Actress Hilary Swank has responded to criticism of women who have children later in life after announcing she is expecting her third child at 52. The star spoke about the topic in an interview with Drew Barrymore, part of “The Drew Barrymore Show“, which is scheduled to air on October 20.
“There's a lot of criticism that women get for having children later, but men don't get it, which is interesting”, Swank said in an excerpt from the conversation.
Drew Barrymore, who has two children, called the double standard “weird“. She noted that men become fathers at the age of 80, without causing the same reaction. Examples of this in Hollywood circles are Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, who had children at the ages of 79 and 83, respectively.
The actress recalled a woman who reproached her: “How dare you? You're too old.“ According to Hilary Swank, the woman explained her reaction with her personal story. Her father was the person she loved, but he died when she was about 20 years old.
Swank said that she did not take the words solely as an attack, but tried to understand the pain behind them. “I connected with this because my father passed away, and he was one of my favorite people in the world,” the actress said. “I would rather have been born and had this person, to experience this with him, than not have had him at all,” said Hilary Swank.
She added that this is how she views the issue of parents' ages and the amount of time children can spend with them.
The actress announced her pregnancy on October 14 in a short video featuring the entire family. She, her husband Philip Schneider, and their twins Aya and Om dance in the dark with glow sticks attached to their clothes.
“A lot of people have been asking what my next project is. "This one comes out in December," the actress wrote in her post, adding a baby and heart emoji.
Hilary Swank and Philip Schneider welcomed their twins in 2023, when the actress was 48 years old. She also appeared outside the show's New York studio, showing off her pregnant belly.