The lure of the celebrity mom
If you read one of my other blogs then you probably already know who my favorite celebrity mother is. I don’t care who likes, dislikes, or flat-out hates Angelina Jolie, I totally love her. I love everything about her, from her wild past to her humanitarian efforts, to her family of beautiful children.
But one of my other favorite celebrity mothers is a bit more on the low-key side - Jennifer Garner. She’s still very popular. If you go to your average celebrity website, you’ll almost always see a picture of her and her daughter Violet Affleck out and about. However, she somehow seems to come across as your quintessential regular mom - the mom who’s just trying her best.
She’s one of those celebrity mothers that I wish I could bump into at a park or at the farmer’s market. I feel like she isn’t judgmental, looking down her nose at anyone who doesn’t parent the same way. She comes across as the mother who lets her kid figure things out and run and play without hovering (when there isn’t a swarm of paparazzi, that is). And I just get the feeling she’d be so much fun to swap “war stories” (so to speak) with over a glass of wine or a cup of coffee.
What is it with celebrity mothers? A couple of generations ago, no one knew anything much about celebrity kids. Now everyone knows all the celebrity kids by first name. We all talk about Maddox, Violet, Suri, Kingston, Harlow like they’re part of our play group. Why are we so fascinated?
I think there are a few reasons. Celebrities are so beyond our scope. Not many of us have multiple multi-million dollar homes and a team of security guards. But we can relate to the parenting aspect. Even if we don’t have nannies and bodyguards at the park, we understand the love of a child and the joy of having fun with our kids. It’s one way we can be on par with our favorite celebrities because we know that rich and famous or not, they deal with tantrums and meltdowns too. Even if they do have nannies, we see famous parents out with their kids regularly.
Another reason I feel like it’s becoming important and interesting to us is because we’re in a generation where more women are working, whether it’s in or out of the home. Compared to the 1950s and 60s, and even later, more mothers are in the workforce and we’re trying to balance work and home and kids. We see mothers like Jennifer Garner out doing the shopping with Violet but then she’s off to do some acting work. Gwen Stefani pushes Kingston on the swings at the park and then goes to the studio to record a song - or goes on tour. Angelina Jolie takes her girls out shopping for toys and then jets off to Iraq to meet with refugees. These women are famous but they’re still doing what we’re all doing - trying to balance our lives.
It’s an aspect we didn’t see that much until the past handful of years but it’s rampant now.
Which celebrity moms do you admire? Who would you love a playdate with? What pulls your interest towards them?
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POSTED IN: Celebrity Moms
1 opinion for The lure of the celebrity mom
Heather
Jul 25, 2008 at 8:34 pm
I also really like Jennifer Garner, I think she’s adorable and down to earth. Oh, and Reese Witherspoon too!
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