On Monday, Charli XCX appeared on SmartLess, the podcast Jason Bateman hosts with Sean Hayes and Will Arnett. During her interview, she had to answer a few too many questions about her thoughts on having children.
After Charli spoke about growing up as an only child, Bateman asked how many kids she’d want to have — apparently not considering that the answer might be zero. “I actually don’t really want to have kids,” Charli replied. Bateman then told Charli she could still change her mind about having kids, using his own wife as an example. “My wife did not want to have kids,” he said. “And she said once we started going out, she was like, ‘Okay, I think I can have a kid with this guy.’ So you might find somebody.’” “Well, I’m married,” Charli replied. Oof.
Of course, Charli’s answer would not come as a shock to anyone who’s listened to “I think about it all the time,” her Should I have kids or not? anthem from Brat. But it seems Bateman hasn’t exactly been bumpin’ that. He laughed off his faux pas, saying he’s “got to read a newspaper one of these days,” and threw in a joke that she might want kids with her “next husband.”
incredible rough listening experience at one point jason bateman asks her how many kids she wants to have (bad enough) and then she’s like "i don’t think i want kids" and he’s like "well maybe you just need to find the right guy" and she’s like "i’m married" and then silence pic.twitter.com/jnzTBfM7pu
— merle (@rottenbrunette) February 2, 2026
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Over on the SmartLess sub-Reddit, listeners slammed Bateman’s remarks as “insufferable” and “aggressively heteronormative,” not to mention “abominably cringe.” Others pointed out that Bateman couldn’t have done his research — the whole gimmick of SmartLess is that one of the hosts invites a guest, and the others don’t know in advance who’s coming. Researched or not, you don’t have to be a Brat scholar to know you probably shouldn’t grill a woman in her 30s about whether she wants kids. “We are more than vessels, Jason,” one person commented on Reddit.
Disrespectfully, we need to bring back journalists to red carpets and as podcast hosts. The lack of research going into questions is a waste of guests’ time and a missed opportunity for fans. Have thought this for ages but the jason bateman/charli interaction is particularly wild
— kirst ⎕ (@justfournotes) February 3, 2026
Hopefully, Bateman can give Brat a listen after all this mess. I’d suggest starting with “I might say something stupid.”
