Celebrity

Internet Sleuths Figured Out Drake and Sophie Brussaux Celebrated Son’s 2nd Birthday Together

Posted on October 15, 2019

Internet sleuthing fans and the media figured out that rapper Drake and his ex Sophie Brussaux celebrated their son Adonis’ 2nd birthday together at Drizzy‘s Toronto mansion.

He posted a photo from the celebration event on his Instagram page which showed off large mylar balloons spelling out his son’s name with a tiny art rendering of Sesame Street character Elmo in the corner.

“Happy Birthday King ?”, he captioned the photo.

Around that same time, Brussaux posted the same photo and an outside portrait of herself standing in front of a floral Sesame Street charter Cookie Monster display in front of the outside of the mansion.

View this post on Instagram
Happy Birthday King ?
A post shared by champagnepapi (@champagnepapi) on Oct 11, 2019 at 4:05pm PDT

On his actual birthday, the visual artist posted on her Instastory a throwback pic of herself in a bump-hugging black dress with the caption,“Today, it’s been 2 years I was having 50-sec contractions every 3 min for 24 hours man…all worth it.”

The visual artist added: “Only a handful of weeks left, over 200lbs. Looks like I’m carrying twins, but I swear I’m not.”

She is extremely private about her son with Drake and usually displays of her colorful oil paintings featuring landscapes, stills and portraits of celebrities like Angelina Jolie, Angela Bassett, Amy Winehouse, Leonardo DiCaprio, Michelle Obama and Beyoncé.

View this post on Instagram
A proud, PROUD, birthday mom ?
A post shared by Sophie Brussaux (@sophieknowsbetter) on Oct 12, 2019 at 6:10pm PDT

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BumpNews

Social Media Helps Celebs Keep It Real About Pregnancy and Early Motherhood

Posted on September 2, 2018

The Independent explores the shift in celebrity pregnancy coverage being more authentic and real about the trials of pregnancy, labor, delivery and early motherhood and credits social media for it

EXCERPT:

Years ago, a pregnant starlet might drop out of the spotlight for a while – only to reemerge in a magazine looking well-rested and snuggling with an angelic infant.

See various People magazine covers: Jennifer Lopez in 2008, resplendent in a floor-length gown with an infant nestled in each arm, above the headline “TWIN BLISS!”; Angelina Jolie in 2006, gazing adoringly at Brad Pitt, as baby Shiloh snoozes away; Julia Roberts, looking dewy and fresh-faced in 2005 as she cradles her twins.

Now fans are starting to see a different side of postpartum celebrities: Model Chrissy Teigen shares an Instagram story that features her stretch marks and confesses that she’s “super insecure” about her body; actress Olivia Wilde posts an Instagram photo of her messy bun with the caption, “I call this hairstyle, ‘keep the kid alive’ “; tennis legend Serena Williams tweets about balancing work and her daughter: “She took her first steps . . . I was training and missed it. I cried.”

The common denominator in all those examples, naturally, is social media. The advent of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat made stars realize that they could connect with the public on a deeper level about personal subjects – and that fans appreciated honesty about the less-than-glamorous aspects of their #blessed lives.

“Social media has been such a game changer. . . . Celebrities are speaking directly to the fan base. Once they started doing that, things just got a lot more real,” said Kate Coyne, executive editor of People magazine. “One evolution of that concept has been celebrities sharing the realities of pregnancy, infertility, child-rearing, infancy, toddlerhood. It goes hand in hand with what social media is all about.”

Lately, celebrities have also been spilling details about serious medical issues surrounding childbirth. In January, Williams told Vogue that she had a potentially fatal complication during labor, including blood clots in her lungs.

Read the entire piece The Independent:

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Study: Celebrity Pregnancy Coverage Destigmatizes Out-Of-Wedlock Births Among White Women

Posted on August 30, 2018

A new study states that media coverage of celebrity pregnancies has destigmatized out-of-wedlock births especially among white, middle class women.

Analyzing PEOPLE magazine covers from 1974 to 2014 featuring celebrity pregnancy, researcher Hanna Grol-Prokopczyk, an assistant professor in the University at Buffalo Department of Sociology took note of the magazine’s reference to the parents’ relationship status at the time of the pregnancy announcement and the time of the child’s birth.

