"It's Vanity and selfish to Have Children" - Actress Maxine Peake

English stage, film and television actress, Maxine Peake has
questioned people's motivation for starting a family, and according to
her, 'Having children is very selfish.'

The actress – who recently revealed her heartache at spending years
trying to conceive – said there was a 'vanity' in wanting to continue
the family bloodline. Miss Peake had explored 'every avenue' –
including IVF – before finally accepting defeat. She also suffered the
agony of two miscarriages.

Her hardships have led the 40-year-old to reflect on why people have
children in the first place.

She recently told The Times how an actor friend had announced to her
that he was too selfish to have
children. And it prompted her to reply:

'No, you're wrong. Having children is very selfish. There is a vanity
and selfishness in some respects in believing you must continue your
genes and bloodline.'
DailyMail reports that Miss Peake said that watching her long-term
boyfriend, television art director Pawlo Wintoniuk, 43, care for both
his parents before they died had also made her wonder whether it would
be less selfish not to have children.

She added: 'It made me think I wouldn't want to have my kids looking
after me like that.'

Speaking of her struggle to conceive, she said:

'Paw loves kids and we've had a go. But it hasn't worked. That is the
case for many people. It is maddening, really, that women have these
biological clocks, that just when they are getting used to one stage,
they must go on to the next."Miss Peake said that since she went
public about her infertility, several female friends had thanked her
for speaking out, saying the problem was often viewed as something
shameful.

'I find that horrifying,' she said. 'But they felt failures as women
just because certain bits of their bodies didn't work.' So their NRB
readers do you agree with what Maxine Peake said?