Jewish World Review August 29, 2006 / 5 Elul, 5766

A Star is Born

By Pat Sajak

http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | If you've been reading the celebrity magazines and watching the showbiz reports on TV, you know there's been an epidemic of celebrity reproductions. I'm not talking about artwork; I'm talking about babies. For whatever reason, many of our pop culture icons have decided to bring new lives into the world. Only time will tell whether the world is better off with these additions, but what fascinates me is the tone of the coverage. It's breathless! It's excited! It's awestruck! After all, these aren't just everyday people having babies; these are celebrities.

And guess what? It turns out they really like being mothers and fathers. Their quotes on the joys of parenthood are featured in extensive cover stories and TV interviews. These folks are not just beautiful and rich and famous, they are now complete. They now have everything.

It's nice to have kids, I suppose, if you're a stay-at-home mom, or if you work in a blue-collar job, or if you're a doctor or lawyer, but it's just not the same as being a celebrity parent. Here you were all caught up in the glamour of show business, flitting from party to party, attending premiers, and being pampered and spoiled, and then you discover the emptiness of it all when the miracle of childbirth transforms you into a loving, caring parent. And your celebrity status allows you to speak to everyone else about the beauty and wonder of it all. It's enough to bring tears to Mary Hart's eyes.

And, of course, the fact that these are famous people allows them to give advice to their fans about parenthood. After all, nothing makes you an expert on everything quicker than having a hit record or a big movie career or a TV series. Should you allow your nanny to ride on your private plane? Should you breast feed on the movie set? Should you dangle your baby outside a hotel window for photographers to see? These are the pressing questions facing a whole new generation of celebrity parents.

Never mind that that the simplest one-celled organism is able to reproduce. The point is you'll never see a newly-divided amoeba on the cover of People magazine.