Miley Cyrus Is Childless By Choice & Her Heartbreaking Reason Makes So Much Sense

Once upon a time, getting married and having kids wasn't just the norm, but was expected. Now, that entire frame of thinking has been flipped on its head. According to a 2024 survey by the Pew Research Center, 57% of adults under 50 say they won't be having kids, because they just don't want to. The same survey found that of the child-free respondents under 50, women are more likely to say they don't want kids, at 64%, compared to men at 50%.

Of course, the shift away from parenthood is nothing new and has been moving in this direction for a while now. As the Pew Research Center survey found, between 2018 and 2023, the number of people who said they're not likely to have kids increased by 10% and as of 2023, the U.S. fertility rate had reached a historic low. The U.S. isn't alone in this, as the fertility rate is dropping across the world. "It is completely normal and valid to not want to have children," licensed psychologist Dr. Linda Baggett told CNN. "I think current generations are feeling more empowered to be open about and act on this preference ... It is a myth that everyone, especially women, want to have children."

As not having kids becomes the norm, many child-free celebrities have discussed their reasons for skipping parenthood. Although for some it's a matter of not wanting kids, for others, like Miley Cyrus, there's a specific reason why she'd rather live a child-free life.

In 2019, Miley Cyrus talked to Elle about the expectations that come with having a uterus, among them being procreation. "We're expected to keep the planet populated," Cyrus told the magazine. "And when that isn't a part of our plan or our purpose, there is so much judgment and anger that they try to make and change laws to force it upon you — even if you become pregnant in a violent situation." Cyrus went on to explain that if someone doesn't want kids, people feel sorry for them or think they're incapable of love. That's not true.

Further into the interview, Cyrus talked about the earth's fragility due to the generations before who took it for granted. "We've been doing the same thing to the earth that we do to women," Cyrus told Elle. "We just take and take and expect it to keep producing. And it's exhausted ... We're getting handed a piece-of-sh*** planet, and I refuse to hand that down to my child. Until I feel like my kid would live on an earth with fish in the water, I'm not bringing in another person to deal with that."

It's worth noting that there are currently 8.2 billion people on the planet. Although there isn't a specific amount of people that the earth can hold, it's estimated that about 10 billion will be the peak population. In other words, Cyrus is making a responsible choice.

Five years after her interview with Elle, Miley Cyrus still isn't very keen on the idea of having kids. For the June 2024 issue of W Magazine, Cyrus said of motherhood, "I look at myself almost every day in the mirror and I say, 'I am a woman.' I'm 31 now, and I still don't know if I want kids or not," said Cyrus. "I feel like my fans kind of are my kids in some way. I've heard Dolly say that too, because she didn't have kids."

Cyrus continued to explain that being an adult who was once a former child star has given her perspective that not everyone has at 31. "I love being an adult," Cyrus told W. "I have a rule that I don't look up or don't look down at anyone. I just look, which allows me the clarity to see the world for what it really is and people for who they really are."

Contrary to what our culture would like us to believe, the decision to have a child or remain child-free is a personal choice. If Cyrus decides to change her mind in the future and have a baby, that's also a choice she's making for herself and her child. And no one, no matter who they are, has any right to judge her for whether she does or doesn't have a kid.