Acclaimed and decorated director Ava DuVernay discussed her strong disinclination towards motherhood and marriage as she continues on her upward trajectory in Hollywood.
DuVernay, a former publicist of A-list Hollywood stars who now directs them behind the camera, explained that her introspection long ago informed her that she would not be the quintessence of the traditional matriarch.
“I don’t feel like I would be a good mother for a child,” the Selma director told Kenya Barris and Malcolm Gladwell’s “Unusual Suspects Podcast,” according to People magazine.
Reared in a large family as the eldest of five siblings, DuVernay indicates that she never felt the innate inclination to have one of her own.
“My family, my mom, would always say, for a little while before she realized I was serious, ‘You’ll change your mind,'” said the 52-year-old Angeleno. “I don’t feel like I would be a good mother for a child. I don’t want to do that and I think in the most ideal scenario, you should want to do that. I just don’t want to.”
DuVernay, who also directed acclaimed movies and TV shows as A Wrinkle in Time, “Queen Sugar” and the groundbreaking “When They See Us” about the Exonerated Five, said she has been fortunate to have “beautiful relationships” throughout her adulthood.
However, much like her iconic contemporaries Oprah Winfrey and Shonda Rhimes, she never subscribed to the traditional role of a wife because of her unorthodox career and outlook.
“And me being gone so often and me being on top of a mountain in New Zealand shooting with a helicopter — these are not traditional things for a woman,” she said.
This has not dissuaded suitors from pulling up to court the esteemed filmmaker.
“No,” she said. “Because I’m not asking for that. If you’re looking for a husband to stand by while you’re off doing these things, I think you’re going to have a harder time. But if you’re not looking for a husband, companionship, partner … ”
