Mila Kunis Says Work-Life Balance ‘Doesn’t Exist’

Mila Kunis doesn’t think the perfect work-parenting balance exists.

When asked by The Cut on Monday how women could “have it all” — the perfect marriage, kids, and career — Kunis argued, “Simply put, the idea of balance doesn’t exist.”

“It is your work or your kid, but you can’t balance it. There is really, in my opinion, no such thing. One will take a weight,” she said. As the mother of a toddler girl, Kunis has fresh insight on the subject.

This very idea is a theme in Kunis’ new film Bad Moms, which centers around parents who are done being “perfect.” In the movie’s trailer, Kunis’ character says in a moment of defiance, “I’m so tired of trying to be this perfect mom.”

Many working moms are speaking out against the idea of “having it all.” Anne-Marie Slaughter‘s 2012 article in The Atlantic challenged the very notion of the term, and a chorus of voices have followed in pushing back. New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand wrote on Motto, “Instead of continuing the old debate about ‘having it all,’ let’s focus on the very real challenges of ‘doing it all’—and then raise our voices to fix these challenges.”

Kunis’ solution for balancing the work? Asking for help. She told The Cut that she has an “amazing support system,” and added: “A happy woman, a fulfilled woman, will only make a better mother. And at the end of the day, I have to be happy with who I am and what I do.”

[The Cut]