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The new Hollywood sex symbol: moms
Categories: Bump Watch, Celeb Kids, Celeb Parenting
Twenty years ago, it seems that women in Hollywood were putting off having children as long as possible. Big stars like Madonna and Susan Sarandon were nearly 40-years-old before they had their first child. Motherhood and a Hollywood career didn't really seem to go together. But today, young Hollywood women seem to have decided that they can have it all - a successful career and a family.
While Demi Moore can probably be credited with changing the way we look at pregnant women with her sexy 2006 Harper's Bazaar cover, I think it was Reese Witherspoon who proved that motherhood need not hinder a Hollywood career. When her career was just beginning to heat up, she married and became a mother at the age of 23. She then went on to win an Oscar for her performance in Walk the Line.
"I think it's pro feminist," said E! online gossip columnist Ted Casablanca. "It's all about choice. It's taking the old mold and breaking it. It's saying, 'I will not be defined by my womb.' It's saying, 'I can have a dynamic career and be a dynamic mom at the same time,' rather than saying, 'I have to choose between the two.'"
Since then, more and more women in Hollywood are becoming mothers while still in their 20's. In the case of 26-year-old Christina Aguilera, being pregnant has actually helped her image. The former 'dirty' girl is now the angelic mother-to-be and her bad press has all but disappeared. But others, like newly pregnant 26-year-old Jessica Alba, don't need the image boost that seems to follow a pregnancy announcement. Will she still be considered sexy when she's a mother?
Village Voice gossip columnist Michael Musto thinks so. "The public has gone beyond the Madonna-whore syndrome, where once somebody has given birth, they're not considered sexy anymore," he says. "People are now more willing to embrace the idea of literally a hot mama. And that's what I think she'll be."
Who's the sexiest celebrity mom?
While Demi Moore can probably be credited with changing the way we look at pregnant women with her sexy 2006 Harper's Bazaar cover, I think it was Reese Witherspoon who proved that motherhood need not hinder a Hollywood career. When her career was just beginning to heat up, she married and became a mother at the age of 23. She then went on to win an Oscar for her performance in Walk the Line.
"I think it's pro feminist," said E! online gossip columnist Ted Casablanca. "It's all about choice. It's taking the old mold and breaking it. It's saying, 'I will not be defined by my womb.' It's saying, 'I can have a dynamic career and be a dynamic mom at the same time,' rather than saying, 'I have to choose between the two.'"
Since then, more and more women in Hollywood are becoming mothers while still in their 20's. In the case of 26-year-old Christina Aguilera, being pregnant has actually helped her image. The former 'dirty' girl is now the angelic mother-to-be and her bad press has all but disappeared. But others, like newly pregnant 26-year-old Jessica Alba, don't need the image boost that seems to follow a pregnancy announcement. Will she still be considered sexy when she's a mother?
Village Voice gossip columnist Michael Musto thinks so. "The public has gone beyond the Madonna-whore syndrome, where once somebody has given birth, they're not considered sexy anymore," he says. "People are now more willing to embrace the idea of literally a hot mama. And that's what I think she'll be."
Who's the sexiest celebrity mom?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Spittiekittie 12-14-2007 @ 3:02PM
Wasn't Demi Moore's cover that of Vanity Fair in 1992? I'm pretty sure it was Britney Spears on Harper's Bazaar in 2006. Just fact checking..
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Bill Doyle 12-15-2007 @ 3:56PM
When it comes to Hollywood and the latest group of sluts and what they do to have a litter of pups out of wedlock should not suprise anyone. Having naked pictures of them pregnant with someones pup is not news nor is it apparently shocking any longer. They live in an absurd world of their own and when some other beauty queen lays down on the producers couch for a successful audition the pregnant ones become history and the new ones move into the homes in Malibu when the previous slut can no longer afford it.
Kate 12-15-2007 @ 6:48PM
The only problem with this whole feminist thing is...they have enough money to hire nannies on top of nannies...so of COURSE they can shoot a movie, do a tour, whatever. The rest of us have to figure out how to pay for daycare on our $10/hour jobs.
It's a bad example for young women who don't think through the consequences or understand the real hardships of having children when you're middle class.
