Childfree Clooney
1 09 2008Just love it.
With all the recent cooing drooling over the Brangelina babies by the Brangeloonies (cringe-making) and the even more recently disturbing description of Sarah Palin being “an inspiration for women everywhere” (I beg to differ) this short feature was like a breath of fresh air to me.
George Clooney has no intention of having kids. He wants to live life on his terms – more power to him. Like George, so many of us truly childfree love our freedom, and don’t have the patience and dedication to devote to kids and have (for these and other reasons) decided child-rearing isn’t for us. Our choice.
It’s not often we see any validation of the childfree choice, so I thought this was well worth sharing. It probably wouldn’t even have got headlined if it wasn’t Clooney, but hey, it did. Wouldn’t it be great to see more headlines like this?
And as for him aging well and his great looks? He is and he has. And I’m pretty sure it’s partly because he’s childfree. Children age you.
I suppose all those women wanting to marry George and have his babies will have to look elsewhere.
Technorati Tags: childfree, childfree
I’d be willing to bet George has had “the big snip” to protect himself. Even celebrity girlfriends aren’t above a little “oopsie” to attempt to trap a man, I believe (Bridget Moynahan and Tom Brady come to mind). And who wouldn’t want to snag George Clooney?
I quite like Clooney, but the reactions to his childfreedom are infuriating. One of his co-stars on Ocean’s Eleven said he just didn’t want the competition. There always seem to be female journalists and commentators claiming that he is immature and denying some poor woman marriage and babies, and that he’s secretly miserable. Can’t we just let him live his life?
I have always wondered why Oprah Winfrey, who can make millions of women think what she wants them to think, doesn’t do a show about the choice of the childfree lifestyle. I detest a lot of her spirituality/self-actualization agenda, but if there was ever anyone who would get narcissistic parents and parent-wannabes to really understand, or at least to stop the bingoing, I think it would be her. I’d love to see a truly famous woman make the kind of statement that Clooney did in that article. Women are so much more judgmental about this than men are, imo.
“Wouldn’t it be great to see more headlines like this?” - yes!!!
And ditto what KCW said. If there were more (high) celebrity women out there that were willing to give the same comments that Clooney gives then I’m sure a lot of women would wake up to the real choice they have, rather than just ‘falling’ into parenthood like we hear so much about.
Not to hijack this post and the comment thread, but I need to take this opportunity to thank all of you here who write supportive things about the CF life.
My wife and I have slowly come to the realization after 8 years of marriage that we really don’t ever want to have any children. I can’t put enough emphasis on this: We both know it would be a huge mistake to try and raise children.
We don’t know ANYONE else who isn’t having children, so we’ve had a difficult time evaluating the benefits/drawbacks of being childfree. You all have helped us realize that a cost/benefit analysis isn’t relevant here - what’s important is that we both know it isn’t right for us.
I’m having a vasectomy on October 2. I wish it were happening tomorrow.
Thank you all - and especially to Britgirl for this website.
I remember Clooney stating his childfree status some time ago. I’ve always admired him for that. Now if there were only more childfree men who looked like him to hook up with childfree women, this world would be a paradise (smile).
Mark S, stick with Britgirl and this blog. You’ll get a lot of support!
Yes, Clooney has “come out” as being CF a while ago. I wonder why this is still news? Is it because people couldn’t really believe it so they’re checking in? Almost as if, “Ok, George, are you SURE? I mean really?”
OF COURSE HE’S SURE!
Also, other famous CF celebs:
Helen Mirren (I pray tha I am as wonderful and as beautiful and poised as her when I grow up!)
Sandra Bullock - but! I personally don’t consider her CF because she’s a stepmom.
Bill Maher
There are others, Google childfree and celebrities.
HIllari, you just KNOW that there are women out there thinking that Clooney can be “turned.” He just needs to be “oopsed” and once he takes a look at that little bund of miracle joy he’ll be INSTANTLY joyful that he’s a pappa. (insert eye roll here. hehehe)
Oh! One more!!!
Christopher Walken! He is CF, and he is one of the more awesomest male celebrities out there. I can’t believe I forgot him! I absolutely LOVE Christopher Walken.
