The Fear-Filled Reason One of the World's Richest Comics Is Set to Die Childless

OK! can reveal Ricky Gervais is set to die childless due to a lifelong fear of catastrophe, according to his partner of more than four decades, Jane Fallon, who says anxiety – not career ambition – drove their decision to forgo children.

Fallon, 65, a novelist and former TV producer, has been in a relationship with Gervais, 64, since they met at university in the early 1980s.

The couple, who live together in north London and have never married, chose early on not to have children – a decision Fallon has now revisited during an appearance on the "Second Act" podcast.

Fallon left a successful television career in the late 2000s after securing a book deal, publishing her debut novel, Getting Rid of Matthew, in 2007 and going on to write 11 more titles.

Reflecting on her younger years, Fallon said: "When I was little, you know the cliché of a little girl is they imagine their wedding day and their wedding dress... it was none of that ever. It was always about work and my life. I was never into that romance stuff."

She added: "As I got older, I just realized (becoming a parent) wasn't for me."

Fallon explained her reluctance stemmed from what she described as a deeply ingrained tendency to expect the worst.

"I'm a real catastrophist... I assume the worst," she confessed. "When I watch my next sister up and her two kids, she's so brilliant. She's just got that balance right of letting them be independent but not being reckless. I would stifle the life out of my kids. I can't even let my cat out. I think your job as a parent is to create independent, go-be-free (children.)"

"But it's really hard. I just thought I'll be a better auntie – and auntie to my friends' kids – than I will be a mother. I just didn't think I'd be very good at it because I thought I'd be too anxious," she continued.

Those close to Fallon and Gervais say the decision to stay childless was mutual and rooted in temperament rather than circumstance.

A source told us: "They looked at parenthood honestly and concluded it would not suit their personalities or the life they wanted."

The insider added that Fallon in particular "feared she would be overwhelmed by worry rather than joy" at the prospect of becoming a mom.

Gervais, one of the world's wealthiest comics thanks to global stand-up tours and the enduring success of shows such as The Office and After Life, has previously spoken candidly about the pair's unconventional domestic arrangement.

He said in 2010 about his relationship with Fallon: "We are married for all intents and purposes, everything's shared and actually our fake marriage has lasted longer than a real one. But there's no point in us having an actual ceremony before the eyes of God because there is no God."

Fallon echoed that view in 2018, saying: "We're not married because neither of (us) are fussed."

"I think if one of us really cared then we would probably do it but it's not really been anything that either of us have ever really needed," she added.

Friends describe the pair's 40-year partnership as stable and quietly content – a relationship that has endured the pressures of fame and fortune without conforming to traditional expectations.

As Fallon suggested on the podcast, the absence of children was never a sacrifice but a deliberate choice shaped by self-knowledge and, above all, fear of not being the kind of parent she believed a child would deserve.