Tag: parenthood

Categories
Colin Farrell Margot Robbie Parenthood

Margot Robbie calls motherhood ‘the best’ but says it’s probably boring to hear about

margot-robbie-calls-motherhood-‘the-best’-but-says-it’s-probably-boring-to-hear-about

Embed from Getty Images


Margot Robbie and Tom Ackerley welcomed their first child, a boy, last October. Thanks to Barbie, Margot had an epic 2023, but her pregnancy and birth flew pretty much under the radar. In fact, we only got confirmation that Baby Robbie-Ackerley had arrived weeks after the fact, because Tom was papped buying cigars and diapers. Since then, Margot has laid pretty low. Her production company, LuckyChap, opened a new 5,000-square-foot office in Los Angeles earlier this year, so she did an Architectural Digest tour.

Margot’s first post-Barbie movie is coming to theaters on September 19. A Big Bold Beautiful Journey is a romantic fantasy film with Colin Farrell playing the male lead. Last week, Margot and Colin did a photo call and press junket in Beverly Hills. Entertainment Tonight asked them how parenthood has enriched their lives. Colin gave a lengthy answer about how much his kids mean to him and what they’ve taught him. Margot responded by calling it “the best” but “boring” for non-parents to have to hear about.

In a new interview with Entertainment Tonight, published Wednesday, Aug. 20, the actress and producer — who welcomed her son with husband Tom Ackerley on Oct. 17 2024 — described motherhood as “the best.”

“It’s funny, you try to explain to someone who has kids, you don’t need to because they get it,” she told the outlet. “And if they don’t, it’s probably just really boring to hear.”

“It’s the best,” she said.

A source confirmed to PEOPLE in November that Robbie, 35, and Ackerley, 35, had welcomed their boy, whose name has not been revealed.

[From People]

I watched the interview. Colin handled the question well, but you could see that Margot really didn’t want to answer it. I don’t blame her! We don’t even know her son’s name yet, although he did make an off-screen appearance when you could hear him crying in the background of their Access Hollywood interview. From a non-privacy standpoint, I also understand her answer. We all love talking about our kids (myself included; thank y’all for caring about the peas lol), but sometimes, the question is merely a formality, and the person asking it doesn’t want to hear anything beyond, ”We’re all doing great, thank you!” I bet she’ll give a one-sentence answer the next time she’s asked and then put the questions behind her. Something like, “It’s great! He’s such a good sleeper!”

Anyway, during the photo call, Margot wore a black Stella McCarthy mini-dress with a corset top and minimal makeup. While I’m not a huge fan of the dress style, she looked absolutely amazing in general. I have missed Margot’s red carpet lewks, and I hope she brings on the whimsical romantic outfits for this press tour. Give us some lovely shades of pinks, yellows, and purples.

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

photos credit Getty and via Instagram and YouTube

Categories
chris pratt Katherine Schwarzenegger Parenthood

Katherine Schwarzenegger has a step-parenting coach: ‘It’s been incredibly helpful for me’

katherine-schwarzenegger-has-a-step-parenting-coach:-‘it’s-been-incredibly-helpful-for-me’




Katherine Schwarzenegger and Chris Pratt have three kids together. They have two daughters, Lyla, four, and Eloise, three, and a son, Ford, eight months. Chris also has a son, Jack, 12, from his first marriage to Anna Faris. Katherine’s whole vibe is elite trad wife. She loves eating off the children’s menu in restaurants, yearns for the day when the Met Gala was “chic and classy,” and talks a lot about motherhood. Over the years, Chris has never missed an opportunity to gush over how great a mom he thinks she is, which has raised a lot of eyebrows about Chris and Katherine’s relationship with Jack.

Katherine and Chris recently appeared on the Parenting & You with Dr. Shefali podcast. During their interview, they talked about her step-parenting journey. In order to prepare for life as a step-mother, Katherine hired a coach after she and Chris got engaged to help her understand her “role” and “responsibilities” as a step-mother.

Katherine Schwarzenegger is opening up about her journey to becoming a step-parent ― and how a step-parent coach has helped her along the way. The 35-year-old, who has three children with her husband, actor Chris Pratt, is also a step-parent to Pratt’s son, Jack. Pratt shares 12-year-old Jack with his ex-wife, Anna Faris.

Schwarzenegger said during a joint podcast appearance with Pratt that she would recommend a step-parenting coach or therapist to anyone with a blended family, as she retained one “right when we got engaged” and found it “essential.”