In the study, published this month in the journal Demographic Research, Grol-Prokopczyk looked at how media presentations of celebrities’ childbearing influenced larger society.

Indeed, there has been a rise in out-of-wedlock births. Between 1940 and 2009, the number of U.S. births to unmarried women increased from about 4 percent to nearly 41 percent.

While existing scholarship suggests that economic and cultural factors have contributed to this growth, Grol-Prokopczyk wondered whether celebrities might have been the trigger for that 10-fold rise.

“No one has actually tested whether celebrities in fact engage in more out-of-wedlock childbearing than the general public,” she told Science Daily. “This is an important question to address because the power of celebrity culture to shape all kinds of decisions, including childbearing-related decisions, is often under-acknowledged.”

Grol-Prokopczyk concludes that celebrities might shape how we think about the nature of the family and the right environment in which to have children and used People magazine as a yardstick because it is a reliable source of data for exploring this issue. Also, it is heavily trafficked companion to its print edition with over 70 million unique monthly visitors.

The influence of celebrity news is undeniable. Consider that 74 percent of US adults became aware of Angelina Jolie‘s decision to have a preventative double mastectomy just weeks after her op-ed appeared in the New York Times in May of 2013.

The celebrity coverage has shifted attitudes particularly among white, middle class women who generally, have less out-of-wedlock births compared to women in other racial groups.

But unlike their regular folk counterpart, white celebrity women are more likely to have a baby while not married or engaged.

“If you compare celebrities to just white Americans — which could make sense given that until recently People magazine has disproportionally depicted white celebrity parents on its covers — you find that celebrities have the same rates of non-marital fertility,” she added.

Here is the link:

Grol-Prokopczyk also found that most celebrities featured on People magazine’s covers who got pregnant while unmarried did not marry before the child’s birth. Since the mid-2000s, many have declared themselves, “engaged.”

Instead of “shotgun weddings,” Grol-Prokopczyk sees this as modeling what she calls “shotgun engagements,” which if imitated in the general population could have contributed to a substantial rise of non-marital fertility in the U.S.

Interesting findings.

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Daddy Makeover Trend: All You Need to Know

Posted on January 26, 2018

By now, a lot of people have heard of the term “mommy makeover” which refers to the plastic surgery that some women get after completing their family to get their pre-pregnancy body back, but did you know that Daddy Makeovers are a trending now too?

They are the surgical procedures that more and more men around 40-55 years old (usually already married and fathers) get to restyle and correct small imperfections of their body and face .

Why Are More Men Getting Daddy Makeovers?

It is commonly known that most women gain weight while pregnant, usually from increased calorie intake and a growing fetus. It is very common for dads to join in the extra snacking and to thus pack on excess pounds during their partner’s pregnancy. It is called “sympathy” weight gain.

Also, those men who are middle age and are experiencing empty nests, have more times to refocus on themselves, take exotic vacations, entertain more, get out more regularly, and with that, they want to regain their youthful body.

Male Plastic Surgery Is More Common Than You’d Think

Nationally, men account for 18 percent of cosmetic surgery procedures. A lot of professionals between the age of 45 and 55 who do sedentary desk jobs, spend less time in the gym. They now have kids to come home to and shows to binge watch. They’re not taking care of themselves as often and find they’ve accumulated a few extra pounds around the abs, hips and notice their skin sag around the chin.

They look in the mirror and see themselves aged and realize they can afford to get a nip and tuck and the stigma that was once associated with plastic surgery is not there that much anymore.

Common Daddy Makeover Procedures

We talked to Dr. Paul G. Ruff, the Medial Director at West End Plastic Surgery in Washington DC, who said he has seen a significant increase in interest in daddy makoevers during the last five to eight years.

He gave us some insight into this trend. The common procedures that men seeking a daddy makeover get include:

VASER Liposuction: high definition body contouring which involves sculpting the body by removing unwanted fat from specific areas of the body
Gynecomastia (Man Boobs): correcting and reducing breasts tissue
Eyelid surgery
Neck Contouring
Pectorial Implants: adding pecs to create the appearance of a more buff chest.

