Celebrities + Adoption
Ok, I’m going for a record number of posts today, but I was just listening to the radio and something got my panties all in a bunch. They were talking about Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey being on Oprah tomorrow. And the radio personality said “maybe they’ll talk about their new baby…the one they might adopt.” Why does she want to adopt? She is 24 years old. Why not have a child naturally and watch your belly grow with the beginning of a new life inside of your own body? Is it just me?
Have you noticed all of the celebrities that have adopted children? What’s the deal? These are perfectly healthy women. Are they trying to avoid stretch marks and saggy boobs? Are they worried about finding roles when they are pregnant? Or not being able to break down the choreography with a belly? Or not working for nine months? Or taking too long to get back in to their pre-pregnancy body? What is it? Do they think they need to be the world’s saviors and adopt? I might believe that one if the celebrities adopted children with birth defects or other issues that make it hard for them to find loving parents. Some celebs have adopted otherwise ‘unadoptable’ children, but that’s not the norm. Most of these celebrities are adopting perfectly healthy babies…not toddlers or school children, but babies. So what’s the real reason behind this fad? I want to know!
Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise adopted both of their children. Angelina Jolie adopted her son. I guess I don’t know there business. They look like very healthy people, but maybe they have some fertility issues. And if they do, then I feel for them. I certainly know what that desire for a child feels like. But, God knows I never had any trouble conceiving a child. I can only imagine from things I’ve read or heard. I’m sure having that desire and feeling the void when it just doesn’t happen for you is a horrible, horrible feeling. A lot of women grow up with the goal of motherhood and when it doesn’t happen for you it has to be devastating.
But then I have to wonder, do those average Joe’s and Jane’s (you know the ones who get up every morning and go to an 8 to 5 job and struggle to pay the mortgage on a three bedroom home, let alone a mansion)…do they feel a bit of bitterness towards these healthy celebrities who have no problem adopting a baby? Rosie O’Donnell had no problem adopting any of her children. And she did admit that having money made it easier for her to find children to adopt. What about people who desperately want a child and don’t have the luxury of working ovaries or strong sperm? Or the money that comes with their own talk show or blockbuster movies? Is it really that easy for a single woman to adopt? Let alone a homosexual single woman? If she didn’t have money or if her name wasn’t on millions of TVs each week, would Rosie have gotten those children as easily as she did? I don’t know. Maybe she would have. But I doubt it. I suspect adoption for us nobodies is a considerably different experience then a celebrity adoption.
Now don’t get me wrong. I am absolutely not against adoption. I think there are a lot of children out there looking for good homes and loving, devoted parents. If I had the money and time to devote to another child, I would adopt a special needs child in a heart beat. I just wonder what motivates these celebrities to adopt. I hope they have nothing but the best intentions. I hope they don’t value their jobs or their bodies more then the experience of childbirth and childhood. I wonder, if they are so concerned with their bodies or their jobs, do they still have time to worry about the welfare of a child? Going through nine months of pregnancy is an amazing experience. It’s a great opportunity to begin the bonding process with your child. It can be awesome for men too. Men often talk about how much admiration they have for their wives after watching them give birth.
I’m not saying that a celebrity adoption should be crime or anything. If they want to adopt and they are sincere about it, then I give them a big “woof woof” [with my arm in the air all Pretty Woman style]. I just worry that it’s more of an “in” thing or something they are doing because they are too worried about the effects a pregnancy could have on their careers. And if that’s the case, I think these celebrities are really missing out. And they are doing a great disservice to those children.
