Seth Rogen has said his decision to be child-free has contributed to his success – adding that he and his wife are “very happy” with their choice not to have a family.
Comedian Rogan, 40, has been married to his actress wife Lauren Miller, 41, since 2011. They met at a party in 2004.
And in a new interview, the star said his lengthy Hollywood career has been – in part – down to his ability to focus on work rather than having a family.
Speaking on the Diary of a CEO podcast, Superbad and Knocked Up star Rogan said not having children had “definitely” contributed to his success.
He also said while he and Miller – the star of Superbad, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, and 50/50 – have discussed at length whether or not having children was right for them, they are “happy and reaffirmed” with their choice.
When asked about his Hollywood success and lengthy career, Rogan – who began his career in film in 1999 in Judd Apatow’s series Freaks and Geeks – said: “There’s a whole huge thing I’m not doing, which is raising children.”
“That has helped me succeed as well. Definitely.”
Host Steven Bartlett then argued that some may think becoming parents would have made the couple happier. Rogan responded: “I don’t think it would. I’ve been around obviously a lot of children. Everyone I know has kids. I’m 40, you know?
“I mean, a lot of people have kids before they even think about it, from what I’ve seen honestly. You just are told, you go through life, you get married, you have kids – it’s what happens.
“Me and my wife, neither of us were like that. Honestly, the older we get the more happy and reaffirmed we are with our choice to not have kids. It was something we kind of talked about more, and we were like, ‘Have we made the right choice? Are we sure?
“Now, more than anything, the conversation is like, ‘Honestly, thank god we don’t have children. We get to do whatever we want.’”
The Pineapple Express star concluded: “We are in the prime of our lives. We are smarter than we’ve ever been. We understand ourselves more than we ever have. We have the capacity to achieve a level of work and a level of communication and care for one another, and a lifestyle we can live with one another that we’ve never been able to live before, and we can just do that and we don’t have to raise a child – which the world does not need right now.”
Listeners of the podcast praised Rogan for his honesty, while others remarked that it was unusual for a man in the public eye, rather than a woman, to be asked why he doesn’t have children.
The actor – who recently starred and produced the Pam And Tommy Disney+ series about Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee’s infamous sex tape – also spoke about how bad reviews can impact people in the film industry. He suggested they can be “devastating” and some “never recover” from having their work panned.
“It’s very personal … that’s something that people carry with them, literally, their entire lives and I get why. It fucking sucks.”
