Why Oprah Is Unapologetically Childless By Choice

In a post-Roe v. Wade world, it's important to know both your family planning and reproductive options, with forgoing parenthood altogether being a valid course of action. There are plenty of celebrities who prove you can be unapologetically child-free, with Hollywood icon Oprah Winfrey being one of them. Though the former talk show host has been in a committed relationship with educator and author Stedman Graham since 1986, she's chosen to pass on both marriage and childbearing.

"When people were pressuring me to get married and have children, I knew I was not going to be a person that ever regretted not having them," Winfrey told Good Housekeeping U.K. in 2017. "Because I feel like I am a mother to the world's children. Love knows no boundaries. It doesn't matter if a child came from your womb or if you found that person at age two, 10, or 20. If the love is real, the caring is pure and it comes from a good space, it works." Still, she's had some poignant things to say about motherhood and mothering.

In addition to being one of the top celebs confronting age with confidence, Oprah Winfrey made the personal decision to not have or adopt children, but has still expressed her admiration for those who choose to become parents. "Throughout my years, I have had the highest regard for women who choose to be at home [with] their kids, because I don't know how you do that all day long," she told People. Instead of having her own children, Winfrey has lent her love to hundreds of young girls through the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls (OWLAG), which opened in South Africa in 2007. 

"I also believe that part of the reason why I don't have regrets is because I got to fulfill it in the way that was best for me: the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa," she said. "Those girls fill that maternal fold that I perhaps would have had. In fact, they overfill — I'm overflowed with maternal." Students of the all-girl school lovingly call Winfrey "Mom O," with the TV personality declaring the institution her "greatest legacy" (per OWLAG). Winfrey has expressed that this is the perfect compromise for her. "'For me it was perfect, because I didn't want babies. I wouldn't have been a good mum for babies. I don't have the patience. I have the patience for puppies, but that's a quick stage! But this is so rewarding."