Yahoo Lifestyle Seth Rogen Called Out People Who Have Kids Purely For This One “Selfish” Reason, And He’s Not Wrong
Seth Rogen and Lauren Miller have been married since 2011, and in 2023, he sparked mixed reactions when he said that their shared decision not to have kids “definitely” helped his career in Hollywood.
“There's a whole huge thing I'm not doing, which is raising children,” he said during an episode of the Diary of a CEO podcast, in which he emphasized that being child-free by choice has enabled himself and Lauren to “do whatever [they] want” with their careers.
“Honestly, the older we get the more happy and reaffirmed we are with our choice to not have kids,” he said. “Now, more than anything, the conversation is like, ‘Honestly, thank god we don’t have children.’”
“We are in the prime of our lives. We are smarter than we've ever been. We understand ourselves more than we ever have,” he continued. “We have the capacity to achieve a level of work and a level of communication and care for one another, and a lifestyle we can live with one another that we've never been able to live before, and we can just do that, and we don't have to raise a child.”
At the time, Seth was praised for his “refreshing” and “authentic” take on not having children, with many fans noting that it’s pretty rare for male celebrities to even be quizzed about the topic in the first place. However, as is often the case, a portion of fans weren’t quite so appreciative of his views.
Now, nearly two years later, the Superbad star is doubling down in a new cover interview with Esquire, in which he recalled the backlash and what he really thought of it. “People really had strong takes on it, being like, ‘Fuck this fucking guy. Who the fuck does he think he is not to have kids?’” he remembered. “Well, if you hate me that much, why do you want more of me?”
Notably, Seth said the most “disturbing” part of the backlash was people asking him, “Who’s going to take care of you when you’re old?” — which he said made him question why many people have kids in general.
“Is that why you’re having kids? Because I have two things to say: One, that’s very selfish to create a human so someone can take care of you. And two, just because you have a kid, I hate to break it to you, that doesn’t mean they’re going to do that,” he said.
In the interview, Seth spoke more about his and Lauren’s decision to be child-free — and how they’ve only grown more sure of it over time. “You should only have kids if you really want kids, and we just don’t really want kids,” he said. “Time kept going by and the moment where we were like ‘Let’s do it!’ just kept not happening.”
He went on: “I look at my friends with kids and honestly I feel like some of them are incredibly happy and fulfilled, and some of them seem like maybe they wish they had put a little more thought into it. I just didn’t want to be one of those people.”
IMO, it’s so refreshing to hear someone talk so frankly about the realities of having kids and how they totally change your life. Being a parent isn’t for everyone, and it’s time people accept that!
You can read Seth’s full Esquire interview here.
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