“It’s been incredibly helpful for me and also just understanding my role as a step-parent,” the author said during an appearance on the “Parenting & You with Dr. Shefali” podcast, released on Tuesday.

“Step-parenting ― like parenting ― has no, you know, handbook,” she said. “Because also I have the benefit of being in both roles, step-parenting is extra confusing because you aren’t a parent, you’re not a nanny, you’re not an assistant. You have responsibilities in all of those areas, but you’re not either of them. It’s a confusing thing to try to navigate where you fit in.”

While she shared that “every dynamic is obviously very different” within each family, she said that she, Pratt, Faris and Faris’ partner ― cinematographer Michael Barrett― all co-parent “very well” together.

“It works when everybody is willing to put in the work,” Schwarzenegger said.

Pratt added that being in the position of a step-parent is “a tough job” and you don’t always “end up getting the credit you deserve.”

“If a parent is in there doing the hard work ― in the paint ― of creating structure for a child and holding children accountable, and it’s not a biological child, it can feel thankless. But it’s a really, really important job.”

[From HuffPo]

Looking past the extreme privilege of being able to hire a “step-parenting coach,” I can understand Katherine’s logic here. She cares about getting along with Jack, which is nice. I’m not a step-parent but I’ve definitely had instances when my kids have had friends over who have misbehaved to the point of needing discipline. In the moment, I’ve been torn about what level of parenting is appropriate, and I’m not married to one of their parents, which adds a different level of complication.

That said, It feels like Chris is stepping in it again with his whole step-parents ”don’t end up getting the credit [they] deserve.” Is he alluding to something that went down behind the scenes that we don’t know about or is he just overpraising again? In general, parents don’t always get the credit that they deserve. It’s called parenting, and yeah, it sucks, but that’s part of what we sign up for. It’s about the child(ren), not you. I wonder if Chris, Katherine, and Anna had a conversation or even went to therapy together before their marriage to understand each party’s feelings and expectations. I bet communication between both sides helps Jack, too.

Embed from Getty Images

Photos credit: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon, Getty Images for Netflix, Getty

Categories
Freddie Prinze Jr Kids Parenthood sarah michelle gellar

Freddie Prinze Jr. & Sarah Michelle Gellar ‘feel like chauffeurs’ over the summer

freddie-prinze-jr.-&-sarah-michelle-gellar-‘feel-like-chauffeurs’-over-the-summer




Sarah Michelle Geller and Freddie Prinze Jr. have been together for 27 years and married for 22 years. They have two children, Charlotte, 15, and Rocky, 12. Sarah and Freddie are a low-key couple and hands-on parents. As we talked about the other day, summertime’s here, and that introduces a whole new set of challenges for parents. Sarah and Freddie are no different! Both of their kids have a lot going on this summer. Thanks to all of Charlotte and Rocky’s many activities and social engagements, the Prinze parents are currently feeling like they are in their Chauffeur Era.

Freddie Prinze Jr. and Sarah Michelle Gellar know exactly what their two kids are doing this summer, and it’s a “tough battle.” The couple, who married in 2002, share a daughter, Charlotte, 15, and a son, Rocky, 12. Both kids have hectic social schedules, particularly in the summer when school isn’t there to take up a portion of the day.

“You get a little unbalanced because a lot of kids’ friends are on vacation, or they go to camp at someplace else, or they’re busy with camp locally, so you are more present,” he tells PEOPLE of summer parenting. “They’re not running away from you as much. Like, ‘Dad, can you take me here? Can you take me there? Can I see this guy? Can I see that girl?’ We try to keep our kids pretty active. You’re definitely more necessary, and you might feel like a chauffeur, and that’s a normal feeling for a parent to go through, but you’re definitely more necessary in the summer.”

The key to it all, Prinze, 49, says, is patience, which he says is his wife’s parenting superpower.

“The practicing of patience in the face of teenage power is a tough battle. It’s like All Might versus whatever horrible villain he was facing in My Hero Academia, that level of difficulty,” Prinze says, referring to the popular anime series. “Patience, I think, is the ultimate power, and if you don’t have it, it’s a muscle you have to work out. So, definitely put the time in because it will help you win all the arguments.”

While Gellar, 48, is a natural at patience, it wasn’t something the I Know What You Did Last Summer actor mastered early on.

“I had to learn it more than I was born with it. Sarah was better with it initially,” he acknowledges. “Patience was something I learned and got better at over time, like anything else.”

