Stevie Nicks's Reason For Being Childless By Choice Makes So Much Sense

Once dubbed "The Reigning Queen of Rock & Roll" by Rolling Stone, Stevie Nicks is a legendary singer and songwriter who rose to fame leading Fleetwood Mac, before embarking on a notable solo career in the '80s. Throughout her stardom, she embarked on multiple world tours, received countless Grammy nominations, and provided inspiration to a legion of up-and-coming artists. While Nicks has experienced major success in her career, the Arizona native never bore children, joining the ranks of the many celebrities who are unapologetically childfree.

At one time, Nicks had a major desire to settle down and have children, stating in 1989 that not doing so was one of her major regrets. "That was my ultimate sacrifice for Fleetwood Mac," she told You Magazine (per Fleetwood Mac UK). Like many women, Nicks felt she had to choose between having children and being successful in her career. While this was not a decision she was initially happy with, her perspective evolved over the years. "It's like, do you want to be an artist and a writer, or a wife and a lover?" she told InStyle in 2002. "With kids, your focus changes. I don't want to go to PTA meetings" (per Rock a Little).

Nicks maintains that she wouldn't have been able to manage both motherhood and Fleetwood Mac's success, especially given her fast and loose lifestyle. Now, though, she carries no regrets about the path she took. "Maybe I knew then that I had to be me, in Fleetwood Mac, a huge band that was on its way to being legendary," she told Rolling Stone, discussing her song "The Lighthouse." "Not only did [not having kids] allow me to follow my dream of being this rock & roll woman, but it allowed me to be this person that just wrote this song."

Several celebrities have advocated for reproductive rights ahead of the 2024 election, but Stevie Nicks notably opened up about the issue in 2020. "Abortion rights, that was really my generation's fight," she told The Guardian. "If President Trump wins this election and puts the judge he wants in, she will absolutely outlaw it and push women back into back-alley abortions." Even then, Nicks was raising awareness by opening up about her own experience with abortion, though she wasn't the first to share that detail of her life. The "Dreams" singer became pregnant in the late '70s while dating Eagles singer Don Henley.

"If I had not had that abortion, I'm pretty sure there would have been no Fleetwood Mac," Nicks said. "There's just no way that I could have had a child then, working as hard as we worked constantly. And there were a lot of drugs, I was doing a lot of drugs ... I would have had to walk away." Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in June 2022, Nicks has continued to advocate for women's rights, penning the song "The Lighthouse" and speaking to Rolling Stone in October 2024.

In her interview, the singer revealed that she was protected by a copper IUD at the time of her pregnancy in the '70s, but that a tilt in her uterus allowed her to become pregnant. Still, Nicks was resolute in her stance. "It's not just about not being careful and having an abortion," she said. "It's everything. It's all the health care. It's an ectopic pregnancy. It's all the procedures that need to be done in our bodies that half of us don't ever have and half of us have a whole lot more than other people."