Dakota Fanning Says Having Kids Is Far More Important to Her Than Her Successful Acting Career

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published 2 April 2024

Successful career though it is, actress Dakota Fanning said, if she had to choose between her career and starting a family, it’s a no-brainer for her.

“Being an actor is a huge part of my identity,” Fanning said in an interview with PORTER. “I don’t know who I really am without it. But I also have a desire to set up my life and career so that I always have a choice. Having kids is probably more important to me than anything, even being an actor. If somebody said I had to choose, I would choose having kids. I’m one of those people who has always felt that pull.”

Per People, Fanning said she doesn’t know when she’ll start a family or how much she’ll want to work at that time, so she’s taking advantage of everything thrown her way right now. “I’m trying to push myself to keep saying yes to things that make me uncomfortable, to keep going to places for long periods of time that maybe I’m scared to do because—God willing—one day, it won’t be as easy,” she said.

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Dakota Fanning on the cover of PORTER — Fanning on the cover of PORTER

A former child actress, Fanning—who stars in Netflix’s Ripley, out on Thursday—said she advocates for herself as an adult and said she’s fortunate she didn’t have to live with social media while growing up in the spotlight.

“It’s such a different experience,” Fanning told PORTER of being a child star today. “I hate to reduce it to social media, but that’s the biggest societal difference—and I think we’re still figuring out how to use it in the right way. I’m grateful I didn’t have to contend with that; there was already enough going on.”

Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.