Jordan Karlesson
As the U.S. once again rigorously debates the issue of abortion, Chelsea Handler revealed on a new podcast episode posted Wednesday that she had the procedure at 16 years old.
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Chelsea Handler, 47, explained on Race to 35, a podcast focused on fertility, that she’s happy she didn’t have children. She considered it after becoming pregnant at 16-years-old but decided against motherhood, Handler told podcast co-hosts Monica Padman and Liz Plank, according to Yahoo! Entertainment.
Chelsea Opens Up
Handler said she thought, “‘Oh, yes, I’m going to be a mom.’ I was hoping for twins. I was 16 and an a–h—.”
The comedian added that she even picked out names for the twins she thought she was going to have.
“There weren’t twins, but in my mind, I was going to have twins,” she clarified. “And my mother was like, ‘You’re not going to be a mother, you’re having an abortion, and you’re going to thank me many years later.’ And she was right. I was not ready. But that was the only time I had the hubris enough to be like, ‘Oh, this is a good idea.’”
Chelsea Handler further elucidated that not having kids allows her to do more for her nieces and nephews. The comedian said she can “contribute to my own family, my nieces and nephews, by being available to them.”
She added that a lot of parents don’t stay true to what they say they believe. More specifically, Handler said a lot of parents say they’re trying to improve the world when in reality they’re only trying to advance the interests of their family.
“A lot of people who think that they’re woke and liberal and have their sh– together are really thinking about their nuclear family more than they’re thinking in a broader perspective … Of course, there are people who aren’t like that, I have plenty of friends who are more well-rounded than that, but it’s a pretty tricky endeavor,” she said.
