Hilary Swank, who’s expecting her 3rd child at 52, says a woman once confronted her about becoming a mother later in life: “How dare you? You’re too old.”
Swank recalled the encounter while discussing the criticism older mothers face in a conversation with Drew Barrymore, set to air on The Drew Barrymore Show on October 20.
“There’s a lot of backlash women get for having children older but not men, which is interesting,” Swank said.
Barrymore called the double standard “weird,” adding: “Men have babies in their like 80s, and that’s not a euphemism or a joke.”
Swank was 48 when she and her husband, Philip Schneider, welcomed twins Aya and Ohm in 2023. She explained that the woman who criticized her had lost her father in her 20s, and that loss was behind her objection.
“I related to it because my dad [has] also passed, but he was one of my favorite people on earth,” Swank said.
“I thought to myself: ‘Well, I would rather be born and have that person that was my favorite person and experience that than not at all’.”
Swank announced her pregnancy on October 14 with an Instagram video featuring Schneider and their now-3-year-old twins. The family danced with glow sticks on their bodies before she revealed a tiny glow-stick baby on her belly.
She’s also spoken about what becoming a parent later has allowed her to do. “It wasn’t that I didn’t want them earlier. There were a lot of things that kept that from happening, and so I can really take time to be with them,” Swank said.
“I feel like I get a lot of Mother’s Days other than actual Mother’s Day because of being able to be so present with them.”
