Patricia Clarkson on Her 'Big Choice' to Never Get Married or Have Kids: 'I've Had a Sexy-Ass Life'

"I'm fine failing as an actor [but] I didn't want to fail at being a parent," the actress said

Patricia Clarkson is getting candid about choosing not to get married.

On iHeartPodcast's Table for Two with Bruce Bozzi podcast in an interview recorded before the actors' strike, the Easy A actress, 63, called herself a "single, straight Southern woman who never married and never had children" while explaining why she decided becoming a mom wasn't right for her.

"I have so many sisters who have beautiful children, and they now have beautiful children," she said. "I love being an aunt, I love it more than— probably more than acting, which is odd. They’re on par. But I’m telling you, these are gorgeous children, but that doesn’t have to define every woman.”

“I made a big choice, but I knew it when I was young," Clarkson continued, noting that she considered the possibility of having kids and getting married "with this one artist I dated when I was like 38."

"I had a window to have a child, but [at] the end of the day I loved working, and I grew up with great parents who sacrificed everything for me," she added. "And you have to really be committed to having children. You have to be a great parent, and I was afraid I couldn't be."

Related: 'Don't Need a Paper to Be Devoted': What Stars Have Said About Choosing Not to Marry

The Sharp Objects actress said she did not "want to fail at being a parent." She added, "I'm fine failing as an actor. I didn't want to fail at being a parent.” 

The Louisiana native went on to note that her own parents are supportive of her decisions regarding her personal life.

"My mother said, ‘Patty, I just don't want you to wake up at 50 and be unhappy.’ I woke up at 50 in stilettos and a thong,’ “ she said, laughing. “I’ve had a great sexy-ass life.”

“And it’s not that my whole life is that," the She Said actress added. "I love being an aunt, I love being a sister, I love being a daughter, I love being a great best friend. I’m a very good friend, I think. It’s not what I wanted to define me because I didn’t want to fail.”

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Back in 2013, Clarkson told The Guardian that her choice not to marry was not "deliberate," though she maintained at the time that she has never felt the desire to make a romantic relationship permanent or have children.

"Don't get me wrong, I hate being single," she said at the time. "I've had beautiful, extraordinary men in my life and I wouldn't change any of that. But I've never wanted to marry, I've never wanted children. I was born without that gene."

Clarkson's latest film Monica is now available to rent or own on demand.

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