Why Jennette McCurdy Is Freezing Her Eggs Despite Not Wanting Kids

Jennette McCurdy is opening up about her decision to go through the egg-freezing process despite not wanting to have children. 

In a new episode of her podcast, Hard Feelings, McCurdy, 31, tells listeners that she is currently set in her decision to not be a mom and she doesn’t see that changing anytime soon. 

“I do not feel in any way, shape, or form like I want kids. I cannot imagine a world in which someday I want kids,” she says in the latest episode titled “Egg Freezing.”

While that may be the case, the Nickelodeon alum also is admitting that she knows well enough that some people change their minds and that she doesn’t want to close herself off from the possibility of having a child down the road. 

“I am also open to my mind changing. I have changed a lot as a person in my years so far and I hope to continue changing,” McCurdy says. “What I don’t want to happen is for me to turn 40 and realize, ‘F**k, I want kids now,’ and I don’t have enough eggs to make it happen.”

In the latest episode of her podcast, the retired actress addressed what she calls “doctor week” in which she schedules a series of appointments with health professionals to get them all out of the way at once. 

In the episode’s description, McCurdy wrote that she “dreads them so much,” she would rather do them all in one go, even if it’s uncomfortable. 

Her latest “doctor week” consisted of appointments where she received a mammogram, ultrasound, pap smear and genetic testing — which she said are “regular checkups” for her. McCurdy also shared that because her mother, Debra McCurdy, was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer at the age of 36, she has been receiving preventative mammograms since she was 25. 

During that same “doctor week,” McCurdy said she also scheduled an egg-freezing consultation, which is how the conversation turned to the process of retrieving her eggs. 

That’s when the I’m Glad My Mom Died author shared how her podcast, which is focused on growth and confronting uncomfortable topics, led to her decision to make the leap. 

“No part of me feels motivated to freeze my eggs when I don’t think I want to be a mom, but what if someday I change my mind?…I am trying to bet on my future self wanting a thing that my current self can’t imagine wanting, versus just not doing it and risking that someday I might want it and not be able to do it then – and the regret. I am trying to weigh these options and it’s quite complex,” McCurdy says. 

McCurdy’s outlook on parenthood, it seems, has not changed much since her bombshell interview on Red Table Talk with Jada Pinkett Smith, Willow Smith, and Adrienne “Gammy” Banfield-Norris in September 2022. 

“I have two nieces I adore and a third one the way,” McCurdy shared. “I am happy to be an aunt. I am open to maybe a couple years from now, if something hits me and I just feel like, ‘Yeah, I do want [kids]’ — but for now, I am good.”

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