Jason Bateman criticised for ‘awful’ comments to Charli XCX about having children
”[With] your next husband, you’re gonna want kids,” Bateman told the star in an interview about new film ‘The Moment’
Jason Bateman has been criticised for comments to Charli XCX in a new podcast about having children, described by some online as “just awful”.
Appearing on Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett’s podcast SmartLess to discuss her new film The Moment, Bateman asked the singer about being an only child, as well as her thoughts on having children herself, which she spoke about in her 2024 Rolling Stone UK cover feature as well as on the Brat song ‘I think about it all the time’.
“Would you love to have more than one kid or would you like to have a kid that has the same experience as you, the only child, and then you get to nurture and protect?” Bateman said, to which Charli replied: “I actually don’t really want to have kids.”
Hayes then asked Charli why she didn’t, adding that : “I know that’s none of my business.” She said: “I love the fantasy of having a child like naming it – it sounds so fun – but I’m like, that is exactly assigned to me as to why I should not have one, the fact that [naming it] feels like the coolest part about it.”
Bateman went on: “I mean, I guess I’m backing into giving myself a half-assed compliment here, but my wife did not want to have kids, so the story goes. She said once we started going out, she thought, ‘OK, I think I can have a kid with this guy.’ So you might find somebody.”
Charli then responded: “Well, I am married,” to which Bateman said: “I got to read a newspaper one of these days. [With] your next husband, you’re gonna want kids.”
A commenter on the episode’s YouTube video said: “Stop questioning a woman’s decision not to have children. She knows herself,” while another on Reddit said that “Jason was just awful” in the episode.
“Jason insinuating that Charli may change her mind about not wanting kids if she meets the right person only to find out she’s already married was abominably cringe,” another said.
Another commenter described it as a “painful listen,” while others called it an “asolutely embarrassing episode”.
Speaking to Rolling Stone UK before the release of Brat, Charli said: “Am I less of a woman if I don’t have a kid? Will I feel like I’ve missed out on my purpose in life? I know we’re not supposed to say that, but it’s this biological and social programming. There’s a lot of pressure on women to not talk about that stuff super openly, especially not in pop music or in music generally; we’re supposed to be sexy and free and fun and wild.”