And really, we could all always use more cowbell.
Great post. You know, I am looking forward to the day when a celebrity’s choice to be childfree won’t be big NEWS. I also agree about Oprah Winfrey - it would be great if she had a show about the CF issue and talked about her own decision to be childfree. But you know what? It’s never gonna happen because her audience is primarily MOTHERS and she knows where her bread is buttered.
I’d be willing to marry George Clooney and NOT have his babies! Ha!
Hey Sarah, I would be willing to bet the same. That’s the only way to ensure that no-one’s going to come along and “oops” him… as I am pretty sure some women have been dreaming of.
Irishgirl…it’s so funny when these air-head journalists call him miserable along with all their other misplaced babble… he looks and souns pretty happy to me ;).And as we know the decision to be childfree isn’t taken without some pretty mature thinking. And what could be better than being able to call the shots in his own life? But that’s too much for some women to take.
KCW - the tought has occurred to me more than once… and I think Childfreeee has answered it. Her prime audience.
But as CFSince Six said Dame Helen Mirren is another star has also been quite outspoken about her childfree-ness and the fact she never wanted to have kids. I’ve always thought she was a fabulous actor even before I knew she was childfree. I would count Ophrah, as she is too, but somehow she never immediately comes to mind… I wonder why that is?
UKShell - and it would a refreshing break from the baby accessory mania of the last few months. I’m not going to name them because i don’t want to ruin this great thread.
Hillari - yes, I recall he has said it before.. Maybe as Childfree SinceSix says people were checking in to see if he’s “changed his mind”. And I agree there are probably many out there who think all he needs to do is hold his own offspring to see what he’s been missing and “be transformed”. I think they’re going to be disappointed. All he has to do is look at Brad.
Childfreeee - Thank you. It will be a great day when being a celebrity and deciding to be childfree isn’t news and is instead met with “so what?” As as for Ophrah… I think you are right.
RMS -LOL…
Mark - Thank you! I hope you’ll stick around Like It Is. You’ll find lot’s of supportive down to earth conversation on here as you go through the various post, and the generous sharing of a wide range of our experiences in living our childfree lives in a world that is designed around parents and children.
The bottom line is, despite the intense pressure to pro-create, and the criticism if you don’t, what matters is what is right for you.
Britgirl, I’ll tell you why Oprah never comes to my mind. Like Childfreee, she panders to MOTHERS. I used to like her show. More than a decade ago. I lost interest quickly because it was all about mothers, MOTHERS, and MORE MOTHERS. To be honest, I never cared enough to wonder why someone without children catered to mothers. I just always assumed she would become a mother. So I am totally and completely uninterested in her show.
To me, she’s a mommy-wanna-be. One of the CF folks that caters to parunts. Again, like Childfreee said, she does know where her bread is buttered. But by the same token, she’s got alot of butter that she should start being able to start calling her own shots. i.e. Have a CF show to highlight the childfree, and NOT have them sit there and spend all hour justifying or defending why they’re childfree, but quite simply talk about it as a lifestyle choice.
I love George Clooney. But I can’t help but wonder if he benefits from the eternal double standard - that single and CF men are happy bachelors, sowing their oats and breaking hearts wherever they go, while single and CF women are dried up, bitter old maids.
He does the CF a lot of favours though. He deflects the ever intrusive questions with charm and wit, and he’s such a refreshing change to all the rabid baby crazy celebrity lifestyle. He puts it out there, and gets away with it. You go, George!
The interesting thing about George is that he is uncompromising in his CF beliefs. According to the more reliable gossip blogs, he sent his last girlfriend Sarah Larson packing asap (I mean, the “pack your bags right now and get out tonight” kind of asap) for making the suggestion that she might want to start a family. Just like that, she was gone.
He is aging beautifully. I might need to watch ER again this year after so many years away just to see his return for the final season.
