Katharine Hepburn Was Child-Free By Choice & Blazed The Trail For Other Career-Driven Women

Katharine Hepburn was an eccentric American actress who performed in films and on stage. She is best remembered for her sharp sense of humor and for landing starring roles in some of Hollywood's classic films, including "Adam's Rib" and "The Philadelphia Story." While her career started on Broadway, Hepburn won four Oscars for Best Actress during her lengthy film career spanning six decades. The actor had an androgynous appeal that made her a distinctive character at the time, and the bold archetypes she portrayed contested gender roles that dominated society. Hepburn's unconventional lifestyle stood out in Hollywood. Particularly, Hepburn garnered attention for deciding not to have children. 

Despite living in an era where women were expected to have children, Hepburn recognized what being a mother requires, like unwavering attention towards her children, and believed it would impact her career prospects. "I was brought up in a very happy family, and I thought if my concentration is going to be in the theater and as a business career, I cannot have any children, because I was brought up when mother was there, telling me how wonderful I was," Hepburn said on "The Dick Cavett Show" in 1973 (via Hello!). Her trailblazing feminist attitude paved the way for the broader social acceptance of women who chose to focus on their professional lives. Following Hepburn's example, other celebrities have been embracing child-free lives in recent years.

A study by the U.S. Census Bureau shows an upward trend in the number of women under 45 choosing to remain child-free. While the reasons for not wanting children vary, research suggests that two major reasons why women have been increasingly opting for a life without children are employment instability and shifting social norms. In 2019, singer-songwriter Miley Cyrus expressed her concerns with women being expected to reproduce in an interview with Elle. "We've been doing the same thing to the earth that we do to women," she said. "We just take and take and expect it to keep producing." 

Country music legend Dolly Parton chose not to have children with her late husband Carl Dean because she believed it could limit her career opportunities. "If I hadn't had the freedom to work, I wouldn't have done all the things I've done," Parton said, pointing to her book-gifting nonprofit program Imagination Library (via People). "I wouldn't be in a position to do all of the things I'm doing now," she added. Oprah Winfrey has spoken about her uncommon love life before as well as about remaining child-free. The celebrity has spoken candidly about her decision. In a 2013 interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Winfrey admitted that she wouldn't have been able to sacrifice her busy work schedule to raise children. "Something [in my life] would have had to suffer [if I had had kids], and it would've probably been them," Winfrey said. There's no doubt that Cyrus, Parton, and Winfrey are three feminist icons of their time. These celebrities set a powerful example for future generations of child-free-by-choice women, much as Hepburn did for them.