Homeland star Claire Danes reveals feeling shame after getting pregnant at 44: ‘I was naughty’
In a recent podcast, the Homeland star opened up about feeling embarassed when she discovered she was pregnant in her forties.
American actor Claire Danes felt “a funny shame” after discovering she was pregnant, with her third child, when she was 44. The now 46-year-old actor actor spoke about the experience on the Smartless podcast with actors Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett, describing how unexpected the pregnancy was and how her age made the moment emotionally complicated.
Claire, shares three children with husband Hugh Dancy: 12-year-old Cyrus, 7-year-old Rowan and a 2-year-old daughter whose name they have kept private. “I was so old when that happened. I was 44,” she said, adding that she “didn’t think it was possible” to get pregnant at that age.
She also explained that part of her embarrassment came from the stigma around getting pregnant in her mid-40s and partly because the couple wasn’t trying for another child. “I did not foresee this at all. And it was weird. Suddenly, I felt like a funny shame. I was naughty. I had been caught fornicating past the point I was meant to," she said.
Claire and Hugh welcomed their first child, Cyrus, in 2012, followed by Rowan in 2017, and their daughter, whose name they have kept private until now, in 2023. Reflecting on raising children with a large age gap, she said, “It’s a trip. I mean, I have a teenager and a toddler at once.”
Having had two boys, Claire expected her third child to be a boy as well. “I got really, really lucky,” she said. “I mean, my OB-GYN was like, ‘You know you’re having another boy.’ But no!” She said she “would have been delighted” to have another son but is “more delighted” to have a daughter.