RMS… you beat me to it! lol…
Just for kicks - CF celebrities (i’m omitting people like Jennifer Aniston and Penelope Cruz who are clearly childless, not childfree, and unhappy about it): Rosa Parks, Louis Armstrong, Bob Barker, Ludwig Van Beethoven, Lara Flynn Boyle, Helen Gurley Brown, Kim Cattrall, Coco Chanel, Julia Child, Simon Cowell, Leonardo da Vinci, Benjamin Disraeli, Chow Yun-Fat, Eva Gabor, Gloria Gaynor, Debbie Harry, Katherine Hepburn, Lauren Hutton, Dean Koontz, Jay Leno, Laura Linney, Steve Martin, Alyssa Milano, Mike Myers, Ralph Nader, Bebe Neuwerth, Isaac Newton, Stevie Nicks, Friedrich Nietzsche, Dolly Parton, Ayn Rand, Janet Reno, Condoleeza Rice, Mickey Rourke, Winona Ryder, Dianne Sawyer, Joel Schumacher, Patrick Swayze, Quentin Tarantino, Mae West, Walt Whitman, Robbie Williams, Billy Zane, Renee Zellweger. Oh, and don’t forget George Washington.
I think a vasectomy is an unavoidable, necessary thing for wealthy and powerful men who do not want children. I would guess George has had one. The nightmare of a pregnant, teary-eyed girlfriend is bad enough for the regular guys, but for one who has at stake millions of dollars, tabloids and the torrent of outraged-moo-opinions, it would be a constant life of celibacy or terror, insomnia and head-to-toe condom-wearing. Mick Jagger should think about getting one, lol.
og217, Paul McCartney should of thought of that before his last marriage!
Clooney has everything. He is handsome, rich, famous…Why should he bothered himself with children. Childfree is freedom. Freedom to live the life whatever he wants to.
ChildfreeSinceSix… Og217 Macca (Paul McCartney) will be wishing that for the rest of his life. His considerably lighter wallet will be a reminder. Or not. I read somewhere he has a new girlfriend. She looks eerily like the Gold Dig… er… Mills McCartney.
Og217 - “The nightmare of a pregnant, teary-eyed girlfriend is bad enough for the regular guys, but for one who has at stake millions of dollars, tabloids and the torrent of outraged-moo-opinions, it would be a constant life of celibacy or terror, insomnia and head-to-toe condom-wearing. Mick Jagger should think about getting one, lol.”
LOL! Too true!
And Og17 - thanks for that list!
Anne-Marie: That’s a great asap.
Kat - I think he probably benefits a bit, but then people look around at all the unattached eligible bachelors and think… no more slack. Where are the baybees already?? And I agree because he is so charming and witty and talented that people don’t realise he’s told the nosey twits to take a hike. Ever so politely of course. I wish more women would do the same.
I also think he’s a great inspiration to Hollywood men who want to stand up for their right not to procreate.
RMS: You completely beat me to it! I would be so willing to live on Lake Como, jet to Cannes, summer in Hawaii, and attend to his every heart’s desire AND not have George’s children.
Some of my favorite Clooney Quotes:
“After doing One Fine Day and playing a pediatrician on ER, I’ll never have kids. I’m going to have a vasectomy.”
“Most of my friends my age have children; I have movies.”
“Yeah no way am I going to lose any money on this one, because I figure, here’s the deal, I get a vasectomy for five grand and I’m up 15 grand right there. I can make a profit.”
George Clooney Quote about his bet with Nicole Kidman and Michelle Pfeiffer on becoming a father before 40
“Where is it written that everyone has to have kids. You can easily borrow other people’s and give them back later.”
Explosive - What great quotes! The man is just so cool and so smart… Excuse me while I swoon
Maybe I could just screw him once or twice instead?
CFSinceSix wrote: Also, other famous CF celebs:
Helen Mirren (I pray tha I am as wonderful and as beautiful and poised as her when I grow up!)
Sandra Bullock - but! I personally don’t consider her CF because she’s a stepmom.
1. Helen Mirren is also stepmother
2. It’s possible to be a childfree stepmother. We get marginalized even more than the “pure” childfrees, but yes. It happens. Life is a lot of shades of grey.
