In a society ruled by social media, it is no wonder that the depiction of motherhood is skewed. Celebrity moms are now able to showcase their families along with their careers, as well as what they ate for breakfast, all in one “app.” The simplicity of the pictures and memes posted make us believe that these women are autonomous when it comes to their social media accounts and not guided by agents or publicists. The danger to this is that we “ordinary folk” start believing that celebrities are really down to earth, and have somehow perfected the work-life balance.
I myself don’t “follow” any celebrity moms, but I do have various friends that choose to follow them. As a result, I often get updates on my own social media feeds about these celebrities (sigh, the beauty of social media - completely normalizes stalking). Far too many times, I have gotten roped into exploring a celebrity mom’s account and wondering how they have managed to have it all. After a quick moment, I remind myself that these women intentionally publicize only those parts of their lives that enhance the image of their awesomeness as mothers. No celebrity in their right mind shares their nervous breakdowns or meltdowns on social media, especially those that would expose flaws in the perfect image that the world assumes should come naturally to them - including the role of motherhood.
However, just for kicks, I want to share with you the celebrity moms that I think look cool and inspirational: stylish Victoria Beckham, lovely Sarah Michelle Geller, relatable Mindy Kaling, comedian Ali Wong and down-to-earth Kristen Bell. In my opinion, these women are very career driven, have supportive husbands AND kids, have few but close friends and family, practice self-care and have a positive state of mind. These are aspects of a women’s life that I think are critical in maintaining that work life balance we often crave. Do I honestly think that they have mastered the art of motherhood? Not even for a second. With class and style, they portray the “good things” in life that we are led to believe we may be lacking. We can aspire to be that ideal mother or wife or woman, as long as we remember that what we see on social media is not the whole story. Not Victoria Beckham’s whole story, or your best friend’s whole story, or your co-worker’s whole story. We get to pick and choose what we reveal about ourselves. And if we are smart, we only reveal the things that make us look good.
The take home message from this post: it’s ok to be inspired by other mothers. In fact, that’s great! But don’t let the apparent success of someone bring you down and pull out your insecurities; especially when it’s not 100% real. Nobody’s perfect and transparent. Even my blog isn’t a big expose, it’s what I choose to put out there. Like these celebrity ladies, what I post may be slightly tweaked to pique interest. How much exactly, who knows, who cares. Now if only I could get myself celebrity status. Damn, I should have listed Chrissy Teigen as my inspiration; maybe she would have tweeted about this, and I COULD have gotten that celebrity status!