Bella Mackie Details Trolling Over Childfree Decision

Bella Mackie, author and wife of BBC Radio 1 DJ Greg James, has shared her experience of being targeted by online trolls after deciding not to have children. Mackie stated she was "crushed" by comments suggesting she was a "narcissist" or was "stopping her husband from being happy" by not having kids.

The couple, who married in 2018, spent eight years discussing whether they wanted to start a family. Mackie explained on the podcast "How To Fail with Elizabeth Day" that while she had always assumed she would become a mother, she and James ultimately concluded they "weren't sure they wanted a child enough."

Mackie detailed that the extensive discussions about having children occurred over numerous dog walks throughout their decade-long relationship. "We've gone on endless dog walks where we've just walked and walked and talked about, the potential baby that we don't have," she said.

Her concerns about starting a family were compounded by her lifelong struggles with severe anxiety, panic attacks, agoraphobia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). She worried about how these conditions might impact her ability to parent and noted that OCD can sometimes worsen during pregnancy and the postpartum period.

"I think you do have to also consider that if you have bad mental health or erratic mental health or whatever it is, you can be a challenge in motherhood," Mackie reflected. "And it worried me a lot, the idea of having to cope with OCD and motherhood."

Mackie also touched on what she described as "weird sexism" surrounding the decision not to have children, noting that if James were to say he didn't want children, people might not believe him in the same way they might question a woman's decision.

Previously, Mackie wrote about how the couple adopted their dog, Barney, in 2019. She described the experience of choosing a dog over children in an article for Vogue, noting that while she loved Barney dearly, she learned that "not to get a dog in place of a kid."