There are other nonsurgical and surgical options aside from these more common ones. Each practice has its own and each year, the industry comes out with new and unique options.

And of course, non-surgical procedures like Botox are common and even more popular than ever. A quick review of the latest stats from 2016 put out by the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery show that nonsurgical procedure accounted for 44 percent of expenditures in this area. These include nonsurgical skin tightening, injectables like Botox and chemical peels.

The Ryan Gosling Effect is Real

“Mostly men, just like women, want to look like a refreshed, more vital version of themselves,” says Ruff.

And just like with women, men too have a celebrity muse they want to emulate.

“On occasion we have people reference current stars like Brad Pitt, Ryan Reynolds, and Zach Efron,” Ruff shares. “I am always leery when someone is requesting to look like a specific star.”

Certainly, we’ve seen controversial media stories of people who go overboard trying hard to change their natural appearance to look like a celebrity. The Iranian Angelina Jolie fan comes to mind as does actor Nicholas Ryan who got a load of plastic surgery done to look like Ryan Gosling.

Dr. Ruff explained that among the considerations that are discussed during a consultation is whether the patient can emotionally, financially and physically handle surgery so we imagine that they’d weed out those with unhealthy expectations out during this process.

Among the issues to discuss is whether there will be someone at home to help a patient through recovery. But not all do so they may elect to stay nearby. Ruff says his office, which conducts in-office procedures and surgery, has a relationship with a nearby hotel so that those who come from out of town who do not want to travel far to return home can stay there for a day or two before returning home.

You’ll Never Believe How Short Recovery Can Be

In short, there really is no need for a hospital stay. These procedures are generally outpatient surgeries or treatments and the recovery depends on the amount of work to be done or the combination being performed.

“For simple VASER Liposuction, the recovery to return to work and routine daily activity can be as little as two to three days,” Ruff shares. Larger and combination procedures may have a recovery that can be up to two weeks.

This information should always be part of thorough consultation.

(Speaking of CONSULTATIONS, mention you saw this post when you call the West End Plastic Surgery center, and get a no cost consultation, a Saving of $150. IMPORTANT NOTE: if you cancel your appointment, you’ll be billed a no-show fee)

It’s A World Wide Thing

We asked if the male or daddy makeover is a phenomenon just in the United States or are European, Asia, Australia or other parts of the world experiencing it as well.

In this generation of rapid transit of information, Ruff explains, people all over the world are in contact with information. Also, the US is fourth worldwide in plastic surgery, and thus, areas of the world like South East Asia and South America have high rates of male plastic surgery patients as well.

“Statistically men are an increasingly higher percent of the cosmetic practice,” Ruff adds. “Still nowhere near the percent of women in most plastic surgery practices.”

But more practices are adjusting their office spaces even to make them more accomodating to male clientele.

This shift “is underscored by the modifications of offices to be more inviting to men based on color schemes, seating choices ,art and the availability of men only office hours and events,” sates Dr. Ruff, adding, “the daddy makeover is definitely a more specific interest and one that we see regularly rather than a couple of times a year.”

We are not surprised to note that in America, the Mid-Atlantic region which includes New York City, one of the fashion capitals of the world, and the West coast, home of Hollywood, tie for the region of the country getting the most plastic surgery (17.8%) compared to the rest of the country, according to American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.

Average Daddy Make Over Cost and Can You Afford It?

The cost of a Daddy Makeover will depend on region, combination of procedures and surgeon experience. The range can be as low as $2500 to over $20,000, says Ruff.

A chart of data from the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery reveals that an average practitioner’s charge for liposuction is about $3300, $2700 for a chin lift, and about $5,000 for male boob reduction and for non surgical procedure, Botox is about $375 per treatment, and sclerotheraphy cost close to $360. Of course, prices are different per region of the country.

While those who are professionals and from middle to upper income levels are more likely to get plastic surgery, there are financing and creative funding options available at practices nationwide and world wide.

