Seth Rogen explains why being child-free makes his life better—and he’s not apologizing

Actor Seth Rogen and wife Lauren Miller have enjoyed their married life since 2011, happily embracing a child-free lifestyle. Following criticism over their decision, Rogen has once again shared candid thoughts about why they’re confidently choosing not to have children.

Rogen initially sparked controversy on The Diary Of A CEO podcast in March 2024 when explaining to host Steven Bartlett, “There's a whole huge thing I'm not doing, which is raising children.”

He elaborated further: “I mean, a lot of people have kids before they even think about it, from what I've seen, honestly. You just are told, you go through life, you get married, you have kids—it’s what happens.”

The decision has significantly enhanced their freedom, he noted. “Now, more than anything, the conversation is like, ‘Honestly, thank God we don’t have children,’” Rogen said. “We get to do whatever we want.”

He highlighted the benefits clearly: “We are in the prime of our lives. We are smarter than we've ever been, we understand ourselves more than we ever have, we have the capacity to achieve a level of work and a level of communication and care for one another, and a lifestyle we can live with one another that we've never been able to live before. And we can just do that, and we don't have to raise a child—which the world does not need right now.”

Now, speaking again to Esquire, Rogen firmly reaffirmed their decision, directly addressing the criticism they received.

"People really had strong takes on it, being like, Fuck this fucking guy. Who the fuck does he think he is not to have kids?" Rogen shared. “Well, if you hate me that much, why do you want more of me?"

He further clarified their stance, adding, "You should only have kids if you really want kids, and we just don’t really want kids. Time kept going by and the moment where we were like ‘Let’s do it!’ just kept not happening."

Rogen explained that observing his friends’ experiences with parenthood influenced their decision: "I look at my friends with kids and honestly I feel like some of them are incredibly happy and fulfilled, and some of them seem like maybe they wish they had put a little more thought into it. I just didn’t want to be one of those people."

When questioned about the idea that not having children means potentially lacking care in old age, Rogen passionately addressed the sentiment:

"The most disturbing comment that I saw a lot of was ‘Who’s going to take care of you when you’re old?’ Which to me is very telling. Is that why you’re having kids? Because I have two things to say: One, that’s very selfish to create a human so someone can take care of you. And two, just because you have a kid, I hate to break it to you, that doesn’t mean they’re going to do that."

Clearly, Rogen and Miller’s decision to remain child-free remains steadfast, unaffected by critics and deeply rooted in their personal beliefs.