Even Rich Celebrity Moms ‘Can’t Have It All’
The whole work-life-balance debate isn’t just for us commoners. Celebrity moms have a hard time balancing work and the demands of being a mom, too. Which is why I am not surprised by a Huffington Post article this week that lists all of the A-list celebrity moms that considered giving up their careers when they had kids.
”I think if you are young and you have children, you still have so much to prove. When you have children later in life, you lose a bit of that urge for working. At the time, I was thinking, I can do another movie that may or may not work, or I can be with my child, nourish her, and not miss a moment of this precious time. And if my career is going to end in two years, what’s the difference, anyway?”
Yes. And you may also lose a bit of the urge to work if you marry a billionaire tycoon, like Salma Hayek did. If I were Salma Hayek, I would also never work again. Salma once tipped me $200 on a $100 dinner tab, so she can do no wrong in my eyes. If I had all the money in the world at my disposal, you would have a hell of a time getting me into work. I would love to be able to take advantage of my kid’s childhood years with no distractions. That would be awesome.
”There’s an internal battle. I need to work, I need to work, I need to work and I need to be home with my kids and the kids win. It’s about getting the kids up and fed, getting one to school, getting the other down for a nap, going to the grocery store, picking one up from school, getting the other one down for another nap, cooking dinner”¦ I live my life at these two extremes. I’m either a full-time stay-at-home mom or a full-time actress.”
Jennifer Garner said this in regards to her work-life struggle. I imagine it’s quite difficult to be a full-time actress, have kids, and be married to a full-time actor. The dynamics of that household alone would probably drive me to stay home. Both parents being obligated to leave for months on end? I joke about celebrities and their great lives and money – but that would be really hard.
Angelina Jolie admits that she’ll have to give up acting when her kids hit the “teenage years.” Gwyneth Paltrow also admits, “I’ve changed my movie career a lot since having children.” Part of me thinks the type of life that working actresses live would make it easier to be a parent. If you only have to take a big job every couple of years to maintain your household, that would be great, right? But then I think about the months on end they may be shooting – and I realize it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.
I guess the bottom line is, no matter how much money and fame you have, balancing work and a family is just difficult.
(photo: Northfoto/ Shutterstock.com)
