Hilary Swank's announcement that she is pregnant with her third child at 52 quickly sparked debate over whether having a baby later in life is a good idea. 'It's unfair to the child,' one highly upvoted commenter wrote, predicting the child would still be a teenager while its parents were pensioners.
The two-time Oscar winner, known for Boys Don't Cry and Million Dollar Baby, shared the news on Wednesday, 14 October in an Instagram video of her family dancing in the dark, covered in glow sticks. A baby shape outlined in glow bands appeared over her bump. 'A lot of people have been asking what project I'm doing next, this one releases in December,' she wrote, hinting at her due date.
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Swank and her husband, Philip Schneider, whom she married in 2018, have 3-year-old twins, Aya and Ohm, born in April 2023 when she was 48.
Critics Point to the Numbers
Some critics questioned whether parents in their 50s could be there for their children as they grew up. 'I think it's irresponsible for either men or women to have babies in their 50s,' one popular Reddit comment read, citing cognitive decline, chronic illness and the possibility of losing a parent young.
Another thread's top comment read, '52?! To each their own but I'd rather eat glass,' drawing thousands of upvotes. On Facebook, one person wrote, 'Congratulations you have a kid at home until you're 80!!'.
Others pushed back against predictions about how long parents might live. 'There's just no way to know,' one commenter wrote. 'Some people live to 100. Some people don't make it to middle age. It's a gamble no matter what.'
A Label Many Say Is Out of Date
The phrase 'geriatric pregnancy', repeatedly used in the discussions, became a debate in itself. One commenter said the terminology was outdated, having historically applied to pregnancies from age 35.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists calls 35 an arbitrary threshold and recommends specifying an age or age range, noting that grouping everyone over 35 together can overstate risks for younger women. One pregnant commenter, aged 40, said she had been told the preferred term was 'advanced maternal age'.
Others Call Out a Double Standard
Many argued that older mothers face more scrutiny than older fathers. 'Being a woman is a non stop hell,' one commenter wrote, pointing to 'Al Pacino having a child in his 80s' and adding that 'no one even blinks when a man has a child in his 50s'.
Pacino's fourth child was born in 2023 when he was 83, while Robert De Niro's seventh arrived that year when he was 79. Commenters argued that neither faced criticism comparable to Swank's. Others said the decision belonged to the parents. 'The only people whose business it is are the parents,' one wrote.
On Instagram, responses were largely congratulatory. 'It's her life, fortunately we don't get a say,' one person wrote.
Swank Has Answered This Before
When Swank announced her twin pregnancy in 2022, a commenter questioned her age and predicted she would be in her 70s when the children finished university. Actress Emmy Rossum responded with a blunt, unprintable retort.
Swank has said she froze her eggs at 37, which eased some of the pressure. In 2022, she explained that she had focused on her career and had not met the right partner until a few years earlier.
In an interview published in April 2025, she said she 'would have had kids earlier' but that 'it was the right time for a myriad of reasons'. She also said waiting had made her a different parent: 'I'm much more patient. I'm much more understanding.'
