Being a woman means that people automatically assume you want to get married and raise babies. Contrary to popular belief, that's not always true. Some women have other hopes, dreams, and ambitions outside of creating a family. Allison Janney seems to be one of those women, and we're here to say, more power to her.
Allison, who is 61, recently appeared on The Drew Barrymore Show, and she opened up about how she feels about never having kids. She says it's not a choice she spends a lot of time — or any, really — regretting.
"I think if I'd found the right guy at the right time and wanted to have kids, I probably would have with the right partner," she said. "Because 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."
It's a great point that we don't hear brought up hardly ever! But regret over having children is real. Some people realize that it just isn't for them and, though they love their children, imagine what life would have been like if they didn't have the obligation of parenting.
That's why Allison's perspective is refreshing, and we should hear more of it. The assumption that all women want children, or should want children, is dated and sexist to begin with. But it also leads to a lot of people creating families that they aren't 100% sure they wanted to begin with.
Allison has a full life without ever having gotten married or having kids, though. She continued, "I really am at this time in my life getting to know who I am and what I want. So I'd love to eventually find someone to share my life with, but if it doesn't happen, I think I'll be just fine."
Allison definitely doesn't seem unhappy or like she feels she's missed out on some crucial element of life or womanhood. She's content with her choices. And why wouldn't she be? She's an amazingly talented actress who is always involved in pretty killer projects.
Still, the actress is in a bit of a transition. In February, CBS announced that Allison's hit show Mom was being canceled. The show was hilarious, and it certainly had a good run. But all good things must come to an end. Allison says she'll be sad to say goodbye.
"I wish that we'd had at least another year for the writers to have that much time to ramp up to the ending. We sort of found out sooner than we thought we would," she said. "We thought, 'Surely, they're gonna want more Mom.' And they decided not."
She seems to be taking it all in stride, however. And she never seems to have trouble finding new roles. At this point in her career, she has so many acting credits to her name, and her performances seem to get meatier all the time.
Allison's success, both on-screen and in finding happiness in her personal life, regardless of the fact that she doesn't have a husband or children, is inspirational. And it's wonderful to hear her open up about those choices. Too often it's assumed that women who don't have those things must be grieving missed opportunities. But Allison proves that's not always the case — you can be husband-free, child-free, and totally fine.
Allison Janney certainly is.
