Hilary Swank (52) Meets the Backlash Over Her Third Pregnancy With Grace and Calls Out a Glaring Double Standard
Hilary Swank has never been shy about letting the world in on her biggest life moments, and her latest announcement came with a creative flourish. The Oscar winner is expecting her third child, and Hilary Swank’s pregnancy has already sparked a wider conversation about age, motherhood and the way women are judged.
She shared the news on October 14 with a playful Instagram video. In it, Swank, her husband Philip Schneider and their 3-year-old twins, Aya and Ohm, dance in the dark with glow sticks attached to their bodies, and a tiny glowing baby shape appears on Swank’s belly. She joked in the caption that her next project releases in December, which points to a winter arrival.
Within days, the two-time Oscar winner found herself addressing the other side of the story. Speaking to Drew Barrymore during a taping of ‘The Drew Barrymore Show’ on October 15, Swank said women face a lot of backlash for having children later in life while men do not. The episode is scheduled to air on October 20.
Barrymore, a mother of two, agreed that the double standard is weird. She pointed out that men sometimes have babies into their 80s, and she added that people weren’t always gracious when Swank had her twins in her 40s.
Swank then recalled a particularly emotional encounter. A woman approached her and asked how she dared, saying she was too old and worrying that Swank wouldn’t be around when her children grew up. The woman explained that her own father was her favorite person and died when she was in her 20s, calling it devastating.
Rather than take offense, Swank said she understood where the criticism came from. She also lost her father, whom she described as one of her favorite people on Earth, and she said she would rather have been born and experienced that relationship than not at all. It was a response that managed to be both compassionate and firm.
This isn’t the first time Swank’s age has made headlines. She announced her twin pregnancy on ‘Good Morning America’ in October 2022, when she was 48, and welcomed Aya and Ohm in April 2023. At that time, her former co-star Emmy Rossum came to her defense with a blunt reply to a critic.
Swank married Schneider in 2018 and has spoken openly about waiting until her late 40s. She has said her career was busy and the timing wasn’t right earlier, and she took a break from acting to care for her ailing father. Those years of experience, she has suggested, shaped the parent she became.
Swank has also said she is glad she had her children later. She told Business Insider that the person she was in her 20s and even into her 30s would have been a very different mom, and that being older means she has more time and flexibility to show up for her kids. She took about a year and a half off for maternity leave and said she is more comfortable with herself now.
Those comments help explain why she isn’t rattled by critics. For Swank, the experience of parenting later has been less about defying expectations and more about being ready.
The reaction online has been telling. On the show’s Instagram post, many women shared their own experiences of having kids in their 40s, losing parents young or being criticized for the timing of their pregnancies. One commenter summed up a common sentiment, writing that women are criticized no matter what they do.
It’s also worth keeping the medical context in view. Pregnancies after 40 can carry greater risks, and doctors stress regular check-ups and monitoring. Swank has not shared details about this pregnancy, and the sources reviewed don’t say how it came about, so it wouldn’t be fair to speculate.
Swank arrived for the taping in New York City proudly showing her baby bump, wearing a chunky knit cardigan, and the warm mood carried into the interview. She and Barrymore have a long friendship that dates back to Swank’s previous pregnancy announcement on the same show. That history may help explain why she felt comfortable being so open.
When the episode airs next week, viewers will get the full conversation. For now, her message is clear: a woman’s choices about motherhood shouldn’t be judged by a standard that men never face.
What do you think of the backlash against Hilary Swank’s third pregnancy?
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