Childfree Celebrity-Good for You, Good for Me

Normally, celebrity gossip has no interest for me and neither does George Clooney (never got what other people raved on about with him). He is recently married for the second time; he is 53 and his new wife is 32. They are both successful, accomplished individuals in their chosen professions. He once declared he wouldn't marry again and had no interest in having kids. That said, it has prompted me to wonder; how would the Childfree by Choice community respond if he changed his mind about having children, as he just has about getting married again?

If Clooney had children after he previously and publicly declared his Childfree status, he wouldn't be the first, and he wouldn't be the last. As a society we take a great interest in the celebrities who declare they are Childfree by Choice. We've raised Cameron Diaz up and made her a sort of spokesperson for the Childfree by Choice community as well (I don't get that either). That boggles my mind because for some reason, our own voices don't seem to be good enough for our own community. We want it wrapped up in a pretty package, put on a pedestal and lit with a perfect spotlight to give us more legitimacy....but why?

It's as if the Childfree by Choice community is still looking for permission to be who we are without having a big brother or big sister to shield us from criticism. After all...if you love George, then you can't have a problem with his status as Childfree by Choice, right? Or maybe it is still a sexist world and there continue to be double standards for celebrities? Yes, there are.... Just ask Jennifer Aniston whether or not the press is reporting her as pregnant or not this week. Or better yet...don't...

Many of us are living vicariously through the lives of our favorite celebrities. If we like a TV show, movie, performer, musician etc....we take on their lives and develop a personal attachment to them.Their successes and failures become part of our daily lives and so we have emotional feelings about them as we do about people we feel we really know. Their lives often mark milestones in our own lives and so they become important characters in our own stories. I understand that part.

I've always had my boundaries set: I like your work, but I have my own opinions and can speak for myself.  Not many others feel the same way. Many are more than happy to think that the rest of the world approves of you as they do your favorite actor. On the subject of being Childfree, we use their quotes as a battle cry to get attention and acceptance in our own very different corner of the world. Funny how it often doesn't work that way...

Entertainers are just people....incredibly fallible...and just as capable of screwing up or changing their minds as you are. But what happens when the Childfree community raises these entertainers up as the role models for being Childfree? What happens when some change their minds...and decide that they really DO want kids? Where does that leave US? Well, right back where we started, my dears...living our own lives, by our own rules, and for our own reasons....without TMZ or a red carpet...

See....entertainers are there to....ENTERTAIN. Not to be the spokesperson for how we live our lives. WE determine the course of what we do. It's one thing to admire a person. There are many entertainers who have said or done things that resonate with me for one reason or another. But I'm not going to use them as the measuring stick by which I create my own life. Hollywood is far to pro-baby for me as it has always been. I enjoy a performance by Angelina Jolie, but I'll be damned if I'm gonna go out and try to adopt a tribe of babies from around the world so my life can be like hers.
Cause you know what? It wouldn't be....it would be MY life.... My life does not have paparazzi, nannies, designer clothing, paid travel around the world, etc.

MY life is very different and that makes me VERY happy. If a celebrity declares that they are having babies or not having babies.....good for THEM. I declare, as I have for most of my life, that I am NOT having babies....EVER. Whatever declaration you make....without the attention of the world, it needs to be the right one for you when NO ONE is watching. If you declare that you are never going to have babies or raise human children and that decision is truly what you want then all I can say is...

MY life is my choice...and your life is YOUR choice. Good for YOU....and good for ME...