Famous People Without Children

Although there is a growing number of celebrities who have no children, you won't be hearing a lot about them in the media. Usually, if a celebrity has no children, they are mute on the topic -- or suggest they might have children at some time in the future. Very few are willing to voice a deliberate decision about remaining childfree. Perhaps that is because they don't wish to alienate their legions of childed fans?

Two current notable exceptions are Bill Maher (Politically Incorrect) and Lara Flynn Boyle (The Practice). Maher frequently comments on his childfree status, and even occasionally gets across this politically incorrect stance. Boyle is reported by Entertainment Tonight to have said in a magazine interview that she doesn't want children. Let us hope neither will be ostracized. George Clooney was recently taunted by two female actresses (both childed) who bet him he would have a child before he turned forty.

Recently for two nights ABC's Nightline did an interesting two-part program about what life will be like in 2015. In it, they interviewed Agency analysts from the CIA, and not surprisingly, one of the big problems predicted is over-population. Although the major population growth will arise in third-world countries, it will affect everyone worldwide, the USA included. The idea that population could be voluntarily curbed was dismissed. The report can be found here.

Until some of our more widely known famous people are willing to advocate their own childfree choice, and explain why this is a viable and noble solution to some of the world's growing problems, we'll never even be able to discuss this topic in public. And that's a shame, because being childfree IS indeed an alternative we as a global society should at least be willing to consider. These influential and popular people could make a difference by speaking out, and perhaps even becoming role models to the younger generations around the world.

The following is a list of some famous people, current and historical, who are childfree. Some may eventually have children, or not.

Mo Mowlam, Cabinet minister and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (UK)
Mari Matsunaga, Japanese innovator of i-mode, voted in top 25 tech women of the web
Lauren Hutton, model/actress
Marlo Thomas, actress
Stephanie Zimbalist, actress
Patrick Swayze, actor
Betty White, actress
Kevin Spacey, actor
Margaret Mitchell, author
Julia Roberts, actress
Quentin Tarantino, writer/director
Randy Travis, singer
Dwight Yokam, singer
Lara Flynn Boyle, actress
Daryl Hannah, actress
Diane Sawyer, news reporter
Mickey Rourke, actor
Mary Cassatt, Impressionist painter
Annie Oakley
Arthur C. Clark (step-father, but none of his own)
Baroness Karen Blixen, author (Out of Africa)
Oprah Winfrey, talk show host
Amelia Earhart, adventurer
Ann Bancroft (the polar explorer, not the actress)
Simone de Beauvoir, writer
Gloria Steinem, feminist activist/writer
Helen Keller, author
Annie Sullivan, H. Keller's teacher
Jessye Norman, opera singer
Mother Teresa, nun
George Washington (step-father but none of his own)
Frida Kahlo, Mexican painter
Immanuel Kant, philosopher
Jesus Christ
Lawrence of Arabia
William Lyon MacKenzie King, Canadian Prime Minister
Joan of Arc
Florence Nightingale
Susan B. Anthony, nineteenth-century suffragist
Lorena Hickok, AP political reporter
Harriet Tubman, underground Railroad
Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, first female physician in the US
Carrie Chapman Catt, US suffrage leader
M. Carey Thomas, President of Bryn Mawr College
Ella Fitzgerald, jazz vocalist
Emily Dickinson, poet
Jeanette Rankin, first female US Representative
Margaret Bourke-White, photographer
Julia Child, French cook
Ayn Rand, philosopher/author
Rear Adm. Grace Murray Hopper, computer pioneer
Billy Jean King, tennis player
Marian Anderson, opera singer
Scott Adams, creator, Dilbert
Brett Butler, comedienne
Stockard Channing, actress
George Clooney, actor
Mary Crosby, actress
Linda Evans, actress
Reginald VelJohnson, actor
Nanci Griffith, singer
Katherine Hepburn, actress
Bonnie Raitt, singer
Rita Rudner, comedienne
Dr. Seuss, author
Christopher Walken, actor
Bill Watterson, creator, Calvin and Hobbes
Yanni, composer/musician
Larry Kahn, listed in Guinness Book of World Records
Jay Leno, host, Tonight Show
David Letterman, host, Late Show
Christine McVie, singer/songwriter
Bill Maher, host, Politically Incorrect
George Michael, singer
Helen Mirren, actress
Stevie Nicks, singer
Georgia O'Keefe, artist
Dorothy Parker, writer
Sara Teasdale, poet

NOTE: In the forum several people have commented that some of these famous individuals apparently wanted children, but could not have any. Therefore, I have changed this list to famous people without children. Mainly I would like people to realize that individuals can live very productive lives without reproducing, and this widens the category of who would be appropriate on this list. Of the living people listed, their status may change if they adopt or reproduce, so please let me know if you have news of this happening to any on the above list.

Special thanks to Childfree By Choice website for some of these names. If you know of other childfree celebrities or historical figures, please add them in the forum below.