Mandy Moore has spoken out against societal expectations about the right age for women to have children, highlighting her experience of becoming a mother at 40. The This Is Us star addressed the challenges she faced during her third pregnancy, particularly the way late motherhood is often viewed through outdated and judgmental lenses.
Mandy Moore Responds to Criticism About Having Children Later in Life
On Kylie Kelce’s podcast Not Gonna Lie, Moore discussed the frequent opinions she encountered after giving birth to her daughter, Louise “Lou” Everett, at the age of 40. She described how tiring it was to hear people talk about women having babies later in life as if it were unusual or problematic.
Moore reflected on the term “geriatric pregnancy,” which is commonly used to describe pregnancies in women over 35 but carries a negative connotation. She emphasized that many of her friends are also having children later, whether by choice or circumstance, and that this should not be treated as an anomaly.
“Yes and no. I mean, I feel like having my third child at 40, this term ‘geriatric pregnancy’ that’s thrown around. I think at least in my experience, so many of my friends are having kids later in life, whether it’s by choice or it’s by circumstance or biology,”
Moore explained.
“I think the thing that I had the most trouble with is just like this system in general kind of treating us as this anomaly that we’re like too old and we’re too complicated or high risk, and really, it’s like, ‘Nope, we’re just human beings.’”
Balancing Career and Family: Moore’s Journey with Her Children
Mandy Moore is also mother to two sons, August “Gus” Harrison, 4, and Oscar “Ozzy” Bennett, 2, whom she shares with her husband, Taylor Goldsmith. The couple has been married since 2018 and has managed to navigate parenting alongside their personal and professional lives.
Moore criticized how the healthcare system often approaches women’s pregnancies with a one-size-fits-all mentality that fails to reflect the realities of many women today.
“And I feel like it’s just such an outdated label. So it’s less about how I think the people and the perceptions they may have had, like the people in my life, it was just more about the healthcare system in general. It feels like such an outdated one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to just women in general,”
she said.
Advocating for Reform in Women’s Health Care
Reflecting on her own pregnancies, Moore noted that for many women, focusing on their health while pregnant is not always possible, and she wanted to bring awareness to these challenges. To support this effort, she partnered with Perelel, a company dedicated to improving care and funding for women’s health.
“And I actually partnered with this company, Perelel, last year when I was pregnant with Lou,”
she said.
“And I love that there are these companies like Perelel that are really focused on rewriting the rules of what it looks like to care for women and advocating for, really for funding of women’s health.”
Mandy Moore’s candid discussion sheds light on the stigmatization of late motherhood and highlights a need for a more compassionate, individualized approach to pregnancy care. Her experience encourages a broader conversation about women’s reproductive health and challenges outdated societal norms surrounding age and parenting.
