Chrissy Teigen Sees No Problem With Not Wanting Kids

In the past few years, Chrissy Teigen has started many important conversations about motherhood. When she got pregnant in 2015, the star opened up about her fertility struggles and her experience with IVF. Then, after giving birth, she discussed postpartum depression, a common experience among women that is somehow still taboo. The model also isn't afraid to get into the nitty-gritty details of parenting and often shares hilarious, albeit a little gross, stories about her daughter, Luna. In a recent interview with Refinery29, the star addressed yet another topic about motherhood: the fact that it is a choice. While society often assumes all women want kids, Teigen thinks women should be able have open conversations about whether or not to they want to choose motherhood without judgement.

While Teigen loves being a mother, she respects women who choose otherwise. Children are often viewed as compulsory for women, and it's a frustrating standard. "I don't feel like people should be pressured to have children," she told the publication. "I'm sure that when you announce that fact to somebody, they're very quick to be like, 'Gasp! Why don't you want kids?' And I've never been that way with people, because I don't think any of us should assume all women's goals are to have kids. It's a choice!"

While everyone has their own feelings about kids, the decision to put off or forego childbearing is increasingly common among millennial women. According to the Washington Post, a study done in 2015 by the Urban Institute found that millennial women are reproducing at the slowest pace of any generation in U.S. history. Another survey conducted by the Cassandra Report, released in Glamour magazine in 2015, found that a third of millennial women did not want to be mothers. While these decisions have a lot to do with changing social and economic climates, it's important to respect whatever decision women make about having kids. Thankfully, this is a convo that Teigen doesn't shy away from.

The interviewer noted that while there are many reasons millennial women carefully consider having kids, one of their biggest fears about motherhood is that they will lose their identity, and asked Teigen if having a baby changed her in a dramatic way. She answered honestly, admitting that it's hard to not change. "You naturally change because there's something else that consumes your mind at all times and I don't think you can help that," she said. However, she also stressed that it's important for women not to feel like they have to give up their interests and passions after having children.

"It's an incredible experience that I'm able to have, because I can maintain this balance of still having a life, and being a mother, and being a mother with a life, and my life being a mother. And even if you don't have a live-in mom, if you aren't afraid to lean on other people when you need it, I don't think you have to feel like you have to give everything up," she continued. "But it does change you, and that's why I think you have to be completely ready."

It's refreshing to have a celebrity mom to be honest and straightforward about the ups and downs of motherhood. It's ridiculous that so many topics surrounding pregnancy and parenting are still taboo for women, and it's important to acknowledge that the choice to have kids is complicated. It benefits everyone to have an open conversation about motherhood and choice, and once again Teigen is leading the discussion.