minds, Whose Line Is It Anyway?) said, “I have been a professional woman my entire life. I think this is a relatively new issue for women who have chosen work over family, which is a completely valid choice and no one should ever feel embarrassed or regretful about that. It’s one that I’ve embraced fully. I never wanted kids.”
Dita Von Teese
The Mirror UK, 2025
Burlesque dancer and actress Dita Von Teese said, “Looking back at my life, I think, ‘When would I have done that? I do remember one time about 20 years ago Madonna telling me not to let motherhood pass me by and I remember thinking, ‘Oh, well, I guess it has though.’ Do I feel like she was right? I don’t know. I’d just got divorced and then life happens and then suddenly you’re like, ‘Oh, here we are.'”
Oprah Winfrey
Good Housekeeping, 2017
Media mogul Oprah Winfrey (The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Color Purple) said, “I have 172 girls, and 20 are in college in the United States and use my home as their home base. It is more rewarding than I would ever have imagined. I was doing this to help them, but it has brought a light to my life that I can’t explain… When people were pressuring me to get married and have children, I knew I was not going to be a person that ever regretted not having them, because I feel like I am a mother to the world’s children. Love knows no boundaries. It doesn’t matter if a child came from your womb or if you found that person at age two, 10 or 20. If the love is real, the caring is pure and it comes from a good space, it works. For me it was perfect, because I didn’t want babies. I wouldn’t have been a good mum for babies. I don’t have the patience. I have the patience for puppies, but that’s a quick stage! But this is so rewarding.”
The Hollywood Reporter, 2013
“[Best friend] Gayle King [now a mother of two] was the kind of kid who, in seventh grade Home Ec class, was writing down her name and the names of her children. While she was having those kind of daydreams, I was having daydreams about how I could be Martin Luther King. If I had kids, my kids would hate me. 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.”
Renee Zellweger
Hello Magazine, 2024
Actress Renee Zellweger (Bridget Jones, Judy) said, “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.”
I Care What You Think
Is anyone missing from this list?
Why did you choose not to have children?
Did anyone else not feel pressured, like me?