Miley Cyrus isn’t sold on becoming a mom, and she’s not alone

Miley Cyrus says she isn’t sure if she wants to have kids. Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

Miley Cyrus isn’t sure if she ever wants to have children.

In an interview with W Magazine published on June 3, the “Flowers” singer opened up about growing older and being comfortable with herself.

“I love being an adult,” Cyrus told W Magazine. “I have a rule that I don’t look up or don’t look down at anyone. I just look, which allows me the clarity to see the world for what it really is and people for who they really are.”

The “Hannah Montana” star also shared that she tries to reflect and think about her path in life daily — which includes whether she’d have children in the future.

“I’m 31 now, and I still don’t know if I want kids or not,” Cyrus said. “I feel like my fans kind of are my kids in some way. I’ve heard Dolly say that too, because she didn’t have kids.”

Country music singer Dolly Parton is Cyrus’ godmother.

Cyrus comes from a big, blended family. Her parents, Billy Ray and Tish, have two other children together: a son, Braison, and a daughter, Noah. Billy Ray and Tish filed for divorce in 2022.

Tish also has two older children — Brandi and Trace — from a previous relationship, whom Billy Ray adopted upon their marriage. Billy Ray also has a son, Christopher Cody, whom he shares with an ex-girlfriend.

This isn’t the first time Cyrus has been open about her views on motherhood and having kids.

In July 2019, she told Elle that she didn’t like how women were pressured by society to have children.

“We’re expected to keep the planet populated. And when that isn’t a part of our plan or our purpose, there is so much judgment and anger that they try to make and change laws to force it upon you — even if you become pregnant in a violent situation,” Cyrus said. “If you don’t want children, people feel sorry for you, like you’re a cold, heartless bitch who’s not capable of love.”

In the same interview, she added that it didn’t feel right to have kids due to the strain that humans have put on the natural environment.

“We’ve been doing the same thing to the earth that we do to women. We just take and take and expect it to keep producing. And it’s exhausted. It can’t produce. We’re getting handed a piece-of-shit planet, and I refuse to hand that down to my child,” Cyrus said. “Until I feel like my kid would live on an earth with fish in the water, I’m not bringing in another person to deal with that.”

And Cyrus is not alone: More and more Americans simply aren’t interested in having children.

A 2021 Pew Research study found that 44% of non-parents between ages 18 to 49 say it is not too or not at all likely that they will have children someday, up from 37% who said the same in a 2018 survey.

More than half of these non-parents who are unlikely to have kids say it’s because they don’t want to.

As Business Insider’s Hillary Hoffower reported in 2022, several women attributed their decision to be child-free to a mix of factors, including that they never felt a strong draw to be moms and because they found fulfillment in their lives in other ways.

It doesn’t help that childcare costs in the US are rising, either: According to Business Insider’s previous calculations, parents could spend at least $25,714 caring for a child this year, up 41.5% from 2016.

A representative for Cyrus didn’t respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours.