Jon Hamm Says He’d Be A ‘Terrible’ Father, Proves You Can’t Have It All

He plays tortured father Don Draper on Mad Men, but you kind of get the impression Jon Hamm would be an ideal dad in real life. Maybe it’s that face, or the fact that he comes off as so warm and genuine. Or perhaps it’s his past life as a high school teacher and daycare worker. But Hamm, 41, says parenthood is not for him. “I’d be a terrible father!” he told US Weekly. “I see my friends who have children and I’m like, ‘Dude, how are you even upright, much less here at work at 6 a.m.?'”

Hamm’s partner of 14 years, 42-year-old actor and director Jennifer Westfeldt the two star together in Friends With Kids recently told the New York Times:

“I’ve thought about this a lot lately. I never thought I’d be this age and not have kids. But my life has also gone in a million ways I never anticipated. I kept feeling like I’d wake up with absolute clarity, and I haven’t. And we have a pretty great life together. The chance that we’ll regret it doesn’t seem like a compelling enough reason to do it. I may wake up tomorrow with that lighting bolt, and I’ll have to scramble to make it happen.”

You’ve got to respect these two for knowing what they want, especially when there’s so much societal pressure to procreate (magnified all the more when you’re in the public spotlight). Hamm proves that you can be amazing with children you can love and nurture them and even kvell over other people’s little ones (he calls January Jones‘ six-month-old son, Xander, “cute as a button“) but that doesn’t mean you’re cut out for parenthood. Clearly, having children is not for everyone, and I think that Hamm and Westfeldt prove that we’re no longer stuck in a Mad Men-era where it’s just expected that you’ll get married and have kids.

(Photo: Nikki Nelson / WENN.com)