From grocery store tabloids to surprise camera flashes, being in the spotlight certainly seems to be a tricky thing to handle–especially when it comes to raising children. When celebrities start a family, they are faced with the decision to let their children live semi-normal lives or to throw them into the spotlight.
Take The Kardashians–the children lead very public lives, from reality television to constantly getting posted on social media. On the other hand, celebrity mothers Halle Berry and Jennifer Garner have fought for stricter paparazzi laws to protect the rights of children and keep them out of the public eye.
In 2013, Berry and Garner testified in support of a bill that would protect children from being harassed by the paparazzi.
“These are little innocent children who didn’t ask to be celebrities. They didn’t ask to be thrown into this game, and they don’t have the wherewithal to process what’s happening,” Berry told a panel of California legislators.
This can be a privacy issue, as well as a safety issue. In 2017, George Clooney stated that photographers scaled his fence, climbed a tree and took photos of his infants inside his home.
Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds have also been very outspoken on the matter. Not only have they fought to protect the privacy of their own children–Lively has also been an activist for protecting the rights of all children through her work with Child Rescue Coalition. Over the past couple of years, she has been working with the organization to help track and arrest child predators. She is very passionate about this issue, and the research that she has done surrounding the sexual exploitation of children while working with the organization has led her to keep her children out of the public eye.
When Lively and Reynolds’ daughters were photographed without consent in 2018, Lively’s spokesperson told Page Six, “The photos were taken by a man hiding outside of a private party, which is disturbing on many levels. We appreciate all magazines, websites and publications who are standing by protecting the privacy of children and vowing to cut off the supply chain to help end the stalking of children.”
Lively’s activism shows that this issue stems deeper than just letting celebrities’ children live normal lives. The stalking of children is a lot more prevalent than many people think, and publicizing their whereabouts can put them in danger.
However, it is not just the paparazzi exploiting celebrities’ children. Some celebrity parents are even creating social media profiles for their children before they are born. “The Bachelor” couple, Arie and Lauren Luyendyk, created an Instagram page for their unborn child, which is now verified and has over 322,000 followers.
It is important for celebrities to consider the troubles that can occur in the future before they decide if they would like to publicize their children’s lives. Morally, is it right to give children fame without letting them have a say in the decision, especially if it can put them in danger?
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Edited by Sydney Keener