Miley Cyrus Against the “Social Obligation” of Becoming a Mom: “I’m 31 and I’m Not Sure I Want Kids”

«Dire that anyone with a uterus should have a baby It’s like saying that anyone with vocal cords should become an opera singer,” said journalist and activist Gloria Steinem in the 1970s. Half a century has passed since then, and yet even today, for a woman, admitting that she doesn’t want children is almost a coming out. That Miley Cyrusin an interview with W Magazinehe just said: «If you don’t want kids people feel sorry for you, like you’re a cold, heartless bitch, incapable of love. I I’m 31 and I’m still not sure I want one“, the American singer said loud and clear. Explaining that at the root of her doubts about motherhood there are also concerns about the future of the environment: “The idea that my children could inhabit a planet where the seas could no longer have fish is distressing.”

Miley is only the latest celeb to want to publicly address the issue of social pressure on motherhood. The non-mother and happy stars, in fact, are a host. And many in recent years have become childfree “testimonials”. Like Oprah Winfrey, who frankly said in 2020: «I have no children and I don’t regret it. Over the years, on my show, I have met many people who are sick. And they feel bad because they had mothers and fathers who didn’t realize the importance of their task.” Even Jennifer Aniston has always defended her right not to be a mother. So much so that in 2016 he wrote an open letter in which she denounced social prejudice, «the idea that women are somehow incompleteunsuccessful, or unhappy if they are not married with children… We do not need to get married or be mothers to be complete. We are the ones who decide for ourselves what we do and they lived happily ever after”. Equally frank is the statement of Kim Cattrall: «I like children, but not for long periods. I think they’re adorable and funny and sweet, but They give me a headache». Renee Zellweger, for her part, regarding motherhood she said: «I never thought of that thing as if it were fundamental to my life. I don’t need a baby to be happy».

Even in Italy there are many stars who claim the freedom to be non-mothers and happy. For example Valeria Golino, who a few years ago declared: «Not having children continues to give you a kind of movement that is your own, individual, It keeps you young. You are only responsible for yourself and the people you love.” Another convinced testimonial of the “happy non-mothers” is Lucia Ocon who in 2019 told Vanity Fair: «Why should a woman who doesn’t have a family at forty be considered a failure? It is a primitive culture that considers the value of a woman only as a wife and mother. I know a lot of peers who, like me, don’t have husbands or children, but they feel happy and fulfilled all the same.”

The actress and director Michela Andreozzifor his part, even wrote a book on the subject with the eloquent title Don’t ask me again. #Childfree. The freedom to not want children and not feel guilty (HarperCollins). “In the eyes of most people, a woman without children is a cross between something alien, unknown, indefinable and unreliable. In my life, at least, that’s how it went and goes,” Andreozzi explained. Adding: “For years I didn’t understand if I wanted this son, because I wanted it or because “all females want it” or because “at some point you will want it” and therefore it is better that you take advantage of it and want it before it is too late. Then the noise stopped outside and inside me and everything became clear. I had never wanted a child. I can say in hindsight that I never felt the maternal instinct.”