Anna Kendrick Is Refreshingly Candid About Her Decision To Remain Childless By Choice

More celebrities than ever are opening up about their decision to be childless, and Anna Kendrick is in good company with the likes of Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton speaking publicly about it. Not that it's anyone's business but their own, of course. Kendrick shared in her 2016 memoir, "Scrappy Little Nobody," "I will always think that children aren't for me." When asked if that was still true in October 2024, she reiterated to Flow Space, "Motherhood isn't for me." 

That same month, she shared a refreshingly candid take with The Guardian, explaining, "I don't ever think about having kids, so I guess I spend just as little time thinking about weaponizing that." Kendrick added that she was happy taking care of her cat, joking, "Why would anyone trust me with a kid?" The "Pitch Perfect" star was previously asked about her decision while promoting her book in 2016, and she responded with her signature humor. "Well, if I have kids, it's just another kid that your kid is going to have to fight when the water wars come," she joked to E! News. "The zombie apocalypse is coming, and with my genes, I don't think that they're going to last. They're just going to be food."

Anna Kendrick has also spoken publicly about the division of labor many heterosexual couples experience with childcare, suggesting that's a reason she has no desire for children. She told Flow Space she'd never heard a woman respond after being asked about potential motherhood, "Yeah, maybe one day — a couple of kids running around." She explained, "[It suggests] that you come home at the end of your workday, and you put down your proverbial briefcase, and you're making yourself a cocktail, and a woman in a Laura Ashley dress is out in the yard, and there's a couple of kids — in white! — running around. Um, Where are you in that, sir?" Kendrick also elaborated on how she views herself, stating, "I always want to kind of say something, and then I'm just like, 'Well, I'm the childless cat lady. I'm not gonna say s***.'" Kendrick does have a point, though. An AIG Life 2019 study of just over 3,000 working British adults found that 74% of women considered themselves the main caregiver for their children.

But Kendrick seemingly hasn't always been certain she doesn't want to start a family (because it's okay to change your mind). She opened up about a bad breakup on Dax Shephard's podcast "Armchair Expert" in January 2023, explaining she once produced embryos with an unnamed ex-boyfriend. However, Kendrick didn't confirm how much of the fertility process was her decision or exactly when she realized motherhood wasn't what she wanted.