Leana Jo 12-14-2007 @ 3:50PM
Yeah, that's all and good, but wait til the baby comes and they have the 20-40lbs. weight gain leftover and stretch marks...YUCK!! You think their hubbies and/or boyfriends will stay then? I think not...
Look how many broke up after having their kids...Have you seen Salma Hayek lately!? She now looks like a blimp now!! How about Katie Holmes? she's lost her looks too. She looks old now, after having Suri....
It's not all that sexy...Just my 2 cents..
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Lio 12-14-2007 @ 3:53PM
OH MY GOD, WHY IS SHE ORANGE????
Either she eats too many tomatoes and carrots, or she needs to stop using fake tanner altogether.
I mean, honestly. It looks completely unattractive.
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daisy 12-14-2007 @ 4:08PM
As a relatively new mom, I am thrilled over this new trend. I am very happy that younger women have some role models that are "cool". ..that it is not an old poopy thing to embrace family values. To me family values are loving your partner, and family..not hating gays or spreading hate toward non-conventional families. It is also great to see women have babies that are still "sexy".
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keren 12-14-2007 @ 4:13PM
Mother hood has been devalued by making it seem that it isn't good enough to be a mom, you have to have it all. No one has it all.....I had 5 kids in my 20's and it was a sacrifice, one I made willingly because my priority was the kid, NOT me. Now I have it all, I'm in my late 40's and all the kids are out of the house. Now I'm doing what I can without interruption, and without sacrificing my kids.
All these celebrities working and raising kids over 40, who are they kidding, THey have nannies, maids and they aren't raising their own kids. And who says having kids at 40 is better? Just because a celebrity is doing it?
Real moms take care of their own kids. And in the old days, when an older mom had kids over 40, it wasn't the first child, and it wasn't because the career came first.
The next generation of kids born to older moms will be telling. A whole generation growing up visiting parents and grandparents in the cemetery. No family support system. It's downright selfish.
Already girls are realizing that having kids older is not the ideal. Risking your health and taking fertility drugs that the medical community can't guarantee will have no ill effects on the babies in the future. Helloooooo Thalidimide??? remember.
All these learning disabilities.....I see the link between old eggs and old sperm. Babies that look perfect at birth, but are all not perfect by the time they are school age.
Grow up America. Have babies when you are your most fabulous,,,,,when you are in your 20's. Just because you think you look young on the outside at 40, on the inside, you are OLD. Plastic surgery can't stop organs and bodies from aging.
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jenna 12-15-2007 @ 6:38PM
Keren....I find your comments on a women having a child/children in their 40's is utterly rude and insensitive. So, therefore, women in this age bracket should then be sterilized?!? Who made you God??!!!
As a medical professional, I find your kind to be one that poisons our society with uneducated, hurtful, and ridiculous ideations.
I think you should be one to be sterilized.....The world would be better off without anymore like you that shuns women in their 40's from bringing life into this world.
F7&% off.
Ron 12-15-2007 @ 3:09PM
I agree with you---'you' want kids raise them yourself.
Jeanette 12-15-2007 @ 5:15PM
Isn't it funny when someone has that many kids so early in life, at a time when someone should be having fun not being tied down with diapers, the mother ALWAYS implies that it was want she wanted?
Please. What woman in here 20's would give up her freedom to raise FIVE children?
Glad that you have owned up to your mistakes and with half your life already gone, are able to enjoy your freedom.
BillyBob 12-15-2007 @ 5:21PM
Gee, Keren....Bitter much? Who are you to tell other women to have kids?
Being bitter is an ugly thing
mimisplash 12-16-2007 @ 12:44AM
keren- you need to take a chill pill and get in touch with reality. my mother waited unitl she was 40 and used fertitlity drugs to have me, her FIRST and ONLY child and i turned out just fine.
