The popstar appeared on Bateman's podcast 'Smartless', where he told her that she "might find somebody" who will change her mind about kids, despite already being married to George Daniel.
Bateman asked Charli: “Would you love to have more than one kid or would you like to have a kid that has the same experience as you, the only child, and then you get to nurture and protect?”
The popstar replied, stating that she does not want kids, to which Bateman's co-host, Sean Hayes repsonded:“You don’t? Wait, why? I know that’s none of my business…”
Hayes related to Charli as he revealed he also does not want kids, he said: “I want to want to have kids… I’ve said it a million times, but I’d rather regret not having kids then have them and regret it later. You never know what you’re going to get.”
However, the popstar stated that her feelings could change but she revealed that she loves the "fantasy of having a child like naming it – it sounds so fun – but I’m like, that is exactly a sign to me as to why I should not have one. The fact that [naming it] feels like the coolest part about it, and like maybe I’m not ready, you know?”
Bateman drew from his personal experience stating that his wife originally did not want to have children, although when they married she thought "OK, I think I can have a kid with this guy.'” He then told Charli that "you might find someone."
Charli then told Bateman, "well I am married", Bateman then jokingly said: “I got to read a newspaper one of these days. [With] your next husband, you’re gonna want kids.”
Since the podcast episode went live, Bateman has received a lot of backlash online for the comments he made towards Charli. A redit thread has labelled the episode as "cringe" and "aggressively heteronormative” (via NME).
One listener wrote:“Why the f*ck does society continue to pressure women, in particular, about having kids?!” and another post read “Jason is CRINGE when he talks about how he convinced his wife to have kids.”
“God, they do NOT know how to talk to certain women […] We are more than vessels Jason," another listener wrote.
A fan defending the podcast hosts said: “Just listened to the episode and it does feel that a lot of the comments here are a bit dramatic today. If you are not a regular listener you may not know that the SmartLess name is quite literal. Outside of the guest ‘chooser’, the other two are going in blind."
