Ava DuVernay Shares Why She Decided Not to Get Married or Have Children: 'I Just Don't Want To' (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Ava DuVernay on Oct. 19, 2024.Photo:Taylor Hill/FilmMagic

Taylor Hill/FilmMagic

Ava DuVernayis opening up about her decision to not get married or start a family.

PEOPLE is sharing an exclusive preview ofOriginfilmmaker DuVernay’s appearance onKenya BarrisandMalcolm Gladwell’s new Audible interview series,The Unusual Suspects with Kenya Barris and Malcolm Gladwell.

Asked if she would “make a different choice” were she offered the chance to start her career over again, theSelmadirector, 52, said, “No. I’ve never been a… he’s speaking of the fact that I am not married and I don’t have children.”

“I am the oldest of five. I’ve have had a lot of small children in my life for a long time, so I never felt like I wanted to have kids,” she continued. “My family, my mom, would always say, for a little while before she realized I was serious, ‘You’ll change your mind.’ 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.”

While DuVernay added that she has enjoyed “a really beautiful relationship and relationships over the course” of her life, she noted that she feels marriage would constrict her “to behave in a traditional way.”

“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 added.

The Unusual Suspects with Kenya Barris and Malcolm Gladwell.Audible

Audible

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Ava DuVernay on Dec. 10, 2024.Stefanie Keenan/WireImage

Stefanie Keenan/WireImage

Ucoming episodes ofThe Unusual Suspectswill feature businesswoman Ursula Burns, Jimmy Kimmel, basketball star Sue Bird, politician Wes Moore, chef David Chang, as well as one episode in which Barris and Gladwell interview each other.

The Unusual Suspectsinterview series is available to stream exclusively on Audible now.

source: people.com