Sofia Vergara spent the better part of a decade with two different men who were hellbent on putting a baby in her. The first was Nick Loeb, who spent years post-split trying to get “custody” of the embryos they created while they were engaged. Then there was Joe Manganiello, who seemingly married Sofia knowing that she wasn’t interested in having another child (her son Manolo is in his 30s). I tend to believe that Joe was fine with not having children with Sofia… until he wasn’t. Until he changed his mind at some point, and the marriage fell apart. Sofia has explained her point of view in a few interviews since then, that at 51, she just thinks she’s too old to be a mother again and she doesn’t want to be an “old mom.” Sofia covers People Magazine’s Most Beautiful Issue, and she once again spoke about the baby issue.
She loves being older: “I think now that I’m older, it’s great because you know exactly what you like. I just do what makes me feel confident and beautiful. I’ve never really cared that much about what people think. But now I really care less.”
She adores her son Manolo: “It is great that I had him young, because now I’m going to be 52, and he’s 32. I wish I was older sometimes, because I would’ve been more mature, more prepared to be a mother, but that was what I got and what happened. So I just kept going and try not to look back at it, because it is what it is. But it is fun because I kind of grew up together with my son.”
Not wanting to have another child is what caused her divorce from Joe: “There’s things in life that might sound like good ideas, but they’re not. I was a mother already. I know what it means to be a good mother or to try to be the best mother that you can, and that takes a lot of sacrifices, takes a lot of energy.”
Her thoughts on older motherhood: Now, “thanks to science, women can actually have babies older. Before, nature for some reason tells your body at 50 you are in menopause, it’s time for you to be done with that. There is a reason why nature is doing that. But that’s for me, and I totally respect where anyone wants to be a mom after 50. I didn’t think because of my career, the way I live my life, the way my marriage was, that it was fair to bring a kid to this world, and I’m not going to be able to give 100 percent.”
I’m live-and-let-live about older motherhood, and that’s the modern trend as well, for women to become mothers later and later. If that’s what you want, go for it and god bless. But as I get older, I understand why women in their late 30s, 40s and 50s are saying “no mas, I’m not doing it.” Like, going through all of that for the first, second or third time in your late 40s? Again, if that’s what you want, God bless. But it just seems so tough. I also understand what Sofia is saying – she was a young mother, she knows how difficult it is and she simply never wanted to do it all over again.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, cover courtesy of People.