Dame Helen Mirren: 'Why I never had children'

Dame Helen Mirren has given a vivid account of why she never had children of her own. The Oscar-winning actress said she was left so distressed by the graphic film about childbirth shown to her as a teenager that she decided not have children of her own. The film left her so traumatized left her 50 years later very much still disgusted by childbirth. And, she goes onto say, "I still don't quite see the point of marriage,” she said. “I don't talk about this from a religious point of view or a moral point of view, but I absolutely did not see the point of getting married and getting divorced. So I really didn't want to get married.”

More than the explanation given by Dame Helen Mirren as to why she never had children, I think if children and family are the inevitable than I will opt out and instead avoid the inevitable to embrace the extraordinary least inevitable path that life has to offer. Life will hold many more different associations for me to define myself by and children will not necessary be one of them. So, more power to Dame Mirren for her candor, freshing honesty, and grace.