One thing the Scooby-Doo star has always been good at, though, is cooking. As the chef of the house (who even has his own cookbook), he finds himself often cooking painstaking high-end meals for his kids.

“They have a lot of different requests, man. French onion soup is a big one. We make that from scratch,” he tells PEOPLE. “I got a creamless tomato soup that my mom taught me how to make back in the day that they really like, but these are all things that take a long ass time to cook. So, all their favorite stuff takes hours to make properly. They like when I make New Mexico green chili chicken enchiladas. I’m like, ‘Yo, that’s six hours over the stove. Are you kidding me right now?’ But that’s what they like, so that’s what they get.”

He admits that the children do enjoy a simple grilled cheese sandwich, but adds that they prefer to pair it “with the soup that takes me an hour.”

[From People]

Charlotte is 15 years old, which means she is almost old enough to get her driver’s license. It’s totally a rite of passage for parents to start to feel the toll of driving their kids everywhere in the year or so before their eldest can drive, right? I bet Sarah and Freddie are starting to feel that itch. My parents were very overprotective, and even they got to a point where they couldn’t wait for me to be able to drive myself to my various activities. My kids are still close enough in age that they are doing camps and meeting up with friends in the same locations. That will all change next summer, but I am enjoying how uncomplicated their activities schedules are this year.

Also, I somehow missed that Freddie is a master chef with his own cookbook! It’s pretty endearing that he’s so into cooking that he’s willing to spend that much time cooking for his family. I don’t love cooking, but I also don’t mind doing it. (Anything is tolerable if you can do it while listening to a good podcast!) My food love language is bread and cheese, so I would totally give his French onion soup and grilled cheese recipes a shot.

Embed from Getty Images

photos credit: Faye’s Vision/Cover Images, Getty and via Instagram

Categories
Hannah Waddingham Parenthood Parents

Hannah Waddingham: more people should talk about how exhausting motherhood is

hannah-waddingham:-more-people-should-talk-about-how-exhausting-motherhood-is




Hannah Waddingham has two movies out in theaters: Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning and the live action remake of Lilo & Stitch. She just got back from Cannes and she’s been busy! Mr. Rosie and I saw M:I-FR and Hannah’s role is small, but important. She does a fantastic job in it. The rest of the movie had some absolutely wild stunt scenes. I’ve seen the behind-the-scenes stuff with that final action sequence (IYKYK), and holy sh-t, Tom Cruise really does think that he cannot die.

Along with being an in-demand actress, Hannah is a single mother to a 10-year-old daughter. She recently sat down with The Sunday Times. They talk about filming Mission: Impossible, her fertility struggles and parenthood.

“Thank God she is the utter joy of my life because it is unyielding responsibility,” Waddingham, 50, told The Sunday Times of her 10-year-old daughter in an interview published on Saturday, June 7.

“I feel like more people should talk about how exhausting it is,” she added, chuckling. “Not only physically showing up for them but being the best version of yourself, because they respond to actions far more than words.”

Waddingham, who does not name her daughter publicly, told the outlet that she decided she wanted to have a child when she was single in her 30s — but that the path to parenthood was a difficult one.

“I was told I couldn’t have children and then I went down the eastern medicine route, had my body balanced out,” she explained. On her 40th birthday, after conceiving her daughter without any medical intervention, she took her baby girl home.

Later, Waddingham separated from her daughter’s father, Gianluca Cugnetto, an Italian businessman. At 50, she’s raising her daughter as a single mother, telling the outlet that after her daughter suffered a health scare when she was 3 she only picks jobs that work with and for her life as a single mom.

“[She’s] my greatest champion and my most horrific critic,” Waddingham said of her daughter, who is now also showing an interest in the entertainment business after starring in a school production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

[From Us Weekly]

”[Motherhood] is an unyielding responsibility. I feel like more people should talk about how exhausting it is.” Amen, sister. We moms work hard and carry so much weight – physical, emotional, mental, etc. There are also so many threats to their safety – in school or out with friends – that even on the good days, you’re worrying. Now that I am a parent, I often compare myself to my mother and grandmother. I think about how I react to things vs. how my mother did and wonder if I’m doing better. I knew motherhood was going to be exhausting, but I wasn’t prepared for how emotionally taxing it would be to also have to be the “best version” of myself when I feel anything but. There are definitely times when I find myself ducking into another room to take slow, deep breaths to not lose my temper. Some days, it feels like you’re all learning and growing together.