“If you want to get more than one surgery done, you can also save money by getting them done simultaneously,” suggests Dr. Gregory H. Croll is one of the top plastic surgeons Columbia, Missouri has. “Doing this not only saves you and the surgeon money, but it can really work better for you as well. That way if you have to ask off work for recuperating time, you are recuperating from both surgeries instead of having to ask off for days for two separate surgeries. It can also save money and time for both you and the surgeon because

you only have to go under the knife once.”

No Longer a Secret

We asked if men are keeping quiet about it or are they open about having work done and were surprised by the response: both.

“Men are usually quiet about the inquiry but more talkative about the experience, especially if the result is excellent,” Ruff shares. “Talking about expectations and maintenance is part of the satisfaction level and ultimate transparency about having something fixed.

“Men have that hunter mentality engrained either socially and genetically and then the celebration of the kill. The same goes with these procedures.”

Couples Do It Better Together

Also, more and more, mom and dad and other types of couples are coming in together for consultations.

This is true at Dr. Ruff’s practice as well.

“Having support in the decision making and perioperative phase if tremendous and leads to better outcomes and satisfaction” adds Dr. Ruff. “This tends to bring couples together because it is another journey in which they can share. When couples decide to do these makeovers together, we find there is more empathy between them.”

Now that you’ve gotten some comprehensive insight into daddy makeovers, the next step is to talk to a doctor, if you are so inclined. As mentioned above, if you mention you saw this post when you call the West End Plastic Surgery center, and get a no cost consultation, a Saving of $150.

[IMPORTANT NOTE: if you cancel your appointment, you’ll be billed a no-show fee]

Our Editor in chief, JJ, visited the offices this week and expressed satisfaction and excitement over the quality of professionals, doctors and practioners there, the proximity of the office to area hospitals, George Washington, Georgetown University and Sibley Memorial in DC; the top-notch quality of the office space and friendliness of the staff, overall. And she was gifted a generous $100 gift certificate to use for services but that gift does not impact the opinions shared in this post which are hers and honest.

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Celebrity

These Were the Top 14 Most Anticipated Celebrity Births of All Time

Posted on December 4, 2017

We can safely say that if and when Meghan Markle and Prince Harry welcome their first child, the occasion will be included in the short list of anticipated babies of all time which include the other Hollywood actress to welcome a child with a Prince.

1 Grace Kelly, a Hollywood legend, captivated the nation after she married Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, to become princess consort of Monaco, and the world watched closely as they started a family. On April 19, 1958, presented her newborn son Albert to residents of the principality on April 19, 1958, from the balcony of the palace, along with their daughter Caroline.

2. Before then, over in the states comedienne Lucille Ball and husband Desi Arnaz‘s son, Desi Jr, born on January 19, 1953, was most anticipated. That baby was the first to grace the cover of TV Guide in April 1953 with cover headline, “Lucy’s $50,000,000 baby.”

3. Then came the big Camelot birth on November 25, 1960 of little John F. Kennedy Jr., the son of President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, born just 6 weeks after his dad became president.

4. It will take a few more decades for there to be a baby to capture so much attention. This one was anticipated worldwide. Prince William, the first born child to Prince Charles and Princess Diana of Wales joined the world on June 21, 1982.

5. The next big Hollywood baby was Lourdes “Lola” Leon born Oct. 14, 1996 to mom Madonna and her then boyfriend and personal trainer, Carlos Leon.

6. The year 2006 was big for the birth of two celebrity baby girls of two popular actors: The April 18, 2006 birth of Suri Cruise, daughter of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes; and

7. A month later, in May 27, 2006 of Shiloh Pitt, the daughter of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

8. Two years later came the first major celebrated twins: the son and daughter of singer Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony on born Feb. 22, 2008, when Max and Emme came into the world.

9. Also that year, fans of Nicole Kidman were happy to see her end her openly discussed fertility quest with a baby when her first daughter, Sunday Rose, with husband Keith Urban was born in July 2008.

10. Then there was the first baby girl after a couple of boys for Victoria Beckham and David Beckham who welcomed their first daughter, Harper Seven on July 9, 2011.

