Chelsea Handler Posts "Day In The Life Of A Childless Woman" Video To Brag About Her "Free Time" But Here's What She Gets Wrong About Motherhood
Comedian Chelsea Handler has build a brand on being childless and single. She often talks and writes about the fact that she never wanted to have kids, which is why she's so carefree and happy. Her latest is a reel called "day in the life of a childless woman."
*This article is intended for readers 18 and older.*
There are some celebrities who have always been outspoken about never wanting children, but Chelsea Handler, 47, probably takes the cake for the Hollywood veteran who talks most about her choice to never become a mother. In a recent interview on The Tonight Show, hosted by Jimmy Fallon, she talked about not being equipped to handle motherhood. "I'm very outspoken about not wanting to be a parent," she said. "Because I don't think I have the skills." She jokes that she didn't know that the sun and the moon weren't the same thing until she turned 40 years old. Last year on the podcast "Race to 35," she said that if she ever got pregnant, she would have an abortion.
"I went to Disneyland when I was 5 or 6 – I felt like my intelligence was under assault because I couldn't believe what a racket that place was,” she said. “And I made a vow to myself that I would never have a child so I would never have to go back. I don't know if I knew that [at the time]. But I had an instinct, and that instinct stayed with me.”
Throughout most of her career, Chelsea has been outwardly open about not wanting to have kids, insisting that motherhood robs you of your chance to be free and enjoy life. Her latest rage against motherhood came in the form of a reel posted by The Daily Show entitled "Day in the life of a childless woman."
Chelsea Handler Posts "Day in the Life of a Childless Woman" Video To Brag About How Much "Free Time" She Has Compared to Mothers
In the short skit posted to Instagram, Chelsea waves to the camera as she says in the background, "This is a day in the life of a childless woman." She then takes us through her day and explains what she does with her time. "I wake up at 6 a.m. and remember I don't have kids to take to school, so I take an edible, masturbate, and go back to sleep," she says. "I wake up at 12:30 p.m. and get ready for a busy day of doing whatever the f*ck I feel like."
She puts on her "most impractical and stylish shoes" because she won't be chasing her child around a grocery store. She goes to Paris to get a croissant and then meditates on a plane "because I have no screaming kids," which allows her to become enlightened. "The weightlessness of my existence has granted me superhuman powers," she jokes. "I teleport myself back home, ready for a night out with a hot guy I met on Raya that morning."
She then calls her babysitter to tell her that she's not needed because she has no children that need babysitting. She jokes that she climbs Mount Everest, invents a time machine, and goes back in time to kill Hitler. The video ends with Chelsea smiling and waving to the camera again.
Of course, much of this content is meant to be a joke, such as gaining superhuman powers and traveling back in time to kill one of the most hated and evil men in human history. However, Chelsea is not joking in the slightest about her longtime claims that refusing motherhood results in more freedom and the ability to do whatever you want, because, in her eyes, nothing trumps uninterrupted independence.
Of course, not every single woman on the planet needs to become a mother, but there is certainly a growing trend of bashing motherhood and insisting that having children robs you of the ability not only to be free but to enjoy your life and accomplish the things that are most dear to your heart. But the only way to come to this conclusion is to misrepresent motherhood, or worse, unfairly vilify it.
The claim that motherhood robs you of your freedom has some truth to it. Of course, when you have a baby, you don't have the same free time as you had before. You suddenly have a child relying on you for everything, from eating to having their diaper changed to being put to sleep. Your life will never be the same after becoming a mother, and especially in the first phases of motherhood, you lose a lot of your independence. It's not easy. There are many days where it's so hard you might feel like crying. But there are a few crucial truths about motherhood that are entirely overlooked. For one, those difficult years that take away your free time do not last forever. Many people in our culture today are stuck in short-term thinking and have no idea what delayed gratification is. In other words, they can only understand their base pleasures here, now, today, and they can't imagine delaying some of their base pleasures temporarily in order to receive a greater reward in the long run that will last a lifetime. And that's exactly what Chelsea Handler conveniently ignores when she brags about how free and independent she is.
The moms who have to breastfeed, make it through the toddler phase, and eventually do school drop-offs or pick-ups (or even homeschool) only have to do these things for a short amount of time in the grand scheme of their life. It may take a number of years, but when those kids are in their teenage years and eventually go off to live their own life, these moms have all the free time on their hands that Chelsea brags about having now – only they have something that Chelsea will never have: the lifelong fulfillment that comes with motherhood, and that fulfillment simply can't be matched, not with extensive travel, staying at expensive hotels, dating hot guys, or having all the time in the world to take edibles and masturbate. Of course, motherhood requires a sacrifice, but people get so caught up in their selfishness that they don't realize that this sacrifice doesn't last forever, and it paves the way for a lifelong reward that can't be replaced with anything else on the planet, no matter how rich and famous you are.
While all the moms out there "gave up" some years of their life and forewent travel and freedom, they will always have those priceless moments of love and care of their children that they cherish more than anything in the world. And even better, these children will forever love and cherish their mother and take care of her in her old age, ensuring that she is remembered forever and her legacy lives on. Chelsea is 47 years old. If she had a child when she was 30, she could be doing exactly the same thing today as she claims to be doing in this video because her child would be grown up and fully independent. And she would have the best of both worlds: she would have her independence back as well as a child she loves and cherishes who will be her greatest joy for the rest of her life. Plus, there are plenty of moms who achieve great things, invest in their favorite hobbies, and spoil themselves once their kids either reach a certain age or leave the house altogether. The idea that your whole life is forever ruined after having children is the biggest lie sold to women.
Chelsea may be enjoying her life now, but sadly, women like her who refuse to get married and have children run the high risk of feeling completely alone and isolated in their old age. Sure, they may have nieces, nephews, and friends, but they will quickly learn that this doesn't even compare to having children of your own that you sacrificed temporarily for, who will cherish you and take care of you until your dying days.