Hilary Swank has something to say to trolls who criticize women for having children later in life. The actress, who recently announced her third pregnancy at 52 with her husband, reflected on societal double standards and backlash around the topic.
In a clip from an upcoming interview on The Drew Barrymore Show, Swank said, “There’s a lot of backlash women get for having children older but not men, which is interesting.”
To this, Barrymore, a mother of two, replied that the double standard is “weird,” noting, “Men have babies in their, like, 80s, and that’s not a euphemism or a joke. You had kids in your 40s, and people weren’t always gracious about it.”
Hilary Swank’s pregnancy has reignited a wider conversation about age and motherhood
Swank is calling out the double standard women face for having children in their 40s and 50s. Older fathers often avoid the same criticism, reignited a wider conversation about age and motherhood. The actress previously welcomed twins back in 2023.
Recalling a story about it, Swank said: “There’s one story that I found really interesting, and I think I was attracted to this particular story because this one woman said, ‘How dare you. You’re too old, and you won’t be old enough when your kids are older, and my dad was my favorite person, and he died when I was in my twenties, my early twenties, and it’s just devastation.'”
“I related to it because my dad [has] also passed, but he was one of my favorite people on earth, and so I was drawn to that,” she continued. “I thought to myself, ‘Well, I would rather be born and have that person that was my favorite person and experience that than not at all. Do you know what I’m saying? So that’s how I took what she said.”
Swank’s announcement that she is pregnant has brought public focus back to the societal double standards and changing definitions of modern motherhood.
