January Jones has opened up about raising her child as a single mother.
The actress, who welcomed her son Xander Dane in 2011, has never publicly revealed the identity of his father, and has parented him independently for his entire life.
Speaking to Red magazine, January said that Xander has always been surrounded by strong female role models. 'My younger sisters and my mom and my doula were in the room; my brother-in-law and my dad were next door,' she explained of her 30-hour labour. 'I only wanted women with me. Female energy. It was a 30-hour process but it was awesome. I'd love to do it again.'
She added that her son still has plenty of men in his life, but she doesn't feel he needs a father to have a happy, secure childhood.
'Xander has a lot of bro time with the neighbor dads and my dad, who is super young. It's good to have strong women around a man to teach him to respect women.'
'He doesn't have a male person saying "don't cry" or "you throw like a girl", the Mad Men star continued. "All those sh*tty things that dads accidentally do.'
'I just don't feel I need a partner. Do I want one? Maybe. But I don't feel unhappy or lonely.'
However, she did admit that the task of playing both mum and dad isn't without its challenges.
'I don't want to be bad cop, but to have his respect, I have to be both,' she explained. 'I'm an emotionally immature person — I'm an actor for God's sake. I see myself behaving like a child all the time.'
'This morning, I made Xander eggs, toast, a smoothie. He spat out his blueberries, threw the eggs into the sink, was playing with his toast, and I just lost my shit. And I took the plate and threw it in the garbage, in tears.'
'Someone needs to be the mature one here, but I had a full tantrum. Maybe I should get a manny.'
