Celebrity Mummas & Bubbas

This week's issue of Who magazine features exclusive images of US pop star P!NK (born Alicia Moore), her husband Carey Hart and their gorgeous new daughter Willow Sage Hart. Willow was born a little more than 3 weeks ago on 2nd June. She is a beautiful little girl and you can tell from the lovely shots just how smitten Pink and Carey are with their bundle of joy.

The same mag also includes a How They've Grown story of celebrity parents with their kids. It features all the A-list stars we've followed over the years such as Nicole Richie with Harlow and Sparrow, Courtney Cox Arquette with Coco, Jessica Alba with Honour, Neil Patrick Harris with his twins Harper and Gideon and many more. All the shots are taken while the little ones are out and about playing or generally just going about their day with their Mum or Dad. It's quite cute. Nothing bad about that at all. Or so I thought.

Pink, Carey & Willow Sage Hart - An authorised photo

Yep, it all seemed innocent enough at first glance. Pink is celebrating the birth of her baby girl and sharing it with the world...but behind the smiles it seems she didn't have much choice but to share this joyful time with us. Pink could provide a range of personal images of her new family for the world to devour or be forced to fight off paparazzi hunting the couple for the first photo of Willow and, in turn, make A LOT of cashola. You see another word for 'ka-ching' in La La land is 'celebrity baby'.

I only know this because Pink has posted a very heart felt letter on her website to ask paparazzi to respect Willow's privacy. The fascination we (voyeurs like me) have with celebrities and their off duty lives has grown so much paps will stop at nothing to get the best, most exclusive photos.

It reads:

Due to the unsettling, surprisingly aggressive and unsafe measures that the paparazzi seem to be willing to go to in order to secure that "first shot" of our daughter--stalking us, chasing us in cars and sitting outside of our home all day and all night, as new parents Carey and I decided that we would release personal photos of our Willow, and donate all of the money to charity.

Those 'personal photos' were provided to People (Who's sister publication in the US) and are now available around the world for everyone to see. 

It's not the first time a celebrity has tried to beat media at their own game in a bid to diffuse the international and very well paid hype around their newborn. Brangelina negotiated a tidy sum for the rights to photos Brad took of Angie with Knox and Viv (arguably the most expensive images of celeb babies to date) which was then donated to charity. Tomkat didn't show Suri in public until she appeared with her parents on the cover of Vanity Fair and our own Dannii Minogue tweeted a self-styled pic of her with partner Kris Smith and their several day old son Ethan to squash the media frenzy from Oz to the UK. 

Why are we so fascinated with famous babies? Does knowing Pink, Angelina, Dannii, Katie and all the rest go through nine months of pregnancy and labour just like us 'normal' people somehow make our experience easier or - god forbid - acceptable or cool? It's not uncommon for magazines to publish a 'Who's Next?' story displaying the latest tabloid shots of female celebs at varying stages of gestation. Then it's the birth, their name, what they wear, how much was spent on their birthday party and so on and so on...

Yes of course babies are beautiful and their arrival in the world is a blessing, but my confusion lies in what seems to be our insatiable apetite for these kids. Does it seem wrong to anyone else that millions of dollars is paid for images of children because their Mum or Dad happens to make a movie or play in a band?

I'll admit my new found protect-the-celeb-baby stance is contradictory. I love my trashy mags and pics of celebrities. Geesh, I've even got images of three inspirational ladies in the left hand column...but after reading Pink's letter and being a super protective Mumma myself, I've started re-evaluating my desire for these images.

While admiring Actors, Musicians, TV Personalities, Reality Stars etc.. is one thing I completely understand and support Pink and Carey's position in protecting their baby girl's innocence, identity and life from potential danger. 

It wasn't until I read Pink's letter that I even considered papped images of them as an invasion of her family's privacy. Why would I? I see pics like this everyday. One with her baby girl is just another one, surely?! I don't know her personally, why would I care? But I realised, I would be horrified, or worse still scared for our lives, if someone followed Teach and I while we were walking with E. We would do everything in our power to stop someone from setting up camp outside our home to take photos of us. Why does Pink's job as a Musician and Entertainer give anyone the right to follow her movements 24/7 for the sake of one picture of her child?


While I don't believe we will ever see an end to unauthorised videos and images of celebrities (Princess Diana's death proved that), I now think we should draw the line at celeb bubbas. Being stalked to the point of almost causing harm for a photograph is beyond moronic and should be illegal. Pink says it brilliantly:

In EVERY other country that I recall, children's faces are blurred out in magazine photos. Why is USA the only country that continues to financially incentivize intrusive paparazzi behavior to capitalize on photos of babies, infants and children? Why is this acceptable to any of us? Why is this even legal? These are questions I ask myself as a new parent. Why are celebrities/public figures having to seek restraining orders to keep strange grown men with still and video cameras from sitting perched outside of their children's pre-schools and elementary schools, preying on little innocent kids? After all, if a stranger was sitting outside of a school taking photographs of random little girls and boys, wouldn't he be arrested? Or, at least in Philadelphia, he would have to face a more primal sort of recourse. But because it's the child of a celebrity, somehow it's okay? I'm just not sure what is wrong with us as a society, that we do more than tolerate this, but our appetite for it seems insatiable. We buy these pictures. We buy these magazines that publish these paparazzi pictures. WHERE DOES IT STOP?

Unfortunately for Pink and many more celebrity Mummas (and Poppas of course) we all know it will only stop when there is no money to make from it. It's the way of the world.   

To read the 'Important Note from Pink' click here.

