Seth Rogen Says Not Having Kids ‘Definitely’ Helped Him Succeed

Seth Rogen is being refreshingly honest about the advantages he has in his career because he doesn’t have kids

Seth Rogen continues to be loud and proud about his child-free life. The actor, director, and producer has previously opened up about how having kids is just something that never appealed to him (or his wife). Now, he’s sharing new details about how he believes his choice to remain child-free has impacted his career.

During an appearance on the Diary of a CEO podcast this week, Rogen opened up more than ever about how he and his wife, Lauren Miller, arrived at their decision not to have kids—and how that decision has impacted their lives ever since. Interestingly, Rogen noted that not having children has “definitely” helped him succeed in Hollywood.

“There’s a whole huge thing I’m not doing, which is raising children,” he said.

Later in the interview, he elaborated on that, saying, “Honestly, the older we get the more happy and reaffirmed we are with our choice to not have kids. It was something we kind of talked about more, and we were like, ‘Have we made the right choice? Are we sure?'”

Rogen continued, “Now, more than anything, the conversation is like, ‘Honestly, thank god we don’t have children.’ We get to do whatever we want. 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.”

While being child-free certainly isn’t for everyone, Rogen continues to shine a light on an extremely important part of the conversation: that having kids is a personal choice and something you should only pursue if you want to—not because it’s what society says you should do. Every child that comes into this world deserves to be wanted—and that means parents who consciously make that choice for themselves and their families.

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

That shouldn’t be the case. Here’s hoping Rogen’s openness prompts more people to be honest with themselves about whether having a family is (or isn’t) what they want.