I like to track childfree celebs, looking for those that come out about their choice not to have kids in a baby crazed celeb world. On marieclaire.com there’s a slideshow of 23 “childfree” celebrities. Upon closer look, not all are childfree — they are more aptly described as “no kids yet” — they want them but don’t have them right now for one reason or another, from infertility, to not the right time, to no spouse, you name it. Of the 23, those that aren’t childfree seem to be…
…Jennifer Aniston, Winona Ryder, Jessica Biel, Kylie Minogue, and Beyonce and Jay-Z.
Others that clearly are childfree in this slideshow include, Cameron Diaz, Eva Mendes, Rupart Everett, Helen Mirran, George Clooney, Margaret Cho, Rachael Ray, Janeanne Garofalo, Kim Catrall, Jay Leno, Lara Flynn Boyle, Lily Tomlin, Oprah, Renee Zellweger, Jane Fallon and Rick Gervais, Robbie Williams.
Other famous people now or from history who are/were childfree include:
Amelia Earhart, first female pilot, adventurer
Gloria Steinem, feminist activist/writer
Mother Teresa, nun of India
Bill Maher, tv talk host, Politically Incorrect
Hugh Grant, actor
Queen Latifah, singer, actress
Marisa Tomei, actress
Then there are those who have been described as childfree but really were/are not (eventually want or wanted kids):
Patrick Swayze, actor, & Lisa Niemi
Leonardo DiCaprio, actor
Charlese Theron, actress
Hillary Swank, actress
Kristin Davis, actress from Sex in the City
On to those who have/had no children but I’m not sure if they are/were childfree. Famous couples include:
Dave Cavett & Carrie Nye
Stockard Channing & Daniel Gillham
Robert Smith & Mary Poole
Iris Murdoch & John Bayley
Buddy Miller & Julie Miller
John Maynard Keynes & Lydia Lopokova
T.S. Eliot & Vivienne Haigh-Wood
Christopher Walken & Georgianna Walken
Virginia Woolf & Leonard Woolf
Dolly Parton & Carl Dean
Anjelica Huston & Robert Graham
William Blake & Catherine Boucher
And there is a slew of others with no kids, but I’m not sure about whether they are/were truly childfree:
Crispin Hellion Glover, actor
Fairuza Balk, actress
James Woods, actor
Liza Minnelli, actress/singer/dancer
Shelley Beattie aka Siren, the first hearing-impaired from American Gladiators (original)
Billy Corgan, Lead singer of Smashing Pumpkins
James Iha, Guitarist for Smashing Pumpkins
D’Arcy Wretzky, former female bassist for Smashing Pumpkins
Melissa Auf der Maur, Bassist for Smashing Pumpkins, and Hole
Robert Duvall, actor
Shelley Duvall, actress
Sarah Polley, actress/director
William Blake, poet/engraver (rest of his 6 siblings didn’t have children either!)
Jonathan Knight, NKOTB boy band
Trent Reznor, lead singer of Nine Inch Nails
Rose McGowan, actress from Charmed
Marylin Monroe
Keith Coogan, actor
Marylin Manson, shock rock singer
Robert Smith, lead singer of The Cure
Kathy Bates, actress
Patti Reagan Davis, daughter of Nancy and Ronald Reagan Sr.
Queen Elizabeth I, ruler of England
Jeff Goldblum, actor
Ann B. Davis, actress from Brady Bunch
Joan Crawford, actress (none of her own)
Rachel Donelson Jackson, 7th U.S. First Lady (none of her own)
Andrew Jackson, 7th U.S. President (none of his own)
Steve Martin, actor
Martha Plimpton, actress/daughter of Keith Carradine
Terence Stamp, actor from Superman aka Zod
Julie Christie, actress/model
George Takei, actor from Star Trek
Stephen Dorff, actor
Ellen DeGenres, talk show host, comedian
Elton John, musician
Benicio Del Toro, actor
Ed Norton, actor
Quentin Tarantino, actor
Susan Boyle, 2008 American Idol 2nd place winner
Janet Jackson, musician
William Kennedy Smith, physician or doctor/college professor and nephew of U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy
John F. Kennedy Jr., son of U.S. President JFK
Joaquin Phoenix, actor
Daryl Hannah, actress
Diane Sawyer, news reporter
Mickey Rourke, actor
Mary Cassatt, Impressionist painter
Annie Oakley, performance artist
Arthur C. Clark (step-father, but none of his own) Baroness
Karen Blixen, author (Out of Africa)
Ann Bancroft (the polar explorer, not the actress)
Simone de Beauvoir, writer
Helen Keller, author
Annie Sullivan, H. Keller’s teacher
Jessye Norman, opera singer
Frida Kahlo, Mexican painter
Immanuel Kant, philosopher
William Lyon MacKenzie King, Canadian Prime Minister
Florence Nightingale
Susan B. Anthony, nineteenth-century suffragist
Lorena Hickok, AP political reporter
Harriet Tubman, underground Railroad
Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, first female physician in the US
Carrie Chapman Catt, US suffrage leader
M. Carey Thomas, President of Bryn Mawr College
Ella Fitzgerald, jazz vocalist
Emily Dickinson, poet
Jeanette Rankin, first female US Representative
Margaret Bourke-White, photographer
Julia Child, French cook
Ayn Rand, philosopher/author
Grace Murray Hopper, computer pioneer
Billy Jean King, tennis player
Marian Anderson, opera singer
Scott Adams, comic creator of Dilbert
Dilbert Brett Butler, comedienne
Stockard Channing, actress
Mary Crosby, actress, Dallas
Linda Evans, actress, Dynasty
