DOUBLE STANDARD

Oscar Winner Fires Back at Haters Over Pregnancy at 52

The actress is expecting her third child.

Hilary Swank has clapped back at haters after announcing her pregnancy.

The A-List actress, 52, is expecting her third child with her husband, Philip Schneider. Many online pointed out her age, prompting Swank to call out the conversation’s societal double standards.

During an appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show, “There’s a lot of backlash women get for having children older but not men, which is interesting.”

She went on to say the double standard is “weird,” adding, “men have babies in their like 80s, and that’s not a euphemism or a joke.”

The Million Dollar Baby star had twins, Aya and Ohm, with her husband at age 48. She said at the time a woman told her, “How dare you? You’re too old.”

Swank used her personal history as a counterexample, saying that her father was her “favorite person” and continues to be after his death. Stephen Michael Swank died in October 2021 at age 73.

“I related to it because my dad also passed, but he was one of my favorite people on earth,” she said. “I thought to myself, ‘Well, I would rather be born and have that person that was my favorite person and experience that than not at all.’”

This year, Swank has the latest actress to announce she’s having a baby later in life. Anne Hathaway is expecting her third child at 43; Natalie Portman, 44, is also expecting her first child with her new beau, Tanguy Destable. Cameron Diaz, 53, welcomed her third child with husband Benji Madden.

Swank made the announcement via Instagram. In the clip, her 3-year-old twins danced with glow sticks taped to them, forming stick figures. At the end of the video, Swank reveals she had glow sticks shaped like a bump and a baby.

The Oscar winner and her husband married in 2018.

In a 2025 interview with Women’s Health, she opened up about her later pregnancy.

“I would have had kids earlier. I’m not saying I actively waited until 47,” she said. “But that was a magical time in my life, when it all culminated. It was the right time for a myriad of reasons.”

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Meera NavlakhaEntertainment Reporter

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