I don't usually post about celebrities because most of them are morons, but I couldn't help but be struck by how...well, stupid Gwyneth Paltrow is. It almost boggles the mind how entitled and pretentious she is. Last week she announced a "conscious uncoupling" from her husband of a decade ("Free at last!", huh Chris Martin?), rather than just calling it what it actually is - a separation that will likely be followed up by a divorce. It was almost as if she didn't want to use those words because in her mind divorce equals failure, but that doesn't have to be the case. If you truly did work at it and you're simply not compatible anymore, then it is what it is and it's best to move on. Nothing embarrassing or wrong with that. Of course, she'd already annoyed most of the population in prior years with her ridiculously expensive website, cookbooks and every now and then blog posts that seemed to piss people off just because she wrote them. At the same time, she tried to appeal to us common folk by talking about being a working mom, just like anyone else. But this week, the "ordinary" working mom outraged every other working mom on the planet by claiming those who work nine to fives have it "so much easier" than her. According to GP, who has never held down a nine to five in her life and has never needed to really work for anything in life thanks to famous parents, her life as a working mom is soooo much more difficult because sometimes she has to work fourteen hour days in exotic locations that take her away from her kids. Thus, the common folk have it easier because they all (apparently) have regular nine to fives and don't work long hours and can be with their kids in the mornings and the evenings. Huh.
As the son of a working mother, and now a working parent myself, I have a couple few things to say about GP's assessment. First of all, I saw how hard my mom worked when we were kids and I know how lucky we were that she did because we had a fantastic childhood. And I now know exactly what she had to go through in order to make our childhood so great. I don't have a typical nine to five, which has it's upside but also can have drawbacks on occasion. I often work more than an eight hour day, and I will be traveling a lot the next six months. My work life has changed dramatically over the past year, as I used to work mostly from home. There were fewer challenges in raising a toddler back then because I was more readily available and made my own schedule. That was easy-ish (as easy-ish as raising a kid can be, anyway). But most people do not have that privilege. Most people do have to go out and work a set schedule that entails getting up with the sun and not getting home until the sun has gone down. How on earth does someone say that kind of schedule, one in which many people don't get to spend much time during the week with their children, is "easier" than one where they get paid millions of dollars to do what they love and jet off to exotic locations to do it? She makes more in one day on a movie set than most people make in a lifetime. Not to mention, she gets to choose when she will even sign on to work on a film or a TV show, she's not tied to a job she hates indefinitely, and she doesn't have to cling to that job because she needs it to pay the bills. She has endorsements and many other forms of income, she doesn't have to work at all. I assume the only reason she does is because she loves the work and if that's the case, quit bitching about being able to do something you love for a living. So you're away from your kids for a few weeks here or there and you work long hours. As long as you're a wonderful parent in the time you do spend with them, and as long as the time with them outweighs the time away from them, all should be well. I absolutely love my job, including the travel. I know the next six months will be full of looooong days and time away from Miss N, but I also realize how fortunate I am for the opportunities I have. I love the work too and a caveat of that is sometimes it will take me away from home. But Miss N can come with me on occasion. And I never do anything that keeps me away from her for too long. If given the choice, I'm sure many would trade places with an actress who makes a million dollars for just showing up rather than working behind a desk for eight or ten or twelve hours for minimum wage or less. That right there tells you who has it "easier".
I've never had much of an opinion on GP. I haven't seen many of her movies and I don't typically read anything about her. But she's always come off as having absolutely no personality at all. There's no real emotion from her about anything, she's just...there. And I really can't respect anyone who named their child after a fruit anyway. You'd think growing up amidst all that money and privilege would have allowed her to buy herself a personality at some point. She acts like she's the first actress to balance work and kids, or the first person to create a life and home website. I genuinely think she believes we're all able to go out and spend a hundred bucks on fancy ingredients to cook the same meals as her, or splurge on $500 clothing from her online store. I feel like when you come from that fortunate of a background, you should realize how lucky you are and have a deeper understanding of those less fortunate. Look at Angelina Jolie, who uses her fame to help people and balances six kids, humanitarian efforts and work just fine. She grew up in the same sort of privilege as GP, yet made an effort to see the struggles of those less fortunate and actively tries to help them. Quite the contrast.
