25 Celebrities Who Have Decided Never To Have Kids And Their Reasons Are Truly Enlightening

Sooo, Drew Barrymore asked John Cena "where he was at" with having children because he would make "the world's best father" and John gave a very introspective answer.

john cena on the drew barrymore show
CBS

John said, “It’s hard work. It’s hard work to balance the time I need to run myself correctly. It’s hard work to be the best partner and husband I can be to my loving wife. It's hard to keep connections with those in my life that I love. And it's also hard to put in an honest day's work."

  Nbc / NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
Nbc / NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

“This is just my perspective, I think just because you might be good at something, for me, is not a strong enough reason to do that. You have to have a passion for it. You have to have a fuel for it. It’s like saying to somebody, ‘Man, you know you are a pretty good with your hands. You'd be a great carpenter.’”

john at comic con in his superman getup
Bill Watters / Getty Images

He finished off the question by saying, "It is difficult water to tread because everyone is like when? I just know not right now."

john on fallon in a superman shirt
Nbc / NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

John isn't the only "child-free" celebrity, here are 24 other celebrities who decided to not breed.

1.Stevie Nicks

stevie knicks performing in 2019
Charlotte Observer / TNS / Getty Images

She told In Style, "It's like, Do you want to be an artist and a writer, or a wife and a lover? With kids, your focus changes. I don't want to go to PTA meetings."

stevie knicks in 1985
Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images

2.Christopher Walken

chris walken in 2001
Alain Jocard / AFP via Getty Images

When asked by the Guardian if his career would have been possible if he had children he responded: "Absolutely not."

chris in 2019 in paris giving a speech
Foc Kan / WireImage / Getty Images

3.Keanu Reeves

keanu at the new matrix red carpet
Fred Greaves / Reuters

When asked by Esquire if he was ever going to settle down, Keanu said, "I'm 52. I'm not going to have any kids."

keanu rubbing his eye on the matrix red carpet
Fred Greaves / Reuters

4.Dolly Parton

Dolly singing in a silver gown
Medianews Group / MediaNews Group via Getty Images

She told Oprah via Today, "Since I had no kids and my husband was pretty independent, I had freedom. So I think a big part of my whole success is the fact that I was free to work."

She's in a green dress
CBS Photo Archive / CBS via Getty Images

5.Oprah and Stedman

From the '80s
Ron Galella / Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images

She told People magazine about their decision not to have kids: "I have not had one regret about that. I also believe that part of the reason why I don’t have regrets is because I got to fulfill it in the way that was best for me: the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa."

They're smiling happily
Jim Smeal / Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images

6.Issa Rae and Louis Diame

On an HBO red carpet
Amanda Edwards / WireImage / Getty Images

She told Self magazine she doesn't know if she'll ever have kids: "I like my life, I like this selfishness, and I know that I have a window."

At an Essence event
Leon Bennett / Getty Images

7.Allen Ludden and Betty White

He's kissing her in black and white

They were married from 1963 until Allen's death in 1981.

Bettmann / Bettmann Archive / Getty Images

Betty told CBS in 2012, "No, I've never regretted it. I'm so compulsive about stuff, I know if I had ever gotten pregnant, of course, that would have been my whole focus. But I didn't choose to have children because I'm focused on my career. And I just don't think, as compulsive as I am, that I could manage both."

At a Hot for Cleveland event
Dale Berman / Getty Images

8.Jane Wagner and Lily Tomlin

At the Screen Actors Guild Awards
Steve Granitz / WireImage / Getty Images

Lily told Metro Weekly she was glad she never had kids: "God only knows what I would have done with them, poor things. I really do like kids, but there wouldn’t have been room in my life to raise children."

Both happy on the red carpet
Manny Carabel / Getty Images

9.Jon Hamm

A headshot of jon
Jim Spellman / WireImage / Getty Images

He told Mr Porter, "I don't think it's necessarily an imperative. I'm not going to psychoanalyze myself here, but…well, never say never. I've got nieces and nephews and I've been a teacher. I've probably been around kids a lot more than all my friends. I feel if you shut that off entirely, you calcify. You turn into that guy."

He's rubbing his hands together
Toni Anne Barson / WireImage / Getty Images

10.Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally

They're hugging at an Oscar party
Karwai Tang / Getty Images

Megan told GQ, "I never had a burning desire to have children. But then I met Nick, and I thought, This is the only person I’d do this with. So we tried, but I was a little long in the tooth for that sort of thing. But we didn’t turn it into a soap opera. We tried for about a year or so and it didn’t happen, and took that to mean it wasn’t meant to be."