Reginald Vel Johnson, actor from Family Matters
Nanci Griffith, singer
Katherine Hepburn, actress
Bonnie Raitt, singer
Rita Rudner, comedienne, Naked Beneath My Clothes
Dr. Seuss, author
Bill Watterson, comic creator, Calvin and Hobbes
Yanni, composer/musician
Larry Kahn, listed in Guinness Book of World Records
Christine McVie, singer/songwriter of Fleetwood Mac
Mariah Carey, singer
Bo Derek, actress
George Michael, singer
Stevie Nicks, singer, Fleetwood Mac
Georgia O’Keefe, artist
Dorothy Parker, writer
Sara Teasdale, poet
Matt Dillon, actor
Dustin Diamond, actor from Saved by the Bell
Elizabeth Berkley, actress from Saved by the Bell
Ian McKellan, actor
Daphne Zuniga, actress from Melrose Place
Drew Barrymore, actress
Lauren Hutton, actress
Grant Show, actor from Melrose Place
Ian Ziering, actor from Beverly Hills 90210
Shannen Doherty, actress from Beverly Hills 90210 and Charmed
Lara Flynn Boyle, actress
Axl Rose, frontman singer of Guns’N’Roses
Judd Nelson, actor
Anthony Michael Hall, actor
Jane Austen, nineteenth century author
John Cusack, actor
Keanu Reeves, actor
Heather Graham, actress
Eve Plumb, actress from Brady Bunch
Krist Novoselic, bassist of Nirvana
Minnie Pearl
Judith Light
Debbie Harry,singer, songwriter
And…Betty White, KD Lang, Ann Margret, Bob Barker, Carrie Preston…
Do you know about any of these celebs and their childfree status? I bet there are many more…
Wouldn’t it be great if we knew more about their stories to how they landed without kids, by choice, or…?
As I have harped on before, and continue to think as I see all the baby crazed media out there, is more famous people need to say More about their choice not to have kids as part of the road to full social acceptance!
I believe these people are also child free–some are married:
Carly Fiorina (Former Hewlett Packard CEO)
Condolezza Rice (Former Sec. of State)
Kathy Griffin (comedian)
Alexandra Paul (Actress-Baywatch)
Jacqueline Bisset (Actress)
Portia DeRossi (Actress)
Paula Abdul (Dancer, actress)
Robin Roberts (Good Morning America anchor)
Chelsea Hammer (Talk show host)
Hoda Kotbe (NBC anchor/morning show)
Actress, Alexandra Paul has a website with a link to an article she wrote, “Married Without Children”. She does use the term “childless” however. Still worth a read…
http://www.alexandrapaul.com
And the list continues! Thanks for the additions. Yes! Alexandra Paul–I recall her her huffpo article and commented. She is big into population. I recall her hubbie was not keen on having kids, and she has not experienced the big bio urge, so the decided not to have them. She is also an example of someone who without children has the opportunity to contribute to her community and our world in many different ways. Her website is also packed full of info on her activism. ~L
One more famous CF:
Actress, Victoria Principal
Kendal, I think you meant Chelsea Handler.
A couple of points: both Marilyn Monroe, Frida Kahlo, and Liza Minelli wanted children (at least at some point in their lives; Monroe had had several abortions as a young woman) but had miscarriages. As for Joan Crawford, would you really call her childfree? She did adopt four children.
Noted on Crawford–I get the info from other sites and clearly they are not all correct~L
Minnie Pearl and Judith Light
I read an article on Axl Rose, actually he wanted children. His wife suffered a miscarriage. I don’t know if that makes him totally childfree or not. I know he doesn’t have any children now.
Ron Regan Jr, has an adoptive daughter just to let you know. I’ve read about it.
Tamatha, thanks for the info on the celebs –Did not know about Ron Regan–will take him off the list and add Minnie and Judith! Re Axl — technically on the list, as it is really one that is just saying they have no kids..if more childfree stars would speak up we could dissect the list better….
Julia Child & Paul Cushing Child, not childfree, but childless. Julia wanted but could not have children, a point of sadness for her.
Butt hank you for the list, makes an excellent change form all those celeb interviews where motherhood is touted as their biggest achievement.
Thanks for the info on Julie Child. I did not know she could not have children…so I will put her on the “childLESS” list! ~L
Just curious–where did you learn this? From a biography, or….? thx
Hi, it was referred to obliquely in the film “Julie and Julia”, mostly through Julia’s emotional responses to children and to her sister’s pregnancy. (Julia’s part of the story is based on her book “My life in France”.)
Hope i’m not too late, but Mariah Carey is pregnant with her first child.
Never too late! I did see this in the news–so she is off the “list” ! ~L
Trent Reznor is out. Him and his wife just had a kid.
Roger that- thanks!
Penelope Cruz has a daughter.
Thank you! Need to go through the list as it has been awhile since that post! ~L
Did you include Debbie Harry in the list?
I did now! The list that inspired that post is now about 5 years old…time to check and add to! Thanks~L