Hi. I think this is Brit Girl’s Website and if so I say hello again. It’s been at least 2 years since we’ve conversed about anything - but I think we were pretty close to agreement on many things before. I hope you will put this in the forum (edit it if it’s too frank) because I saw a reference to John Hanson (which is me John Hansen) and I also use MajorHart
I believe that a man and his wife should be first to each other. I believe it is more healthy for a chld to realize that he/she is not the reason the family exists. I’m just writing another ebook on women who need to get pregnant anyway they have to - or they will resent their man the rest of his life or divorce him. I see that many have agreed to not have children and then changed their mind due to family or friend’s pressure or maybe just their own desire. Some would consider getting pregnant on purpose as seen in the forum I was just on - and that too is bad. Having an affair is not even that bad because we’re not talking about 18 to 26 years of responsibility hee. It probably is a genetic trait that is very strong in women to have babies - it probaly was a genetic trait in cavemen to beat their wives too and most have overcome that.
A lot of women say “but he promised me we would have kids someday” and now he say no.
First we have to realize a basic difference between men and women Many women enjoy sex but men NEED sex. It’s just the way we’re made. We also don’t have such an easy time getting it - I played in bands for over 20 years and did not get much sex - at least compared to what I needed. If a man tells a woman the truth to a woman - that he doesn’t ever want kids - he is probably not going to get any sex. So - he says “maybe - in a few years.” Even if I had had a vasecftomy - I would still say that because of the need for sex.
Women do enjoy sex but they don”t look upon it as “fun.” They consider it a tool to make babies with. Correct me if I’m wrong - that’s what a lot of women have told me - that they do enjoy sex but they wouldn’t just have it for fun - there had to be a reason.
I had 8 male friends in Tacoma (you might have read this before) - 4 of them had a girlfriend get pregnant - 2 left town and two married the girls. Of the other 4, 3 of the women promised to wait on the babies for 2 or 3 years so they could get acquainted and really have some adult fun together (all kinds, travel, sports, etc.)
They were all pregnant in 3 months - saying accidents do happen and abortion is murder. They also told me my opinions on the matter didn’t concern them at all.
One of the 8 friend was happy and childless at last contact over 20 years ago.
I met a woman who said she did not want any kids. She said “I think they are so cute but when the end of the day comes - I want to go home and leave them with their parents.” I felt the same way when we met in 1976. We married and stayed childless and have been together almost 40 years no.; We travel and play video game golf just about everyday and we have a lot of fun, teasing each other and having an occasional dinner or beer out. And we are very deeply in love.
Even though she agrees fully with me that deception is the problem with these women that get pregnant, she is not terribly interested in this subject. I do remember those male friends well, and I think the deception is what bothers me the most - I don’t deceive my wife and she doesn’t deceive me. Deception leads to a lack of trust - the basis of love.
On that other forum, many of the women were saying - he doesn’t have sex with me because he is afraid I might get pregnant on purpose and then saying - I’ve considered getting pregnant on purpose. Others joined in and said if he won’t give you a baby and won’t have sex with you either - he can’t love you - leave him and find a guy that will give you what you want.
I think there just has to be more to life than just having babies. I think kids are really cute also (some of them) but know they can become delinquents or get a girl pregnant or it could be my daughter - also they might die in a war in some far off land. The way some of these women talk - there IS nothing else in life.
I sometimes tend to get pretty hostile toward women and then I run into you and some of the others on this forum and it shows me that even though I do think most women are compelled to have kids - their are a lot of them that really do love their guy first.
Men say alot of things to get say - we have to but it’s a few minute thing - not an 18 year thing. I had a woman who claimed to be absolutely fascinated by me and my music - she started talking about being in love with me in 3 dates and marriage in two weeks and in the 3rd week - do you want a boy or a girl?
I bailed out - I really dont’ think who I was made any difference to her.
Men like attention but honest attention even if not gushing.
Anyway - I’ve run this way too long - good to find you again - I think we started discussing on marriage.alt or something like that.
We had a terrible winter this year - I hope Toronto wasn’t too bad.
Bye for now.
John Hansen majorhart@sbcglobal.net The Virtual Vacation http://the-virtual-vacation.com
Hey - I like the tone of this website. Only - I’m better looking that George Clooney…. hahaha
Okay maybe better looking that his dog.
