July 3rd / 5th, 2009
"Celeb Parents as Child Abusers"
With the passing of Michael Jackson last week, we are reminded of his
alleged pedophilia. There were stories of how he slept with young boys at his
Neverland Ranch, and it is a fact that he paid the parents of one boy $20
million dollars to drop a civil suit. But we also remember Jackson as the man
who dangled his newborn baby over a balcony just to appease the paparazzi.
Sadly, the late Mr. Jackson was not alone in his dubious parenting skills.
Today, our nation is replete with high-profile moms and dads who will do
or say anything to stay in the public eye, and that includes using their
kids toward that end. And though no physical harm is brought to the children
of these fame-seeking celebs, using offspring in that manner is still a form
of child abuse.
This new breed of publicity-hungry actors, politicians, and musicians is
particularly obnoxious because first they trot out their kids for whatever
purpose, then they protest that the media is being intrusive. It’s enough to
make you want to strangle these folks, but, then, that would constitute
celebrity abuse.
Anyway, celebrity parents were not always so inclined to leverage their
children for fame. Just the opposite. In the good old days, famous people
kept their children away from the spotlight, perhaps as a backlash to the
Lindbergh baby kidnapping which dominated the news. Years later, following the
assassination of John Kennedy, celebrity moms and dads were served up a real
model of parenting decorum in the slain president’s widow Jackie. She
shielded her son and daughter from the glare and scrutiny of media hounds until
they were adults, and able to fend for themselves. Many film and TV stars
followed Jackie’s example, and were careful about how they exposed their
kids to the limelight. Variety show hosts like Dean Martin, Andy Williams,
and Bing Crosby would always showcase their family members during a holiday
TV special, but hardly any other time of the year. Not so today.
Lindsay Lohan’s mom just couldn’t stand being upstaged by her famous
daughter, so she masterminded a reality show that exposed her youngest child to
the same intrusive scrutiny that had ultimately been so destructive for
Lindsay.
Denise Richards, an idiot of major proportions, decided to turn the
cameras on her children too. It wasn’t enough that she had put them through a
high-profile divorce, she also decided to have their every move documented.
And speaking of divorce, how about those stalwarts of good parenting, Jon
and Kate? After putting her kids on display for all to see, Kate explained
to CNN last week that in divorcing Jon, she just, “wanted what’s best for
the children”. Hey airhead, what’s best for the kids is not having to live
out their lives on TV!
Elizabeth Edwards also caught my ire for having made similar statements.
First she said that she wanted to shield the children from having to deal
with John’s indiscretions, then she went on an extended press tour to tell
the world everything about her family’s problems. Thanks for shielding the
kids, Liz.
Then there’s former GOP VP candidate Sarah Palin. From the minute she
was tapped by John McCain, Palin toted her kids around like Hollywood props,
and that includes her Down syndrome baby. The latter was put on display to
quell rumors that he was not the illegitimate child of Bristol. But then
guess what? Palin also fabricated an engagement between Bristol and her
supposed fiancé just so conservative voters wouldn’t be offended by the
implied premarital sex thing. It was all moot because there never was going to
be a wedding, and Bristol ended up having a kid out of wedlock anyway. But
I was particularly offended when Governor Palin, after having used her
kids to advance her family values campaign, suddenly turned on the media.
Journalists were justifiably critical of Palin for preaching abstinence to the
rest of us, when she couldn’t advance the technique in her own clan. Palin
then reacted by blasting the media for covering her family.
Hey Governor, you can’t have it both ways. Then, for damage control,
Sarah sent Bristol on a cross-country sex ed tour in which she reversed her
earlier criticism of abstinence, and started touting the virtues of virginity.
Finally, I’m not sure what to make of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. On the
one hand they seem genuinely concerned for the human condition in
depressed nations, but, on the other hand, these extremely private people love to
show off their latest infant acquisition. I applaud them for giving a good
home to a brood of kids, but it would have been nice if they had just kept
their family additions private.
In any event, I still contend that putting your children in the public eye
just to advance your own career is a form of child abuse. Certainly it is
not as harmful as physical or sexual abuse, but who knows the lasting
effect it may have on the kids emotionally.
The late Michael Jackson’s baby-dangling incident should have been a
wake-up call for all of us, but it wasn’t. Publicity hounds like Palin, Lohan,
and Richards just keep dangling their kids in front of us, and we keep
watching TMZ, Access Hollywood, and the Nightly News to see who gets dropped.
Shame on the celebrity parents. Shame on the media. And, shame on us for
being voyeurs with nothing better to do than spy on other people’s kids.
Where’s Jackie O when you need her?
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