Joanne McNally has made no secret of her desire to become a mother at some point and has now admitted that she may even consider adoption.
The Irish comedian has been smashing it on the career front, but with the years slipping by rapidly, is carefully considering her options on motherhood.
In a wholly relatable conversation with Jamie Lange, Joanne revealed that she might go down the adoption route and also spoke of being what she calls ‘problematically independent.’
Joanne McNally and Vogue Williams. Pic: Instagram
When asked by the host what scares her most about herself, Joanne replied: ‘That I’ll forget to have a kid, and then I’ll regret it.’
‘I’d love to have kids, I might adopt kids, I might just pay it back [Joanne herself is adopted], but my problem is, I forget, I’m 42 and life just sneaks up on you and because it didn’t happen for me with a man, because I think I’m way more self-aware now, and I realise… [that] I was never going to be the person who got married at 25, that was just never what I was gonna do,’ Joanna candidly said.
@greatcompanypodcast Joanne McNally would LOVE to adopt and pay her own adoption forward….and opens up about why she has waited to have children. Search ‘Joanne McNally Great Company’ on YouTube, Spotify and Apple for the full episode. @Joanne McNally @jamie #adoption #mumsover40 #motherhood ♬ original sound – Great Company
Joanne continued: ‘Not that I’ve gotten to 42, I call myself a little problematically independent at this point, so the kids thing, I assume that it will be something I’ll probably do on my own.’
The other option is having a ‘gayby’ with her gay best pal Ross.
‘I’d love to have three babies – the problem is, I have no partner, but me and my friend, who is gay, have started looking into having a gayby,’ she previously told the Irish Independent.
Joanne added: ‘I know in my soul, deep down, as much as I love my life and I’m very lucky, I feel like I want the experience of being a mother. And I know if I don’t, and I’m kind of getting emotional saying this, if I don’t do it for myself, I’ll really regret it.’
joanne Mcnally – Insatgram
On the topic of her love life, Joanne confesses that she is not great with long-term relationships and does have a tendency to bury herself in her work.
She said: ‘I could work as much as I want for the rest of my life, but you can just disappear into it. You have to remind yourself to do s**t for yourself, like setting up for your future self, which is my ideas around husbands and kids and all of that. But sure, does that even work anyway?’
Vogue Williams and Joanne McNally at Wimbledon 2025. Pic: Instagram
Not focusing on her personal life has also impacted her work, and she admits she was worried after finishing her previous tour about not having enough new life experiences to generate fresh content.
Joanne will next be on the road with her show Pinotphile and reassures fans that her content will always be female-focused and about slagging lads ‘in a fun way.
Joanne is set to bring Pinotphile to 3Olympia Theatre, Dublin, for 23 performances between November 12 and March 15, 2026.
