"Children are a lot of work": Christina Hendricks on babies, Mad Men and discrimination

People


"Children are a lot of work": Christina Hendricks on babies, Mad Men and discrimination

By Stylist Team

11 years ago

In a recent interview with The Observer, Mad Men actress Christina Hendricks has revealed that she doesn't want children.

The 39-year-old, who plays secretary Joan Harris in the popular TV series, revealed that her and her husband Geoffrey Arend decided against having children but that they had a "million conversations" about it.

"I mean, they [children] are a lot of work. I know plenty of people who don't have children. And I also get a lot of people who say, 'Thank you for speaking out, my family don't understand why I don't want kids.'"

In the same interview, the Hollywood star also discussed the ending of Mad Men, and the heartbreaking last day on set after working together for seven years. "We all just stuck around. We didn't want to leave" admitted the star, revealing cast and crew sat "chatting, singing songs, drinking" until eight in the morning.

On her most famous role, the redhead revealed that originally her agency didn't want her to take the part of Joan as they thought it was a period piece that wasn't going to do well.

"They said it's never going to go anywhere. We need you to make money and this isn't going to make money.' They ended up dropping me."

Clearly the actress has had the last laugh here, although she does raise the issue about women working in the film industry and she remarks that there's still a lot of sexual discrimination against women.

"Society has conditioned you that way. As women, we feel we can't ask for things. There's been a lot of research done recently and, more often than not, if a woman goes in to ask for a raise, she'll get it. But she's thinking, 'Do I deserve it? I've got to give a list of why I deserve it.' Whereas a man will just go in and ask for a raise. It's so scary."

You can read the full interview here.

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