Jordyn Woods Wants Kids, Just Not Before The Knicks (Hopefully) Win Again, And I Get It

If you’re a Black woman over 35, you already know the question is coming. It shows up at the family cookout, during the holidays and, somehow, in the middle of brunch, whether you have a partner or not: “So when are you having kids?”

Or some version of the question.

I’ve heard it more times than I can count. I’m not married, I’m over 35, and I’m building a life I love. So, when Jordyn Woods got asked the same question on national TV this week, I felt it in my soul.

Yes, we’re in two totally different places in our lives.

She’s a newlywed, married to New York Knicks star Karl-Anthony Towns, under 30, and she’s running her own fashion brand. But it’s interesting how questions around kids – having them, wanting them, or why wait for them – frequently come up.

During an Oct. 23 appearance on “Today with Jenna & Sheinelle,” Jordyn sat down with Jenna Bush Hager and Sheinelle Jones. She gushed about saying “I do” in Malibu in August, keeping the ceremony “short and sweet,” and about the lucky orange bag Knicks fans still credit for the team’s championship run. She also talked about her new bridal collection, including shoes and other white items we all may need in our closets, bride or not.

But her conversation about kids hit home for me.

Jordyn Woods Answered The Question I Get Asked All The Time: What About Kids

Sheinelle asked the question so many newlyweds hear, though she admitted she hated asking it. Basically, does Jordyn even want kids?

I get why it comes up. While newlyweds are still in the honeymoon phase, people start asking about the next step. First comes love, then marriage, then a baby in a baby carriage. Right?

Jordyn handled it with grace.

She said she gets the question often but isn’t actively trying to get pregnant. She also pointed out something I’ve thought about for years: we spend so much of our lives trying not to get pregnant, only to learn that when we finally want to, there’s no guarantee when it will happen.

“In a perfect world, we will have family and kids. We love children,” Jordyn told the hosts. “It’s just I’m really focused on my career and hopefully the Knicks winning again that I don’t want to be pregnant for that.”

Sis, same. Swap the Knicks for my own wins, and that’s my life right now. Her words resonated with me, and I know they resonate with so many other women who are newly married or, like me, over 35 and just trying to live their best lives. As Jordyn eloquently put it, she and Karl want kids. The right timing just matters.

Black Women Are Rewriting The Motherhood Timeline

I’m far from alone. Women of our generation are having kids later, and some of our favorite stars have shown us how to do it on our own terms. Tamron Hall welcomed her son at 48. Naomi Campbell and Janet Jackson both became moms at 50.

The numbers back it up too. CDC data released this week shows the U.S. general fertility rate hit a record low in 2025, with 53.2 births per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44. A century ago, the rate was double, and today the average woman has fewer than two babies.

And here’s the real tea. Birth rates fell for women up to age 29 but rose for women ages 30 to 44. Many of us aren’t skipping motherhood. We’re choosing timing that works for us, and for our partners.

The reasons are as personal as they are real. Experts point to women waiting for financial, educational or career security, as well as marriage, before giving birth. Demographers note that today’s financial realities make the 18-year commitment of raising a child feel heavier, and a new survey found more than 7 in 10 Gen Z adults say it’s a bad time to have kids.

Like Jordyn, many of us are in our entrepreneurial era, building wealth and a legacy for ourselves and our future families. Some of us may not want kids at all.

For all of us, health is a factor. Fibroids – which can impact fertility – hit Black women especially hard. More than 80% of Black women will have fibroids by age 50, according to the National Institutes of Health, and Black women are diagnosed three times as often as white women.

Whether And When We Have Kids Is Nobody’s Business

Whatever the reason a woman doesn’t have a child, it’s no one else’s business.

If you want kids early in life, that’s your decision, and it’s beautiful. If you want them later, don’t plan to have them at all or get a surprise blessing, because that happens too, that’s your choice as well.

Every one of those paths deserves respect.

That’s why I agree with Jordyn. If the Knicks win, I want to celebrate, kids or no kids. And no, I’m not a Knicks fan, but the sentiment still stands. If I want to party, take a trip or book a flight to Jamaica, I can do that.