In honor of Mother’s Day, I thought I might blog about some more celebrity moms. In particular, I wanted to blog about Angelina Jolie- the biggest celebrity motherhood icon right now. In the past three years, Jolie has adopted 3 children from around the world and given birth to one biological child fathered by Brad Pitt.
In spite of recent rumors of a breakup, the couple seems to be still going strong. In a recent interview, Angelina talks about her decision to have a biological child. It appears from the interview that she was worried Brad would not be able to love the adopted children as much as a biological child.
That quote from her is particularly interesting in light of speculation from the paparazzi that Angelina herself plays favorites: actually AGAINST her biological child. It’s almost as though she is overcompensating for not wanting herself or her lover to be seen as favoring Shiloh.
Further intrigue has been raised that Jolie is “addicted to adopting”- although she has supposedly left her wild child ways behind, she has “replaced” her older dangerous behaviors with rampant…
childrearing? Wait… hold on a minute. I mean, I sort of understand where the media is coming from – taking on so many children in such a short time with, well, let’s be honest, no “previous mothering experience” to help her through, it is a little bit rushed and potentially overwhelming. But the Jolie-Pitts also happen to be among the richest families in the world. Clearly they can provide adequate care for the children even if Angelina herself is too overwhelmed to do it. And, let’s face it, there have been many poorer families who have acquired as many children and dealt with it fine, right?
Even more interesting is the debate in the tabloids about Jolie being a stay-at-home mom. She claimed, supposedly, that after adopting her latest addition, Pax, she would devote herself entirely to her children and stay at home. A few days later, she signed a contract to film a movie in Prague. No biggie, right? We all know acting isn’t actually work.
But really, that is a bit hypocritical. She said she wanted to stay home. She could have stayed home. But she didn’t. It’s okay. It doesn’t make her any less of a mother… or does it?
Finally, let’s talk about sexiness. When I think about Angelina Jolie now, sometimes I catch myself having the thought “you know… she used to be the sexiest woman alive.” Used to be??? I mean, I know it’s just my thought, but I’m totally getting it from somewhere. Someone, somewhere in the media is pushing that her new image is not “sexy” but “maternal” and “giving” and all those other things… as though they are mutually exclusive. I mean, I’m pretty sure that as the gold standard of cosmetic surgery, she’s still considered pretty darn sexy by most of the world. But I guess you have to pick one, right? Sexiness… or motherhood?
But maybe, just maybe, that’s changing…