11. A year later came Queen Bey, Beyonce and Jay Z‘s, much anticipated arrival, Blue Ivy Carter born on January 7, 2012, after her mom had already experienced at least one miscarriage.

12. Later that year, another woman who openly talked about her struggles to get pregnant was Mariah Carey who, along with her then husband Nick Cannon greeted twins, Monroe and Moroccan, on April 30, 2012.

13. A year later, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West welcomed their first child, daughter, North, on June 15, 2013.

14. The last big anticipated birth was Beyonce’s twins Suri and Rumi Carter on June 14, 2017.

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BumpNews

One of Our Fave Maternity Designers is Having a Big Up to 50% Off Sale

Posted on June 21, 2017

isabella-oliver-sale-50-off-maternity-jjbellyitchblog-com-bellyitch-blog-mail-1

Are you a preginista planning out your wardrobe this Summer?

Heads up! One of our fave long-time maternity brand faves and partners Isabella Oliver is having a sale of up to 50% of its Spring-Summer 2017 collection.

Now is the perfect time then to invest in some of this label’s best-selling pieces including the Nia Ruched Dress in Red, The Caiti Off-The-Shoulder Top and the Dora Maternity Shirt in blue and white stripes.

If you have followed this blog then you know that our editors and staff have raved about it in the past. It is a celebrity fave as well and could be seen worn by the likes of Kourntey Kardashian, Ali Larter, Angelina Jolie, Bethenny Frankel and others.

isabella-oliver-sale-50-off-maternity-jjbellyitchblog-com-bellyitch-blog-mail-2

We lover Isabella Oliver dresses because they are one of the most accommodating for any woman, regardless of her shape and how she is carrying her pregnancy. The stylish dresses are functionally comfortable and flatter most shapes.

As you can see from the above collage the dresses look great on different body types.

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I’ve worn the dresses and have a few that I still wear close to 5 years now even when not pregnant which says something about the quality construction and longevity of the garments.

The runching of fabric on each side snuggles your baby bump and has plenty give to accommodate an expanding waistline as you advance in your pregnancy.

So if you really are in the market for chic, comfy but stylish new maternity clothes, now is a good time to head on over to Isabella Oliver and score yourself a few pieces!

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Celebrity

I’m Not Sure If I Agree With This Author’s Assessment about the Evil of Celebrity ‘Bump Watch’

Posted on February 4, 2017

The Atlantic interviewed the Drake University professor who wrote a book about the celebrity baby bump watch craze. In the October 2015 book, Pregnant with Stars, Watching and Wanting the Celebrity Baby Bump (The Cultural Lives of Law), Renée Ann Cramer, an Associate Professor and Chair of Law, Politics and Society at Drake, examines the American fascination with, and judgment of, celebrity pregnancy.

The piece launches with Cramer’s response to Beyonce‘s twin pregnancy. Cramer gives her perspective that the celebrity bump watch phenomenon is part of a proverbial “pregnancy industrial complex.” Cramer analyzed Beyonce’s pregnancy with Blue Ivy in her book.

According to the description of Cramer’s book in Amazon, Kramer “exposes how our seemingly innocent interest in “baby bumps” actually reinforces troubling standards about femininity, race, and class, while increasing the surveillance and regulation of all women in our society.”

To do so, she compares media coverage of pregnant celebrities, including Jennifer Garner, Angelina Jolie, Beyoncé Knowles, Kristen Bell, M.I.A., Jodie Foster, and Mila Kunis, and then applies sociology pedagogy to criticize said media coverage.

Essentially, she blames bump watch articles for promoting unattainable post-baby bodies, something I’ve blogged about often over the past few years. But Cramer goes further. She actually makes a tremendous leap to link bump coverage with government control of women’s bodies, I suppose via social and legal regulations surrounding access to birth control and abortions, and the like.

It seems to me to be a tenuous connection to say “frivolous celebrity gossip” is part of a larger, and perhaps, covert strategy to control survey, commodification of and control women’s bodies.

I disagree.

I think pop culture and society’s obsession with celebrity pregnancy is just part of the admiration and hero-worship of stars, in general. It’s just among the newest aspect of celebrity life to become enamored with, nothing more. The media cover what the people want to see. And when we see them click more links on bump watch, guess what, we post more.