Bg beard and Megan
Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty Images for the Hollywood Reporter

11.Ricky Gervais

Holding an award
Ian West — Pa Images / PA Images via Getty Images

He told Ellen DeGeneres (via Hello magazine), "I'd worry sick about a baby. I have a cat and I worry about that. I check the door three times before I go out. I put food and water in every room in case the door closes and he's peckish for 20 minutes."

Giving a thumbs-up
Vera Anderson / WireImage / Getty Images

12.Ina Garten

She's smiling with a mic
Brad Barket / Getty Images for the New Yorker

She told Katie Couric on her podcast (via ET) about her choice not to have kids: "I really felt — I feel — that I would have never been able to have the life I've had. And so it's a choice, and that was the choice I made."

With her husband
Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images for Disney

13.Sandra Oh

At a movie premiere in london
Mike Marsland / Mike Marsland / WireImage / Getty Images

She told Marie Claire, "I have an extremely fulfilling life as an aunt, not only to my nieces and nephews but also to a lot of my friends’ children."

At the Shang Chi premiere
Mike Marsland / Mike Marsland / WireImage / Getty Images

14.Seth Rogen

In an orange suit and bow tie at the Emmys
Rich Fury / Getty Images

He told Howard Stern (via the Independent), "I don’t know anyone who gets as much happiness out of their kids as we get out of our nonkids. Like, we’re fucking psyched all the time! We’re laying in bed on Saturday mornings smoking weed, watching movies naked. If we had kids, we could not be fucking doing this.”

Waving at the Emmy Awards
Rich Fury / Getty Images

15.Kim Cattrall

A headshot
Brian Zak / Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

She thought about starting IVF treatments after marrying her third husband, but her schedule for Sex and the City was too chaotic.

On the red carpet, in a white stole, in 2004
Brian Zak / Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

16.Allison Janney

At the Emmys 2021
Rich Fury / Getty Images

She told Drew Barrymore (via Today), "I wasn't ever really confident that I wanted to have kids, and I would rather regret not having kids than have kids and regret it."

Sitting in a chair
CBS Photo Archive / CBS via Getty Images

17.Sarah Paulson

A closeup headshot
Steve Granitz / WireImage / Getty Images

When asked about having kids, Sarah said, "I don’t know. I’m getting a little old, so there’s cobwebs going on in them ovaries."

In a diamond-studded dress at a gala
Stefanie Keenan / Getty Images for Academy Museum of Motion Pictures

18.Marisa Tomei

Holding a football and wearing a fur
Al Pereira / Getty Images

She told Glamour UK that she “[doesn’t] know why women need to have children to be seen as complete human beings.”

A portrait at the 2020 Film Indie Spirit Awards
Kurt Krieger — Corbis / Corbis via Getty Images

19.Brendon Urie

In a shiny black suit
Gary Gershoff / Getty Images

In a 2015 Periscope, Brendon and his wife, Sarah, said they didn't want a child.

Brendon and his wife smiling
Bruce Glikas / Getty Images

He joked on a Twitch stream, "I think your kid sucks. You think your kid's a superstar and a genius, I think they're dumb."

20.Anjelica Huston

In 1971 holding a flower
Evening Standard / Getty Images

She told the Guardian about her decision not to have kids, "I would probably have been miserable."

Smiling in 2011
Bauer-Griffin / GC Images / Getty Images

21.Tracee Ellis Ross

At the Met Gala
Sean Zanni / Patrick McMullan via Getty Images

She told Marie Claire, "Our society spoon-feeds it to you. I used to put myself to sleep dreaming of my wedding, and I would still love all of that, but what am I going to do, just sit around waiting? Shut up. I’ve got so many things to do.”

Huge smile at the Met Gala
John Shearer / WireImage / Getty Images

22.Rachael Ray

Smiling with some food
Craig Sjodin / ABC via Getty Images

She told People magazine, "I don’t have time. I work too much to be an appropriate parent. I feel like a bad mom to my dog some days because I’m just not here enough. I just feel like I would do a bad job if I actually took the time to literally give birth to a kid right now and try and juggle everything I’m doing."

She's smiling on the red carpet
Tim Mosenfelder / Getty Images

23.Helen Mirren

A headshot of Helen
Samir Hussein / Samir Hussein / WireImage

She told British Vogue (via Vanity Fair), "[Motherhood] was not my destiny. I kept thinking it would be, waiting for it to happen, but it never did, and I didn’t care what people thought ... It was only boring old men [who would ask me].”

Walking in a fashion show in Paris with the Eiffel Tower in the background
Pascal Le Segretain / Getty Images For L'Oréal

24.Jennifer Aniston

She's smiling, beaming
Frazer Harrison / Getty Images

She wrote for HuffPost, "We are complete with or without a mate, with or without a child. We get to decide for ourselves what is beautiful when it comes to our bodies. That decision is ours and ours alone."

She's smiling
Jon Kopaloff / Getty Images