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

photos credit: Justin Ng/Avalon, Jimmy James/Avalon, Getty

Categories
Katherine Heigl Parenthood

Katherine Heigl just wants to be alone for the day on Mother’s Day

katherine-heigl-just-wants-to-be-alone-for-the-day-on-mother’s-day

Embed from Getty Images

A belated Happy Mother’s Day, y’all! Hope everyone had a nice day celebrating or being celebrated. My kids made me breakfast in bed and then we went out for a late lunch. The best part was the homemade cards, to which I endlessly thank their teachers for helping facilitate. Mother’s Days come in all shapes and sizes, though. A few years ago, when I was in the throes of toddler/preschooler life, all I wanted was a nice, quiet day to myself, so Mr. Rosie took the kids on their own little adventure and I went for a six-mile hike. To this day, I look back on it fondly.

This year, Katherine Heigl planned on having a quiet Mother’s Day. Katherine and her husband, Josh Kelley, have daughters Naleigh, 16, and Adalaide, 13, and son Joshua, eight. They’re based in Park City, Utah. In years past, they’ve also gone the brunch route, but this year, Katherine just isn’t feeling a big family day. During an interview with People, she told them that all she really wants for Mother’s Day this year is to brunch with her own mom and then spend the rest of the day alone.

Last [Mother’s Day], she says, the whole family went out to pricey brunch in Park City, Utah, near their home. “It was a per person price and the kids just ate watermelon and toast the whole time!” [Heigl] says. “I think they’re going to be amazing brunch buddies, but they’re not there yet. They’re not interested in doing that.”

Instead, she says, she’s planning to take her mother out to brunch. just the two of them. And then, she’s considering a little kid-free time: “Is it wrong to want to just maybe be alone for the day in my art studio, do my own thing?” she says with a laugh.

Heigl says she knows she doesn’t always get it right as a mom. “My most shameful moments as a parent are when I lose my temper,” she says. “And I recently did and had to apologize.” But her “prayer every night is that I am the right mother for each of my children and their individual needs,” and that means guiding and loving them, “so that when they get to be adults, they can go slay their own dragons.”

[From People]

Hey, I get it. Katherine has two teenage girls and she mentions earlier in the interview that they’re in their Arguing Sisters Era. I have two sisters. We were very loud and bickered a lot at that age. I’m sure my own mother probably wanted to spend the day by herself some years. Hell, maybe she did, and at the time, it seemed so reasonable that I didn’t think twice about it. It’s also tough when your kids aren’t into doing the things that you want to do, especially when it’s a holiday staple like brunch (my personal favorite meal). Even if Katherine didn’t have two teenagers, I do totally understand the need for some guaranteed ‘me’ time. My kids are at that age where they’re into doting on me, so I’m all in for the family time. Ask me again in five or six years, though, lol.

Embed from Getty Images

Categories
Animals Parenthood

Elephants form huddle around their calves during San Diego earthquake

elephants-form-huddle-around-their-calves-during-san-diego-earthquake




I was born and raised in San Francisco, so earthquake drills were a big part of growing up. Though I have no recollection of it, I was there for the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake — aka the “World Series earthquake” — that reached a whopping 6.9 magnitude. My parents later informed me that I howled like a possessed creature of the damned for the duration. They made a point of stressing that I wasn’t crying or scared; just baying, like a jackal at the moon. Anyway, my parents kept me safe then (despite whatever dark arts I was communicating through sound), and that’s just what the African elephants did Monday morning at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, when a 5.2-magnitude quake hit. On instinct, the herd of matriarchs immediately formed a protective huddle around their seven-year-old calves once the tremors began, facing outward to be alert for danger. Don’t worry, there’s a video.

A video shot of their enclosure at the park Monday morning shows the five African elephants standing around in the morning sun before the camera shakes and they run in different directions. Then the older elephants — Ndlula, Umngani, Khosi — scramble to encircle and shield the two 7-year-old calves Zuli and Mkhaya from any possible threats.

They remain huddled for several minutes as the older elephants look outward, appearing to be at the ready, their ears spread and flapping — even after the rocking stopped.

The quake was felt from San Diego to Los Angeles, 120 miles (193 kilometers) away. It sent boulders tumbling onto rural roads in San Diego County and knocked items off store shelves in the tiny mountain town of Julian near the epicenter but caused no injuries or major damage.

But it spooked the elephants.

Once in a circle, “they sort of freeze as they gather information about where the danger is,” said Mindy Albright, a curator of mammals at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.

