If you felt a shift in the universe earlier this week, it was probably because a man was finally asked a question generally (and unjustly) reserved for women.
Seth Rogen, during a recent podcast interview, said that part of the reason he could be so successful was because he and his wife, Lauren Miller, decided not to have children.
“There’s a whole huge thing I’m not doing, which is raising children,” the 40-year-old actor said.
The statement prompted Diary of a CEO podcast host Steven Bartlett to ask Seth whether his life might have been “happier” had he and Lauren had children.
“I don’t think it would,” Seth responded. “I’ve been around obviously a lot of children, I’m not ignorant to what it’s like. … Everyone I know has kids. I’m 40, you know? I know.
“Some of my friends have had kids for decades. Some people want kids, some people don’t want kids,” he added, saying that some people even go on to grow their families before considering whether or not it is the right choice for them.
“I mean, a lot of people have kids before they even think about it, from what I’ve seen honestly,” he continued. “You just are told, you go through life, you get married, you have kids — it’s what happens.”
Seth added that having children was something he and his wife Lauren, who he’s been married to since 2011, never wanted.
“Me and my wife, neither of us were like that,” he continued. “Honestly, the older we get the more happy and reaffirmed we are with our choice to not have kids. It was something we kind of talked about more, and we were like, ‘Have we made the right choice? Are we sure?’
“Now, more than anything, the conversation is like, ‘Honestly, thank god we don’t have children. We get to do whatever we want.”
Seth went on to say that he and Lauren are “in the prime of our lives”. “We are smarter than we’ve ever been. We understand ourselves more than we ever have. 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 — which the world does not need right now,” he explained.
People on social media were quick to praise Seth Rogen’s comments, with one person writing: “It shouldn’t be that ONLY WOMEN must defend this choice. And I appreciate his answers! I love my life without kids, it’s precisely what my partner and I want.”
Another person said: “Shout out to @Sethrogen for pushing back against the stigma around child-free couples. Some people — like my wife and I — just don’t want kids, and that’s OK.”
“Nice to see a man be asked this,” a TikTok user wrote, while another added: “I have NEVER seen a man discuss this, love it.”
Next up, we’d like to see Ryan Reynolds asked how he juggles work with having four kids, thank you very much.