Nigerian author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, has said that she feels sorry for men because they can’t have the experience of giving birth.
Chimamanda said this during an interview with online entertainment publication, Vulture, where she spoke about how motherhood has affected her writing career.
She said that becoming a mother opened up “a new emotional plane” that has contributed to her art positively.
“My baby happened, and it’s important to talk honestly about this, because having her changed a lot.
“Having a child gets in the way of writing. It does. You can’t own your time the way you used to.
“But the other thing that motherhood does — and I kind of feel sorry for men that they can’t have this — is open up a new emotional plane that can feed your art.”
Chimamanda said she had thought that she would not be a good mother because she was “so dedicated to [her] art” to the point that she used to think she wouldn’t be a good mother.
“I said to myself, I have nephews and nieces who I adore, and I helped raise them, so those will be my children. That’s what I thought for a long time, because I felt that I couldn’t be true to both my art and my child.”
However, she said, she changed her mind — or time changed it for her.
When asked what changed her mind, she said, “Getting older. I like to joke and say that you’re ready [to have a child] when your body isn’t ready, and when your body is ready, you’re not mentally ready.
“I guess you have the best eggs when you’re like 22; but at 22, you don’t even know yourself.
“Then when you’re 38 and know yourself, your eggs are not the best quality. Anyway, we’ll talk about eggs another time.”
Chimamanda has been known to court controversies with her viewpoints.