Better than fine in fact, I graduated at the top of my high school class, at one of the top high schools IN THE NATION, i was i member of both Who's Who Of America's High School Students AND the National Society Of High School Scholars. I was also accepted early into America's leading small research university, san diego state, into their honors program and recieved a $20,000 academic scholarship that is only offered to the top 12 students in each class.
her decision had absolutely nothing to do with celebrities and i happen to have an amazing support system, while also never having had to attend the funeral of a single family member.
she also picked me up from school, made my breakfast lunch and dinner EVERY SINGLE DAY, all while working a full-time job, she is my best friend AND my hero, i wouldn't be where i am today if it weren't for her.
having children later in life does NOT mean that they will automatically have a learning disability, one big reason that there is a highr number of disabilities is because they are being more acurately diagnosed, not necessarily that they are occuring more.
and just because women in their 20s are in their PHYSICAL prime does not garauntee that they are capable of having a family. they very well may still be too emotionally and financially immature to provide all of the necessary time and devotion that go along with raising a child.
so keren, before you go around making ageist and prejudiced comments, you might want to use your brain, it's there for a reason you know.
Leana 12-14-2007 @ 4:16PM
Well, good for you, but not EVERYONE is like that...Some get bigger and never lose the weight. Some look worst (like Katie Holmes, she looks 50 already!) after kids...
Nothing wrong having kids. I have 1 and I look good, but I'll never see 120lbs again (I'm 130, 34C-26-37, size 7). I used to be 115-120, 36C-23-35, size 3...So, I never got it back...
Not everyone does, babe. You just got lucky, hon...
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rick 12-14-2007 @ 5:05PM
never cared for the anorexic crack whore look of a "supermodel" myself. (example, tyra banks is much better looking now) celebs having kids while their young, at least they can pay for the childs health care. besides, real women dont have the figure of a 12 year old boy with breast implants!
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Vivi 12-14-2007 @ 7:36PM
Don't you think all these babies are overpopulating the world? We need to think more of the planet we live on rather than "Let's see if I can outdo her and have another baby".
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just wonderin 12-15-2007 @ 3:30PM
Must we be at war with our bodies about everything. One person makes it seem like women are ugly freaks post baby. Unrealitic expectations post birth by other women and some men are the problem...not the mothers. Knocking Hayek and Holmes solves nothing. Holmes has changed her whole look and has also ran a marathon. She and Tom seem to like how she looks. Hayek just gave birth...would you prefer she starves herself so you can say she looks good to you! Maybe she is okay with how she looks! And the post about overpopulating the world...each person makes a decision on adoption. That is a personal decision that no one can make for you. I wouldn't dare tell another person on such a personal decision what they should do. But I would be more willing to listen to you on the matter if YOU have already adopted a child or two. Have you?
It upsets me how women feel the need to hate theirselves, their bodies, their choices in life. We need to love ourselves more and pass the love on to other women and torpedo all those unrealistic images of ourselves. A size 0 is not a relistic image. A mature body is beautiful also!
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cheguevx 12-15-2007 @ 5:08PM
Interesting group of women we get to choose from.
where are the other choices like Halle Berry, Jennifer Lopez, Salma Hayek?
Beauty comes in more shapes and sizes than the ones that are offered to us on this narrow minded list!
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allison 12-15-2007 @ 6:03PM
i think sandy maple the writter of this article has her facts wrong,demi moore does not have a baby.#1 was right on it when she said 1992 i think that is more like the year demi did her pregnancy add.these woman look great pregnant.i don't even see woman as sexy when they arent pregnant lol..
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chase 12-15-2007 @ 7:22PM
Karen....wow, so sad to see someone so bitter. Speaking for someone who IS in their 20's, I am enjoying my youth. I have NO desire to be tied down with children at this age. As I grow older...such as my 40's, more mature, more secure financially....then I look forward to having children and being able to offer them FAR more than I can currently! So sorry you are so bitter. Perhaps if you had celebrated your youth...instead of staying knocked up the entire time....you might be a nicer person today! cheers!
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L 12-15-2007 @ 7:24PM
REAL mothers do in fact raise their own kids. Celebrity moms can ONLY do what they do BECAUSE they have STAFF to take care of their children while they have their Hollywood careers.
Feminism is great, but this is just more of the same..."ladies, you can have it all". The reality is that it's damn tough to "have it all" without some heavy sacrifices being made. I wouldn't trade raising my son for anything...even my former high-powered career...and I firmly believe that he's much better off being raised by HIS OWN MOTHER instead of an army of staff.
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