The First Lady: My New 'Savnista'

Michelle Obama's style is very well documented, photographed and analysed. Ever since she stepped on to the stage in that stunning one-shoulder white dress at her husband's inauguration in 2008, the First Lady has been America's new darling of fashion. Let's face it, there hasn't been another President's wife that has warranted so much attention since the ever-glamorous Jackie Kennedy - quiet rightly!

Now I don't normally take much notice of Michelle's outfits. Yes I buy my fair share of trashy mags and sit on People for hours skimming through all the celeb pics like any other normal (?) woman does, but Michelle's fashion hasn't been that high on my must-see-odomator. I'm not sure why. Maybe I see her as a bit to Mumsy for me - I'm holding onto my Independant Woman ideologies with gritted teeth and a monkey grip - or perhaps because she's associated to Politics? While I admire her style and taste I usually relate more to Reese Witherspoon (another Celeb/Girl crush I'll have to discuss another day).

That is until I saw this pic and discovered that her top is actually a $30 Gap dress. Nice work Mrs Obama! You've shown ladies across the world, Mothers or not, that style does not have to come with a large designer price tag.

I shouldn't be surprised really. Michelle once wore a white Gap tshirt to lunch with former First Lady Nancy Reagan and caused quite the stir. I knew I loved Gap tshirts for a reason!! I have several in a range of colours at home, but now I can honestly say I have the same 'outfit' as the First Lady - a stretch I know but I'm so going there!

Anywho... I'm proud to say Mrs Obama has found a new place in my heart as a savnista (savvy fashionista...get it?) and has inspired me to wear my Gap clothes over the weekend with pride and pretend I'm as super-stylish.

Happy Friday.
x

To invite or not to invite?

A good friend and I were chatting about her upcoming nupitals over a glass of wine on Saturday.

Sally is getting married to her delightful fiance in Fiji early next year. She is extremely excited and has most of the elements organised including her dress, the venue and a photographer. Despite her great organisation, Sally confided in me that she's nervous to send out the invitations because she isn't sure whether or not to invite a former friend and her husband.

Memorable Mumma Moment

As a new Mum I'm always on the look out for E's milestones. Each day he discovers something new that makes my heart sing with joy such as holding my finger, smiling when you come into his eye sight, laughing at silly faces and so on. 

It seems Teach and I spend so much time helping E to learn and grow we forget we are developing as parents too. Yes, we have the usual first-time parent milestones chalked up e.g. sleepless nights, not showering for the day, running out of nappies at an inopportune time, etc... but I'm talking about those memorable moments as a parent when you just have to laugh at yourself or you'll cry.

Yesterday I had a Memorable Mumma Moment I wont forget in a hurry.

Ice Ice Baby

It's 11 degrees in Brisbane as I write this. I think someone 'upstairs' has flicked the switch to deep freeze because it never stays this cold past 9am in the Sunshine State - that I've had the misfortune of experiencing at least.

Most people love winter because of the opportunity to rug up in hats, scarves, glorious coats and drink red wine by the fire (read: heater)...not me! I'm a summer girl through and through. It might have something to do with my North Qld blood, but give me heat, cute togs, shorts, an ice cold jug of Sangria and I'm in heaven.

Mothers Groups: a 'dating service' for Mums.

We’ve all heard the nightmare stories that surround Mothers Groups. Perfectionist women in designer gym gear and pristine makeup, genius children developed well beyond their age group and competitive mothers comparing their amazing children with other not so gifted kids (ok, I don’t know if these are stereotypes or my own worst nightmares, but you get the drift).  Despite the potential disasters, I’ve been on the hunt for a local Mothers group for a few days now. I’m searching for a few nice, friendly ladies with children I can catch up with while my regular friends are at work. Easy! 

Do I have a beef with my meat?

I can’t bring myself to watch the Four Corners report on Live Exporting of Australian Cattle to Indonesia. I don’t know why it’s taking me this long to decide whether or not I want to see it, but something inside me just keeps saying ‘don’t watch it, it’ll give you nightmares.’ 

It may sound ridiculous and over dramatic to some, but I’m seriously terrified of what I’ll see. I fear the worst after seeing only a few seconds of footage included in a news story covering all the feedback the original report generated.

Despite not wanting to see the slaughter of these gorgeous animals, I feel like I need to watch it and wake up from this naivety I so happily live in everyday. 

Yes, I am a meat eater. I love nothing more than going to the pub for a delicious rare eye fillet with baked potato and lashings of mushroom gravy. The thought of it now even makes my mouth water. But where has my steak come from? What cruel and unusual punishment did Daisy go through just to feed me? Is she happy to feed me or was she dragged to her end kicking and bucking to run free? Even now the visuals I conjure up for myself are haunting.

I don’t pretend to know much about the Australian beef industry (this could be an old issue as far as I know), or the Australian Government's exporting agreement with Indonesia, but all this talk has made me think twice about the basics... Is the meet, poultry and fish I buy at my local supermarket killed humanely? Is it better to buy meat from an organic market? But, just because a product is organic doesn’t mean it’s killed ‘nicely', does it?

I guess this is where I need to ask myself what is my level of acceptability relating to the killing of animals? Perhaps what disgusts me doesn’t bother you...  Do I continue to shop ignorantly or do I start making changes?

I don’t know whether it’s because I recently became a mother and my new role has brought these feelings to the surface (i.e. protection, love, humility) or whether at 31 I’m starting to genuinely consider my impact on Mother Earth and her inhabitants, but either way, it seems the Four Corners story (and the surrounding attention) has brought me a new found awareness of my meat. Perhaps my days of ordering Australia’s best grain-fed, well... anything, are numbered.

If you'd like to see the Animals Australia story on live exporting, click here.