The people express interest in it and they click articles about baby bumps, and the gossip rags and blogs, including this one, report on what the people want. It’s symbiotic.

In the Atlantic article, Cramer makes racial distinctions in the coverage and suggests that pregnancies of women of color are hypersexualized and less favorable than of white celebrities.

As a person who has covered celebrities and monitored the other sites coverage, I question that assessment. The media coverage is the same for the most part, in my opinion.

What is different is how the pubic reacts. It may be different because a lot of members of the general population already view Beyonce and Jennifer Lopez, for example, as sexual people. These women are sexy and their performance on stage and their clothing is revealing and we talk a lot about their bodies as their bodies are part of their image, their craft and their public persona.

Mila Kunis and Jennifer Garner are not known for that.

Also, celebrities of color aren’t given that much mainstream gossip press that is why niche sites like this one, Black Celeb Kids and Latina magazine fill in the void and the coverage of celebrity pregnancy in our sites are usually more positive.

I do agree that societal views of pregnancy are shaped by what people see when they read media articles about celebrity pregnancies, but I am not wholly convinced that there is a connection with control over women’s bodies. Perhaps, I will read the book and see if there is more to the analysis but from the synopsis and the Atlantic interview, I’m not buying it.

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BumpNews

BumpWatch Chic: Marion Cotillard at Paris Fashion Week

Posted on October 5, 2016

French actress Marion Cotillard hit up Paris Fashion week to check out the Women’s wear Spring/Summer 2017 show of Christian Dior’s new creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri in a white ruched-front long sleeve coat shirt over a black print mini skirt paired with chic jeweled black t-bar heels and a cute box clutch.

The Inception star wore her hair pulled back in a single sleek pony and had on the the cutest cuff earrings.

The beautiful mom-to-be and her long time partner actor and director Guillaume Canet are expecting their second child together.

The star of the upcoming World War II spy drama Allied announced her pregnancy news amid controversy and on the heels of the divorce announcement of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.

Canet and Cotillard are parents to a now 5-year old son, Marcel, born March 2011.

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Celebrity

Report: Marion Cotillard is Devastated by Pitt Affair Rumors… Oh and is Pregnant

Posted on September 21, 2016

Our Bellyitch Bumpwatch alum Marion Cotillard is starring in an upcoming blockbuster and rumored to be expecting her second child with long time partner actor and director Guillaume Canet.

Closer claims the 40-year-old French actress is due to give birth in December.

She also being dragged and reported to be the third party involved in the recently announced impending divorce of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie (also a blog alum). Page Six claims she was having an affair with Pitt and that is the reason why Jolie filed for divorce.

Cotillard, who I loved in the movie Inception, has said she is “absolutely devastated” by the reports. Insiders on the set of her movie Allied, in which she plays opposite Pitt and with whom she shares steamy sex scenes, says that Jolie was insanely jealous and insecure, according to a Daily Mail report.

Further, X-17 cites a source:

Angie couldn’t handle Brad’s sex scenes with Marion. Her jealousy was out of control.
Brad tried for months to reassure her and calm her anxiety, but it simply didn’t work. She said her intuition was telling her he was cheating.’
Angie has struggled with insecurity over Brad’s fidelity for years, but she was never as jealous over a co-star as she was with Marion. She was always paranoid Brad would do to her the same thing he did to Jen.’
Above: Cotillard and Pitt in the upcoming film “Allied” and Below, Jolie and Pitt on the set of Mrs. & Mrs. Smith where Jolie says they fell in love.

Perhaps, if true that Jolie is jealous, she knows that she fell in love with Pitt on the set of the 2008 film Mr. & Mrs. Smith while he was still married to Jennifer Aniston so she perhaps knows the pattern and fears she is now on the receiving end of an affair.

Also, a source to the The Mirror says “Marion and Guillaume are blissfully happy, and these kind of claims are not what Marion wants to be hearing.”

