For whatever reason – let's hope they're just having a bad day – some miserable people like to judge women and tell them off if they haven't had children by a certain age. Like, sure, there's a particular timeframe when a woman's body is at the optimal phase to conceive a baby, but with advanced technology and the fact that not every woman makes it her life goal to have kids, people really need to stop asking women over 40 why they haven't had kids yet.
These nine celebs proved that you can build a successful career for yourself first and have kids later on, with all of them giving birth after hitting the big 4-0.
1. Salma Hayek
The actress was 40 years old when she had her daughter, Valentina Paloma Pinault. She made a good point about why she was glad she waited: "I'm a more fulfilled human being now, and I probably wouldn't have been 10 years ago. She gets a better mother for being born now."
2. Halle BerryThe former Bond girl had her first child, Nahla, at age 41, and son, Maceo, at 47. As we all know, she's still the epitome of health at age 52, and she said that her pregnancies were totally problem-free too. "I was happy that whole time, I felt good, I had energy, I was like Superwoman," she told Harper's Bazaar. "I wish I could feel like that for the rest of my life, that's how fantastic it was."
3. Tina FeyDespite her belief as per her memoir Bossypants that "Science shows that fertility and movie offers drop off steeply for women after 40," the comedian had her second baby at 41 years old.
4. Susan SarandonThe Thelma & Louisa actress has three kids: daughter Eva who she had at 39, and sons Jack at age 42 and Miles at 45.
5. Nicole KidmanNicole had two kids with ex Tom Cruise, both adopted, and gave birth to her first biological child with Keith Urban at age 40. Sunday Rose was joined by her sister Faith Margaret, who arrived via surrogate four years later.
"I raised two kids when I was in my 20s, but that was a different thing," Nicole said of having kids after 40. "I was a kid and still so young mentally and emotionally — a totally different mom. There is something about mothering late in life."
6. Celine DionThe singer has been open about her experience with IVF and her heart-breaking miscarriage before she gave birth to her twin boys, Eddy and Nelson, when she was 42.
7. Geena DavisSusan's Thelma & Louisa co-star also had kids after turning 40: daughter Alizeh at age 46 and then a set of twin sons, Kian and Kaiis when she was 48.
8. Meryl StreepThe iconic actress has four kids, and she gave birth to her fourth, Louisa Jacobson Gummer, just before her 42nd birthday.
9. Mariah CareyThe singer gave birth to twins Moroccan and Monroe in 2011 when she was 42 years old.
Motherhood is gorgeous at any age, and that's that.
