Choosing to have, or not have, children should be a private matter, something to be decided on and discussed by an individual or couple, and no one else.

But unfortunately, if you’re a female celebrity, then the world seems to think it’s their business to question you on motherhood.

That’s something that Michelle Keegan knows all too well, and she’s had enough.

In a new interview, the actor has spoken about how women are more affected by media scrutiny, particularly when it comes to whether or not they’re planning to get married.

“It’s like, as soon as you get married, ‘When are you having a child?’” Keegan told the Independent. “My husband never gets asked that question.”

Keegan, whose new show Brassic starts on Sky One today, said that the question is “really invasive” but that she used to answer it all the time until she realised that she didn’t need to.

“It’s no one’s business,” she continued. “And I think now, even now, I’m still learning how to deal with things like that. I used to blab and go on about it, whereas now I’m like, ‘I don’t want to answer questions like that, it’s personal’.”

As well as it being an invasion of privacy, the question of whether a woman is going to have children is often asked through a sexist lens, with men rarely being subjected to a similar line of questioning.

Keegan said: “I do find it strange that my husband doesn’t get that question, or if he does it’s on behalf of me. It’s not like, ‘Do you want children?’ It’s, ‘Does Michelle want children?’ Just because I’m a woman.

“I do see the divide there and I do see it’s different, completely different. It’s quite frustrating.”

Frustrating is putting it mildly. In 2019, it’s difficult to believe that sections of the media still think a woman’s decision to have a child or be child-free is a legitimate line of questioning. And it’s even more difficult to believe that they can’t see beyond motherhood as a marker of success.

It’s time for the media to stop subjecting women to intrusive, outdated questions. And if more people take Keegan’s lead and start telling interviewers who ask when they’re having children that it’s none of their business, we’re confident those questions will stop.

Image: Getty