Kathy Bates Is Childless By Choice & We Love Her Honesty: 'I Didn't Want That'

While Hollywood and beyond has long placed pressure on women to embrace motherhood, "Misery" star Kathy Bates has remained refreshingly honest about choosing a different path for her life. Over the years, the award-winning actor has spoken candidly about being childless by choice and she has consistently refused to frame the decision as a tragedy. Instead, Bates has openly embraced her independence and career-focused lifestyle, helping challenge outdated expectations surrounding womanhood and family. 

Kathy Bates, who has had an inspiring weight-loss transformation, may have chosen to stay childless by choice, but she has made quite the name for herself playing on-screen mothers and grandmothers. In an appearance on "The Late Show" in 2025 she spoke movingly about how memories of her own mom, rather than being a mom herself, inspired her performance in "Matlock," telling Stephen Colbert, "Because of "Matlock," I've been thinking so much about her, because of her being older when I was born and the relationship that Matty had with her daughter, so I think she's been front and center in my mind."

The "About Schmidt" star has joined the list of celebrities who are unapologetically childless by choice. She also never shied away from addressing the topic directly during interviews about her life and career. When talking to Parade in 2023 during the press campaign for the movie "Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret," she said, "I didn't have kids. But my characters were kind of my kids, I guess. I never thought about [it] that way. But I certainly chose not to have children. I didn't want that." 

She went on to say her characters were "where I've put my love and care and passion in developing and evolving and studying and nurturing," adding, "But I hasten to say they're not real children. They're make-believe children."

Beyond motherhood, Bates has also opened up about other personal challenges she's faced throughout her life, including major health battles. The actor, who shared that she survived ovarian cancer back in 2003 and breast cancer in 2012, has since become a vocal advocate for better awareness for both cancer and lymphedema after developing the condition following her double mastectomy.  

In an interview for NIH MedlinePlus Magazine in 2022, Bates encouraged others living with lymphedema to avoid shame or isolation. "We have lymphedema. We're not lymphedema. Reclaim your life. Get used to being in public so you can live your life to the fullest. Most of all, don't withdraw from your family and friends. Keep them close."