Miley Cyrus says motherhood was never her passion and she is not apologizing for it — and the analogy she used to explain it is clearer than most public statements about this choice ever manage to be.

 Miley Cyrus says motherhood was never her passion and she is not apologizing for it — and the analogy she used to explain it is clearer than most public statements about this choice ever manage to be.

She was asked by her stepfather why she was the only one in her circle without a makeup line. Her answer: because I am not a makeup artist. His response: that is the right answer. Her application of that logic to motherhood is the entire argument. She does not have a makeup line because having one requires genuine passion for the craft and she does not have that passion. She is not pursuing motherhood for the same reason.

The specificity she brings to the reasoning is what distinguishes it from the usual celebrity statement about not wanting children. She is not saying children are unimportant. She is saying that what caring for children properly requires — the sleepless nights, the sustained presence, the devotion across eighteen years, the level of investment she watched her own mother give — demands a level of passion that she does not have for it. Doing it without that passion would not serve either herself or the child.

She explicitly declines to shame anyone who does want children. She is describing her own experience, not prescribing a standard.

The double standard she identifies — that male celebrities are almost never asked why they do not have children — is the final observation that the comment sections are receiving most warmly. Her choice. Her timing. Her reasoning. Her business.

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Miley Cyrus says motherhood was never her passion and she is not apologizing for it — and the analogy she used to explain it is clearer than most public statements about this choice ever manage to be.

She was asked by her stepfather why she was the only one in her circle without a makeup line. Her answer: because I am not a makeup artist. His response: that is the right answer. Her application of that logic to motherhood is the entire argument. She does not have a makeup line because having one requires genuine passion for the craft and she does not have that passion. She is not pursuing motherhood for the same reason.

The specificity she brings to the reasoning is what distinguishes it from the usual celebrity statement about not wanting children. She is not saying children are unimportant. She is saying that what caring for children properly requires — the sleepless nights, the sustained presence, the devotion across eighteen years, the level of investment she watched her own mother give — demands a level of passion that she does not have for it. Doing it without that passion would not serve either herself or the child.

She explicitly declines to shame anyone who does want children. She is describing her own experience, not prescribing a standard.

The double standard she identifies — that male celebrities are almost never asked why they do not have children — is the final observation that the comment sections are receiving most warmly. Her choice. Her timing. Her reasoning. Her business.

See less