Elephants are highly intelligent and social animals that have the ability to feel sound through their feet. When they perceive a threat, they often bunch together in an “alert circle,” typically with the young clustered in the center and the adults facing outward to defend the group.

In the video, one of the calves can be seen running for refuge between the adults, a group of matriarchs that all helped raise her. But the other calf, the only male, remained on the edge of the circle, wanting to show his courage and independence, Albright said. Meanwhile, the female elephant, Khosi, a teenager who helped raise him along with his biological mother, Ndlula, repeatedly tapped him on the back with her trunk, and even on the face, as if patting him to say, “Things are OK,” and “Stay back in the circle.”

…About an hour later when an aftershock hit, they briefly huddled again and then dispersed once they determined everyone was safe.

[From AP News]

Damn right this is what happens when the matriarchs are in charge! The response time is swift, the youngest and most vulnerable are safeguarded, and no one gets left behind. I don’t know why, but the part that’s really blowing my mind is where the protective pachyderms turn around in the circle, so butts are abutting. It’s amazing to me that they just know to do this! Speaking as someone who is always tasked with representing the office at building safety meetings, I’m mighty impressed. I can say from experience that humans, with all our supposed superior powers of speech, would not move so smoothly as those 3-ton mamas. And as for their fierce, innate drive to shield their young, need I remind you of Dumbo and his faithful Mother. If ever I feel the need for a deep sob, the “Baby Mine” scene gets me there in seconds. Let’s all strive to be more elephantine in our communities. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a couple videos to watch on repeat.

Photos of elephants are stock photos from Future Kiid and Anthony on Pexels. Videos via Instagram

Categories
kaley cuoco Parenthood Sleep

Kaley Cuoco calls daylight saving time ‘a direct assault on parents of young children’

kaley-cuoco-calls-daylight-saving-time-‘a-direct-assault-on-parents-of-young-children’




Back in my younger, pre-motherhood days, I loved that Sunday morning when daylight savings time ended. Of course, I hated how it got darker earlier, but I sure did love the excuse to get an extra hour of sleep. This all changed after my older son was born and I quickly learned that babies do not observe the time change. And thus, I joined the legions of parents who complained on social media about the travesty of it all.

Well, fellow moms, we can now add Kaley Cuoco to the club. Kaley welcomed her daughter Matilda in March 2023, so she is still right in the thick of it with a toddler. On Sunday morning, Kaley made a post on Instagram, sharing that she “finally understands” why parents of young children are always complaining on the first Sunday in November. She also reposted a video that joked about it being a “direct assault” on parents.

“I finally understand what parents were always bitching about regarding their kids and daylight savings time,” Cuoco wrote over a photo of herself. “Now I know. I get it. I see you. Why is the world doing this to us?”

In the light-hearted snap, the Based on a True Story star — who shares her daughter with fiancé Tom Pelphrey — gave the camera a playful glare as she partially covered her face with hair while clutching a coffee cup.

The Big Bang Theory alum later reposted a video about daylight saving times from Caitlin Murray’s Big Time Adulting Instagram page.

“What are we doing here with the changing of clocks?” Murray asked. “Why are we doing this? This is a direct assault on parents of young children. It’s a well-known fact that when you have young children, hours in the day are measured in dog years.”

She joked, “By 11 a.m., some of us would have already been awake with our children for 42 hours.”

Meanwhile, Cuoco also shared a video of Matilda appearing to be tired, but refusing to fall asleep.

“I wish she would admit she’s tired. Look at those yawns… Look at them! WHY ARE WE AWAKE,” Cuoco wrote as her daughter sat in her highchair. The adorable tot was filmed holding onto her juice packet while yawning.

[From People]

Ha, the quip about being awake with kids for 42 hours by 11 a.m. made me laugh because it’s so true. Hey, I get it. The struggle is real. The only fun thing about setting the clocks back is getting that extra hour of sleep. Usually, my biggest complaint after daylight savings ends is that my kids would be waking up later throughout October because of the later sunrise time, and once we changed the clocks back, they’d be back to being awake super early. It felt like that was standard time’s gift that kept on giving. This is the first year when both of my kids slept until a reasonable time after we moved the clocks back, and only had a tough time adjusting their body clocks for meal times. So, if you’re also dealing with a younger child and measuring hours in dog years, hang in there! It gets better and more restful.

Note by Celebitchy: this story was written before the election was called

Photos from Instagram/Kaley Cuoco via People Magazine and credit Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon