Offspring star Kat Stewart's surprising change of heart on being childfree

Kat Stewart was once so career focused that she believed having a child would ruin her job prospects.

But it was a storyline on her series Offspring that led to the 51-year-old actress changing her mind.

In the 2010s comedy drama series, her character, Billie Proudman underwent an IVF journey, and it got Kat, who was 37 at the time, thinking about her own fertility.

‘I was really enjoying my work and I wasn’t prioritising kids because I knew it would slow me down’ she tells this week’s issue of Stellar Magazine.

‘I wasn’t super maternal, to be honest. I’m so grateful to Offspring because it gave me a little tap on the shoulder and said, “Hey, you can’t put this on the backburner forever – here are the stats.”‘

Kat Stewart was once so career focused that she believed having a child would ruin her job prospects. But it was a storyline on her series Offspring that led to the 51-year-old actress changing her mind. Pictured in Stellar Magazine

Soon after, Kat and her husband, fellow actor David Whiteley, welcomed their first child, son Archie.

‘By the end of that series, Archie was on the way. We were very lucky’ she told the publication.

Kat returned to work just five weeks after giving birth to Archie in 2012 and kept her first pregnancy close to her chest for months.

Speaking to Show and Tell, she said: ‘I had this paranoia that if I had a baby – which is probably why we put it off for so long — that I’d never work again.’

In the 2010s comedy drama series, her character, Billie Proudman underwent an IVF journey, and it got Kat, who was 37 at the time, thinking about her own fertility. Pictured in Offspring

‘I was really enjoying my work and I wasn’t prioritising kids because I knew it would slow me down’ she tells this week’s issue of Stellar Magazine. Pictured with her husband and two kids

Kat and her husband, fellow actor David Whiteley (right), welcomed their first child, son Archie, in 2012 and daughter Gigi in 2016

‘I didn’t really tell anyone until I was about five months. I only told people when I had to which is weird but I was just a bit kind of nervous about it and protective of it and I wanted it to be our experience for as long as possible.’

Kat welcomed her second child, daughter Georgia, nicknamed Gigi, in 2016, and brought the newborn to work with her on the set of Offspring just weeks later.

Rather than take a lengthy maternity leave, Kat jumped straight back into work with her five-week-old tot on her hip on the first day of shooting.

‘I think it will only enrich the experience of doing the show having them around,’ she told The Daily Telegraph of having her kids on set, which also included Archie, who was a toddler at the time.

‘I wouldn’t normally go back to work this early but Offspring is a family,’ she added.

‘Archie takes his role as big brother really seriously. He’s in charge of calming Gigi down with lullabies.’