Seth Rogen: True and Child-Free
As a fellow Canadian, I feel it is unpatriotic not to love Seth Rogen. And how can you not? A comedic genius, unabashedly open about his love of weed, a master of pottery, and a laugh that is contagious.
But in addition to all of that, Rogen is a man who is open about his and his wife, Lauren Miller’s, desire not to have children. And that is what makes me love him even more.
Rogen first opened up publicly about their decision on the Steven Bartlett Diary of a CEO podcast (@ minute 51:49), which aired on March 7, 2023.
“There’s a whole huge thing I’m not doing, which is raising children.”
“That has helped me succeed as well. Definitely.”
“A lot of people have kids before they even think about it, from what I’ve seen, honestly. You just are told, ‘You go through life, you get married, you have kids’ — it’s what happens. Me and my wife, neither of us were like that. Honestly, the older we get, the more happy and reaffirmed we are with our choice to not have kids.”
“We are in the prime of our lives. We are smarter than we've ever been, we understand ourselves more than we ever have, we have the capacity to achieve a level of work and a level of communication and care for one another, and a lifestyle we can live with one another that we've never been able to live before. And we can just do that, and we don't have to raise a child—which the world does not need right now,”
It is so damn refreshing for someone to say what so many of us child-free folks are thinking. Did those with children actually evaluate whether having kids was the best choice for them, or was it just something they did because it was what everyone else was doing, or what was expected of them.
Rogen also attributed his career success to not having children. I, too, would attribute my career success, in part, to not having kids. I haven’t had any breaks in my career to care for a child. I can easily travel for speaking engagements, educational courses. School pickups and weekend hockey tournaments don’t prevent me from attending events where I can meet people to expand my network. Children are personal work that take you away from your professional work. And yes, I have no doubt they are rewarding, but so is excelling in your career. One type of reward is not better than the other. What matters is that the reward is fulfilling to you.
The child-free topic was broached with Rogen again by Dave Holmes for an Esquire article titled Seth Rogen is the boss now (published online on February 11, 2025). In true form, Rogen doesn’t disappoint with his comments on being child-free for this article.
“People really had strong takes on it, being like, Fuck this fucking guy. Who the fuck does he think he is not to have kids?”
“Well, if you hate me that much, why do you want more of me?”
“I look at my friends with kids and honestly, I feel like some of them are incredibly happy and fulfilled, and some of them seem like maybe they wish they had put a little more thought into it. I just didn’t want to be one of those people.”
“The most disturbing comment that I saw a lot of was ‘Who’s going to take care of you when you’re old?’ Which to me is very telling. Is that why you’re having kids? Because I have two things to say: One, that’s very selfish to create a human so someone can take care of you. And two, just because you have a kid, I hate to break it to you, that doesn’t mean they’re going to do that.”
While no one needs to justify their decision to be child-free, unfortunately for people in the spotlight, like Seth Rogen, they are often called upon to do so. The honesty and frankness with which Rogen responds to the question conveys the message that the question itself is shocking. Like, how is being child-free such an issue for some? Because, why in the hell wouldn’t you want to be child-free? … I imagine Rogen asking with that amazing laugh of his.
Alysia Christiaen
Creator of CFW² and a child-free woman.