Cotillard and Canet have been together for 10 years and share a five-year-old son Marcel, born in May 2011. Edited to add that she released a statement to the via Instagram recently:

This is going to be my first and only reaction to the whirlwind news that broke 24 hours ago and that I was swept up into. I am not used to commenting on things like this nor taking them seriously but as this situation is spiraling and affecting people I love, I have to speak up,” she began.
Firstly, many years ago, I met the man of my life, father of our son and of the baby we are expecting. He is my love, my best friend, the only one that I need. Secondly to those who have indicated that I am devastated, I am very well thank you. This crafted conversation isn’t distressing. And to all the media and the haters who are quick to pass judgment, I sincerely wish you a swift recovery. Finally, I do very much wish that Angelina and Brad, both whom I deeply respect, will find peace in this very tumultuous moment. With all my love Marion.

Coincidentally, the trailer for the film, Allied, was recently released. I’m certain the producers are eating up the free publicity and are not upset by all of this drama.

Photo: Getty

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Celebrity

Study Credits Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt with Destigmatizing Unwed Parenthood

Posted on September 16, 2016

A new study says that Angelina Jolie and Bradd Pitt‘s unwed parenting changed the way the gossip press covered pregnant celebrity couples, and credits them for destigmatizing out-of-wedlock pregnancies altogether.

Researcher Hanna Grol-Prokopczyk, an assistant professor of sociology at theUniversity at Buffalo, State University of New York, told LiveScience.com that PEOPLE magazine, in particular, helped to de-stigmatize non-marital fertility.

The researcher noted that in the 1970s and 1980s, celebrities who got pregnant out of wedlock were often married before the child’s birth, and when People announced pregnancy news, it would also include an approximate wedding date on its front cover.

But when Jolie and Pitt revealed their pregnancy in 2006, but made no public announcement of either engagement or marriage, the magazine started shifting its policy of putting wedding dates of pregnant celeb couples on its cover.

That change, Grol-Prokopczyk says, “calatlyzed a larger movement — mainly, making it more OK for a couple to be pregnant without news of wedding bells in their future, the new study suggests.”

It gets deeper and had wide-reaching implication on society as a whole, the research suggests.

“Overall, People’s coverage appears likely to have contributed to destigmatization of nonmarital fertility ” Grol-Prokopczyk said.

And it is very interesting to read how she came up with the idea for the study in the first place as it mirrors our exact experience with Google alerts for the term “pregnancy.” A lot of the news out on that topic is about celebrities, and so much so that even mainstream news sites that focus on strict news are doing more celebrity pregnancy coverage.

Grol-Prokopczyk too had such alerts when she was expecting a child.

“I was expecting to get stories about nutrition during pregnancy, or how to avoid complications during birth,” she said. “Instead, over 90 percent of those stories emailed to me were about celebrity pregnancies.”

She said the headlines made her realized that many celebrities were having out of wedlock babies, counter to popular culture’s habit of stigmatizing unwed marriage. (Though arguably, I can attest to regularly seeing people who are traditionalist make negative comments in all unwed celebrity pregnancy stories in PEOPLE and US Weekly)

To conduct her research, Grol-Prokopczyk’s assistants found 384 stories on celebrity pregnancies between PEOPLE magazine’s inaugural year in 1974 to 2014. They coded each one, noting whether the parents were dating, engaged, married or not in a relationship at the time the mag announced the pregnancy on its cover.

Why PEOPLE?

According to the Alliance for Audited Media, PEOPLE magazine had the ninth highest magazine circulation in the United States in 2013, which made it an ideal proxy for popular culture at large, Grol-Prokopczyk said.

She said that the magazine always celebrated pregnancies, even unwed ones, but before the early 2000s, it made sure to mention that marriage was imminent.

And as to gay marriage, the researchers pointed out that they were referred to as single even if they had a partner. Jodi Foster, for example, famously had a partner but was featured in a cover with the title “And Baby Makes Two,” describing her as a single parent even though she had a partner.

It looks like they’ve evolved on that front too.

PEOPLE did not respond to Live Science’s request for comment and the study is yet to be published in a peer-review journal. It will be presented to the American Sociological Association’s annual meeting in Seattle in August.

Interesting sociology research!

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