Michele and I blog all the time about some celebrity giving birth to a new bundle of joy. You can hardly open a celebrity magazine or web page without finding someone who is either newly pregnant or just gave birth. They say death comes in threes, but in Hollywood, it seems pregnancy comes in fives or sixes!
But, what happens when an actress wants to concentrate on her career? We all know that quality roles for actresses over the age of 40 are usually scarce. While Helen Mirren is literally enjoying her current reign as “The Queen” of movie award shows at the age of 61, it is rare that an older actress gets a really juicy role like that. So, actresses are taught by the business itself to strike while young.
Jennifer Aniston has been criticized over and over for choosing her career over family. Does anyone really know that that is true? She has always said she wants a family. But at the age of 37, many feel the need to criticize her for not having had children yet. Jennifer Lopez is another celebrity often featured in the “Is she or isn’t she?” section of a tabloid. After her marriage to husband Marc Anthony in 2004, Lopez, who is also 37, has been pushed to produce a child. Another actress under the “pregnancy” fire is Sandra Bullock. She wed Jesse James in 2005 at the age of 40 and since then, tabloids have debated whether she is pregnant or not. In the March issue of InStyle magazine, she finally said enough is enough. She said she did not rush into marriage, so why should she rush into getting pregnant. She claims that for now, her dogs are her babies and that reports of her pregnancy are 100% false. Halle Berry has also been under pregnant watch since she turned 40 last year.
What people need to realize is that not everyone has children, for whatever reason. Some people may be simply too selfish, but selfless enough to realize that before they bring a baby that they won’t properly care for into this world. Some actresses may fear being pregnant because they will lose time from acting roles or heaven forbid, their reed thin figures. Some may not be able to conceive children for biological reasons.
For whatever reason, there are many actresses age 35 and older that aren’t having babies right now. Is it our right as fans to know why or speculate as to the reasons?