Katherine Heigl reveals reasons why she's 'turned off' to childbirth

In a Thursday morning appearance on CBS’ The Early Show, actress Katherine Heigl — who has made no secret of her aversion to childbirth — finally revealed the reasons why.  In preparation for her role in the film Knocked Up, in which she plays — you guessed it — a pregnant woman, Katherine watched birthing videos and attended the birth of her nephew.

I was in the room when my sister gave birth … and you know, I think we all wanted everybody to feel it and experience it.  It turned me off (to having children) for the moment but I’m sure I’ll change my mind.  I was doing really well, actually.  Once the movie had wrapped, it had been a year since we filmed (the birthing scene)…and so I was back on board.  And then I just saw the movie again recently and I’m…maybe not.

Source:  The Early Show

Comments

I hate to say I told you so…
Oh wait, no I don’t! I LOVE TO!

- Christina on May 31st, 2007

WHATEVER! if she does not want kids she can just shut up about it and not bring it up all the time! she is terribly annoying and self obsessed!!!

- kaia on May 31st, 2007

I think that’s such a strange attitude to have. If Katherine doesn’t want children then that’s totally her prerogative, but to say you don’t want them purely because you don’t like the idea of giving birth? How many women does she think enjoy the prospect of being strapped up like a cow for 12 hours pushing a metaphorical football through a plughole? What’s important is the baby you get at the end of it, not the birth itself. I’d say birth is an incredibly small price to pay for the new human you’ll hopefully know and love for the rest of your life.

- Sabina on June 1st, 2007

Just because she didn’t provide an exhaustive list of reasons why she doesn’t want children doesn’t mean that childbirth is the exclusive reason. Everyone is so critical of women who don’t want to give birth/have children! I watched my best friend give birth and it didn’t look like a small price to pay to me.

- Christina on June 1st, 2007

Besides, in the earlier CBB article that this blurb expands on she discusses her desire to adopt, so she’s been quite consistent in her views.

- Christina on June 1st, 2007

I agree with Christina! The pain of child birth doesn’t look small, it looks HUGE.

I was in the room when my 5’3, 110 lbs friend gave birth to her 10 lb son and it put me off childbirth for a looooong time.

She did it without a drop of meds (she went too quickly), and it looked horrible.

I do want children, but I am soooo not looking forward to child birth

- Devon on June 1st, 2007

So what if she was turned off? Childbirth isn’t for everyone and not everyone wants to be a parent.

She’s right. Childbirth hurts like hell. It was totally worth it in the end, but did I actually enjoy giving birth? NO WAY. By the time you’re ready to give birth, you look like crap, you generally feel like crap, and it hurts like nothing else possibly could.

- TwinMom on June 1st, 2007

That is why I purposely avoid birthing classes and videos when I became pregnant with my first-I was scared as all heck anyway, I really didn’t need to see what other people went through!

It seems AWFUL when you’re going through it, but it’s like all things, afterwards it doesn’t seem quite so bad. If it did, there wouldn’t be women with multiple children!

- Kim on June 1st, 2007

Witnessing it first hand certainly didn’t improve my chances of going through it!

- Christina on June 1st, 2007

She’s previously said (and read the whole article) that she wants to adopt. I’d rather adopt as well, for several reasons. She’s not stupid, so let’s not comment as if she is and take everything she says literally. You’re jumping ahead too far – she never said anything about people wanting to go through childbirth.

- Erin on June 2nd, 2007

Maybe Katherine should consider hiring a doula when she decides to give birth… a doula can provide her (and any woman) with physical, emotional and educational support before, during and after childbirth. A doula is a laboring woman’s best friend!

- Joanne Ilaqua on June 2nd, 2007