Anjelica Huston Didn’t Think She Could Handle Being a Working Mom

While Anjelica Huston is the daughter of iconic, award-winning film director John Huston, she’s become a legend herself over several decades as a fashion model, actor, and director. Huston’s enjoyed a highly successful career racking up many awards including an Academy Award, Golden Globe, and several Emmy nominations. Still working today,  she is regarded as one of the finest actors of her generation. And that’s in part why she chose not to become a mom.

Anjelica Huston is an award-winning actor

Huston started out as a model, working for some of fashion’s biggest names in the 1970s. It wasn’t long until she realized that what she really wanted to do was become an actor. She began taking acting classes in Los Angeles.

In 1985, she had her first breakout role in the film Prizzi’s Honor, a film directed by her father. She won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the role that set her on the path to stardom.

For the next several years, Huston starred in many critically acclaimed films like The Dead, The Addams Family, Witches, and The Grifters. She also appeared in TV shows like Smash, And the Band Played On, and Lonesome Dove.  

Huston has also directed films like Bastard Out of Carolina, Agnes Browne, and Riding the Bus with My Sister which received positive critical acclaim.

Why Anjelica Huston didn’t become a mom

A couple of times in her life, Huston did consider having children. But it was never one of her top priorities. She began a volatile relationship with actor Jack Nicholson in her early 20s and during their 17 years together, they did try to have a child. It didn’t happen and in hindsight, Huston told Vulture that it was a blessing in disguise.

After ending her relationship with Jack Nicholson, Huston married sculptor Robert Graham in 1992.  According to Cinema, Huston said that having a family was not high on their list of priorities. The couple tried to conceive unsuccessfully through IVF according to The Guardian.

She explained there were times she wanted a family and other times she was grateful not to have one of her own. “I am a mess if I have to say goodbye to my dog for longer than five days,” she explained, comparing that to kissing her children goodbye as she left for work. “I don’t know if I could.” Huston was married to Graham until his death in 2008.

Anjelica Huston avoided family patterns by not becoming a mom

The unstable relationship Huston had with her father also played a part in her decision. He was often absent from her life when she was a child because of the demands of his career in the film industry. 

Her mother, Enrica Soma, was John Huston’s fourth wife and longest union until her death at 39 in a car accident. There were also complicated, extramarital affairs including one her father had with one of Anjelica Huston’s friends, Zoe Sallis. He had a son with Sallis, actor Danny Huston.

Apparently, her father told Huston and her brother Tony about the “great news.” Huston told Vulture that she didn’t think it was great news she had a little brother. She was shocked. Two years after that, her mother gave birth to Allegra Huston whose father was John Julius Norwich.

The patterns she saw in her family were ones she didn’t want to replicate in her own life. However, she and her siblings became close.