The annual White House Correspondents Association dinner has increasingly been a haven for Hollywood Celebrities who walk the red carpet on their way to hob nob with journalism’s elite that cover the White House.
This year was much different.
The current sitting president Donald J. Trump choose to sit it out, a first time since Ronald Reagan that a President opted to skip the event which usually features a comedian roasting the prez and the media and the pres himself giving a monologue full of self-deprecating humor.
[Even when Reagan skipped it, that was because he was shot on the way in, though to be fair other presidents who were very unpopular at the time Jimmy Carter and Richard Nixon have skipped the elite dinner in the past, the only other two since Calvin Coolidge]
This year, the event was also super light on the usual parade of celebrities. That might be a good thing in the eyes of many who have heavily criticized the dinner for becoming to glamourized and Hollywoodized. Celebrated national TV broadcast journalist Tom Brokaw famously skips it and has been vocal as to his reasons why.
Nonetheless, we usually can spot several celebrity moms we’ve covered in the past to feature on the blog. In the very recent past 8 years, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Kristen Bell, Jessica Simpson, Cynthian Nixon, Adriana Lima, Neve Campbell, Emma Watson, Tracee Ellis Ross, Regina King, Anna Chlumsky, Julianna Margulies, Katie Couric, Sofia Vergara, Shonda Rhimes, Rosario Dawson, Candace Cameron Bure, model Emily Ratajowski, Vivica A. Fox, Lupita Nyong’o, Jada Pinkett and Will Smith, Kendell Jenner, Laverne Cox, Lucy Liu, Gabrielle Union have all attended as guests of various news organizations that purchase tables.
Not this year. We didn’t see any. There were a few celebs and some of DC’s A-listers [read: TV journalists and broadcast reporters] there but that’s about it. And with Trump declaring war on the media, the White House press corp and DC establishment, none in his administration or celebs friendly to him failed to show up as well.
So…we’re doing the next best thing and flashbacking to all the ones who did show up in years past. Interesting enough, most of them were preggers at the time!
Last year, in 2016, while pregnant with her second child, daughter, Isabella, Kerry Washington attempted to conceal her bump in an A-line one shoulder black mini Victoria Beckham mini dress.
In 2015, Glee alum Naya Rivera looked radiant in a white floor length Tadashi Shoji evening gown and model Anne V ‘s lovely floral gown rocked that year as well.
In 2014, TODAY show anchor Savannah Guthrie was six-months pregnant with her first child when she showed up in a pink dress to the event.
Going further back, Anna Paquin was expecting her first children, a pair of twins, with husband Stephen Moyer in 2011 when she attended the event, also affectionately known as the “Nerd Prom”, wearing a chic and elegant silk jersey gown by French designer Herve L. Leroux.
That same year, Reese Witherspoon was also expecting her third child, but first with second husband Jim Toth. She also went with black in a Monique Lhuillier gown showing her barely there bump at the time.
There you have it! The White House Correspondents Association dinner has been noteworthy for Bumpwatch coverage history.
