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

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.

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.”