10 Famous Parents Who Never Thought They’d Have Kids

Find out what these celebrities had to say about parenthood…

Before Cameron Diaz tied the knot with Benji Madden, she didn’t think children were in her future. While reflecting on her life, Cameron shared that she had never been drawn to being a mother and being child-free had made her life easier.

“It’s so much more work to have children. To have lives besides your own that you are responsible for — I didn’t take that on. That did make things easier for me. A baby — that’s all day, every day for eighteen years,” Cameron told Esquire.

She continued, “Not having a baby might really make things easier, but that doesn’t make it an easy decision. I like protecting people, but I was never drawn to being a mother. I have it much easier than any of them. That’s just what it is. Doesn’t mean life isn’t sometimes hard. I’m just what I am. I work on what I am. Right now, I think, things are good for me. I’ve done a lot. And I don’t care anymore.”

Cameron has since welcomed two children with Benji: Raddix and Cardinal.

Jeff Goldblum never thought he was going to be a father but after starting to date his now-wife Emilie, he began to reconsider things. The couple talked it over for a few years before deciding to tie the knot and welcome children. They now share two kids: Oceans and River.

“I never thought that I was going to do it. I had never been particularly passionate [about fatherhood] or envisioned it for myself — I don’t have any nieces or nephews, had never seen a birth before. In the couple of lovely previous marriages I had, there was some fantasy talk about it, but never any serious business. And I always thought it was a good thing that I didn’t have any drama with kids and breaking up,” he told Radio Times.

George Clooney didn’t always have kids on his mind. Before he met his wife Amal, he didn’t think that he would one day become a father. Back in 2006, he said that he didn’t think it was in his DNA to become a father.

“I think it’s the most responsible thing you can do, to have kids. It’s not something to be taken lightly. I don’t have that gene that people have to replicate. But everything in my life has changed over time,” George told People.

George and Amal have since welcomed twins: Ella and Alexander.

Growing up, Angelina Jolie never thought she was going to have children. She says that because she “was not a very stable youth,” she didn’t see herself as being anyone’s mom. But that changed before she adopted her first child in Cambodia — and she’s now the mom of six children.

“It’s strange, I never wanted to have a baby. I never wanted to be pregnant. I never babysat. I never thought of myself as a mother,” Angelina told the Associated Press. “When I first came to Cambodia, it changed me. It changed my perspective. I realized there was so much about history that I had not been taught in school, and so much about life that I needed to understand, and I was very humbled by it.”

Jeannie Mai never thought motherhood was in her future. While she’s now the mom of a daughter named Monaco who she shares with ex Jeezy, she explained that “trust issues” previously kept her from wanting to become a mom. After she was sexually abused by a family member as a child, she says she feared she wouldn’t be capable of protecting her own child from a similar experience.

“As a child, when you are taken from things that feel good and whole and safe, it’s hard to see anything as trustworthy moving forward. I realize that the reason I didn’t want to have kids is because that feeling when I was a kid was so real and so damaging to the point that I’m 42 today still dealing with trust issues and confidence,” Jeannie shared on her YouTube channel. “It still scares me whether or not I can keep a kid safe from someone else who might hurt them.”

Jeannie added that after therapy, her heart began to shift and she decided she wanted to give a baby the childhood “we never had.”

As a young woman, Diane Kruger thought she wasn’t going to have any children and felt that she was “too selfish” to become a mother. But as she got older, Diane admits she opened up to the idea of having a baby. Diane and her partner Norman Reedus now share a daughter named Nova.

“I didn’t think I wanted children for a long time. I was too selfish,” she shared with PORTER Edit. “But by the time I got to about 35, I thought, yes, I probably do want one. But then you have to wait for the right person to come along. I’m glad I waited.”

Before Amy Schumer met her husband Chris Fischer, she didn’t think that getting married or having children was something she’d ever do. While she didn’t want to have children, being married to Chris completely changed her mind. The couple now share a son named Gene.

“I never wanted to get married. I never wanted to have kids. I didn’t even think about it. Like kids — like little girls play weddings? I was, like, playing that I was a fortune teller, you know?” she shared during Oprah Winfrey’s 2020 Vision: Your Life In Focus Tour. “But then I met this dude. And I was, like, I want to partner up with you for life. And I do want to get the government involved. And I want you to sign. I want to make a vow. Everyone here heard you and now you are mine.”

Eva Mendes didn’t have kids on her mind until she met Ryan Gosling. Looking back, Eva says she was incredibly focused on work and wasn’t in the right mindset to be a mother. But once she met Ryan, she knew she wanted to have a family with him.

“I was lucky enough to work my bum off for 20 years. I never wanted babies before until I fell in love with Ryan, and it kind of worked out to where I was 40 and having my first baby,” Eva explained on the Fitzy & Wippa radio show. “I think I was 42 for the second one, so it worked out in that way that I had a career and then I change my focus to my family.”

The couple now shared two little girls: Esmeralda and Amada.

When Zooey Deschanel was in her early 30s, she didn’t see herself becoming a mom. Even though her sister Emily had recently become a mother, Zooey explained that it wasn’t something she saw for herself.

“My sister was always very motherly, baby-sitting and stuff,” she told Marie Claire. “I like kids, and I like being around kids – but it was never an ambition.”

Several years later, Zooey and her then-husband Jacob Pechenik welcomed two kids: Elsie and Charlie.

Simon Cowell once was very set in his opinion that kids weren’t for him. Back in 2009, he admitted that he didn’t think he could handle children and that all the time you had to dedicate to their care would drive him crazy.

“God, no. I couldn’t have children,” he shared. “If I had them here drawing on the walls, I’d go nuts. You’ve got to be up at a certain time. Got to listen. When all you want to do is sit in a corner thinking.”

Over time, Simon’s opinion did change and he later welcomed his son Eric with his partner  Lauren Silverman.