I use to be an admirer of britney speers - she was a marvelous dancer and I love to see good dancers. She was also sexy. She had a few kids (not their fault of course) and got on drugs, and basically just went to hell. I sincerly she or anyone gets back up and recovers some of what she had. I enjoy Dancing with the Stars alot too, when I have time to watch it.
Have a good one.
John Hansen
I also managed two convenience stores in Oklahoma City.
Two nice girls were in several times a day and I had a good relationship with them - I and one or the other would run off for a pizza a couple times a week but I never invited either of them to my house.
I know somehow it would turn to sex and while normally I would love that - I didn’t want to chance a pregnancy.
I had a married clerk there and she asked me what was my hangup with inviting them to my house and I told her “I like them both but I don’t want to become a parent - ever.”
Two days later the two disappeared and I never saw them again.
Oh, well, can’t win em all.
Hey John, I remember you! Thanks for adding to the conversation. You’ve made lots of interesting thought provoking points (we tend to get that here
) and I may well put some of them in a post update.
I did not know that Helen Mirren was a stepmother.
I don’t consider women who are stepmothers (even though they did not have their own children) to be childfree. I just don’t.
My husband has a daughter from his previous marriage, but I am emphatically NOT a stepmother. I didn’t even meet the kid until I had been married to her father for four months. She has never lived with us, and now that she is 22 she is out on her own. She and her father get together every so often; she and I have a cordial dislike for one another, and neither of us wishes to have any sort of relationship with the other. I definitely consider myself childfree.
I can’t quite get my head around a “Childfree stepmother”. It’s too much like an oxymoron to me. I actually didn’t know Helen Mirren was a stepmother until it was mentioned here. I always knew of her views on having children - one of which is if she had had them she would never have got to where she is today.
George Clooney had best stay outside of Telford, Shropshire if he wants to avoid being interrogated.
George Clooney had best stay outside of Telford, Shropshire, UK if he wants to avoid being interrogated.
This tidbit of information makes him so much sexier!
George Clooney has long had my strong approval for his very strong CF stance. I think it was in an interview with the TV conversation master Charlie Rose that Clooney said, “I never felt a need to have a little copy of myself. You know, a Mini-Me.” I’m not much of a starwatcher, but in the interviews with him that I’ve heard or read he has always finessed the matter of what we all have considered…and he surely must: he is an attractive Oopsing target if ever there was one.
The thing that frosts me the most in breeder families is how often the children are placed at the center and given the worldview that they are more important…even than the adult relationship that provides for them, guides them, etc. It sickens me to see parents raising their kids in the view that they, the kids, know everything and are to be cottoned to 150 percent by any and every adult, including the ones that are trolled/bingo’ed for attention. There is a strain of martyrdom in most breeders I’ve known, which has been missing from every CF person I’ve known, and I’ve also known many breeders who used their kids as an instrument of their own passive aggression, not to mention narcissism.
My relationship with my partner will never win awards or be on the cover of any magazine…but it is truly my greatest life’s work. We would never have had the levels of intimacy, fun, and accomplishment that we’ve made together, had we focused on our respective families’ demands for grandsprogs, etc. We have no illusions that it will “amount to anything,” and all we’ll leave behind is our savings for causes we support. Yet we also sense we are going to a level of relating that only very few humans get to experience. Just the fact of a woman having reproductive choice in a relationship–fully sexual, yet fully choice-centered–is something that has been extremely rare in history.
We’ve had strangers and friends alike marvel at how creative and productive we are, how well we work together, how much warmth, patience, regard, and forgiveness we have for one another…and by extension for others. Sometimes we’re amazed by this feedback, for we both see our own flaws (often more than each other’s). We’ve heard so often, also, from breeders, that we are immature and selfish for having created an adult relationship as our life’s focus rather than relating to children by breeding more humans.
Someone asked us at a party once “why we didn’t have kids,” rude rude rude, but I was feeling mellow that night. I replied, because there the earth has over 6 billion kids and former kids, but only very few solid marriages between mature, evolved people, and we always preferred to chose the road less traveled. The person who asked looked disgusted and wandered off, but a few days later someone who overheard my reply told my partner that she was very grateful for it, as she and her partner really wanted to focus on their relationship and personal evolution, but had no support for it. They do now!