We want to take a quick moment to address the MILF reference in our title last week. Our column is of course edited and that title was not the one we came up with. It may have driven traffic, but it also caused quite an uproar, and we want you to know that our goal was to give all the moms out there lighthearted advice on mother's day about how to treat themselves and their bodies well, not to make them feel like they have to eat or look a certain way in order to be a "MILF." We want all moms to feel sexy and desirable, not for them to think that in order to be hot they must strive to look like they just walked off the set of Desperate Housewives. The point of this column, our books, and everything that we write is to make women laugh while boosting their confidence, because the truth is that most women - no matter what they look like or what size they are - share the same insecurities when it comes to food and body image.
So this week we'd like to focus on some beautiful celebrity mothers who have discussed their own struggles to accept their changing bodies before, during, and after pregnancy. This issue has been coming up in interviews a lot lately, and while we think it's sad that such gorgeous women should ever feel insecure about their lovely pregnant bodies, we do think it's good for all of us "regular women" to see that even the most perfect looking specimens on the planet feel the same self-doubt as the rest of us mere mortals. Hopefully, this will help all women realize that even if they try every fad diet on the planet and end up looking like their favorite celebrity, they will most likely still feel the same lack of confidence until they manage to find it from within.
For example, in this week's People magazine, Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon looks gorgeous in a bathing suit only seven months after giving birth to twins, and admits that after having the babies she signed up for a 1,200 calorie a day low-carb diet delivery service, which helped her drop thirty pounds in five months. While it's good for women to see that the weight didn't magically fall off of Garcelle, we hope they don't adhere to this extremely low calorie formula - especially if they are breastfeeding! Perhaps this is what Salma Hayek was referring to when she told Oprah that the idea that breastfeeding helps you lose weight is a myth, unless you are simultaneously starving yourself.
Speaking of starving yourself, a few weeks ago Jessica Alba told People that her pre-pregnancy diet consisted of breakfast, no lunch, and a salad for dinner. As scary as that is, Jessica went on to say that when she first found out that she was pregnant, she was nervous about having to eat more food. We can understand that watching your body change can be daunting, and we applaud Jessica for being so honest about her issues with food, but we hope that her insecurities aren't continuing to cloud what is really important - the hungry baby growing inside of her. And we hope that women who read interviews like this don't try to emulate celebrities by adopting this type of unhealthy Hollywood diet, and instead decide to embrace their own bodies for what they are. Clearly, Jessica Alba's body is unrealistic even for Jessica Alba, so it is ridiculous for anyone else to try to live up to this ideal.
While so many moms are clearly struggling with their pregnant and post-baby bods, we want to give props to hot mom Elisabeth Hasselbeck, who expresses an extremely healthy attitude about her body in this month's Fitness. She explains that since giving birth to her son six months ago, she's finally gotten over some of her insecurities. She says, "Before, I always tied a shirt around my waist when I [ran]. It was ridiculous. Here I am, trying to wean my daughter from her blankie, and [I'm covering] my rear like my own security blanket." Elisabeth also conveys a newly found balanced approach to exercise. She says, "I'm finally learning to enjoy exercise because of how it makes me feel, not because I'm afraid of how I'll feel if I miss it." We hope all of you moms out there will take a note from Ms. Hasselbeck - stop hiding behind your own security blankets (whatever they may be), start embracing your bodies, and find things in your life that you enjoy for the way they make you feel.
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Forgive us "regular" ol' moms who have to do it all without any net.
No nanny
No physical trainer
No cook
No Jenny Craig or Nutra Systems ( $100.00+ a week for meals for ONE person??? Yeah, right.)
No personal make up artist
No professional hairdressers
No designer dresses
No housekeeper
And more times than anyone would like to believe:
No insurance for herself or her child(ren).
If it weren't for those few petty little differences, all moms would look good by the standards you have apparently bought into.
This of course does not go into whether she is kind, classy, intellegent, safe, loving, caring or generous. But, who the hell needs to work on any of those attributes??? Let's all consentrate on the outside.
**sigh** I am 57 years old and would like to hope that women would have moved past this kind of thing.
Marilyn Monroe would be comic relief today - the lonely fat girl. What the heck has happened to us? I think the fashion designers have finally convinced us the only pretty women are twelve-year-old drag queens. Seriously. A woman is not suppose to have ginormous breasts and square hips.
But you try to explain away your last column by saying that what you really meant was that you want ALL women to feel good about themselves, and that will make them feel 'hot' regardless of what their body size/image is. So how does making *this* column about "Hot Hollywood Mums" help? Sure, you admonish two of your three HHMoms for their eating habits, but it rings hollow when you publish their pictures, detail their diet, and still brand them as 'Hot'. Having worked in advertising I know that disclaimers don't register with people, all the see is:
"Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon looks gorgeous in a bathing suit only seven months after giving birth to twins, -- after having the babies she signed up for a 1,200 calorie a day low-carb diet delivery service, which helped her drop thirty pounds in five months."
People seem to have taken the lateral arabesque hook line and sinker.
"MILF" means "Mothers I'd Like to F..." That is cruder than this very experienced
man wants to see in what is purported to be NEWS.
For them to say; "Our column is of course edited and that title
was not the one we came up with" is irresponsible. Then they immediately meander out into the
blue sky of bullshit on attractive female geometry.
Do you buy that slippery crap? Sex is great. Women are beautiful. And, lack of class is
lack of class. I can almost smell the beer and vomit of the bar room here
Then I forget it again.
The moms who get up every day, take care of the kids, go to work or stay home, but put in a long long day either way, yet still manage to look absolutely stunning. I don't mean the pampered Upper East/West Side princesses. I mean the real working moms. I see them with their kids on the street, in the park, and they look great, and I hope their men appreciate it.
These Hollywood moms, they have trainers and nutritionists and, oh yeah, nannies, and all the time in the world to focus on hotness.
The only heat I feel in regard to EH is the bile backing up in my throat every time I hear her shrill nasally voice drowning out the others, with her arms flailing around as she tries ever harder to get across her ironclad opinion, which to her is NEVER open for discussion or question.
EH is real hot. . . NOT!
You go Elisabeth cuz there ain't nothing pretty about fat - and I can say that because I see it when I look in the mirror (if I feel courageous enough, that is).
The only way for Elisabeth to get a compliment from this crowd is if she renounced God and country, got a third trimester abortion, and spread red paint all over a poster of Dick Cheney.
Fascination with the stars is an ugly blemish on our culture!
Salma Hayek can swat cookies out of my hand any day.
Since she has no brain, I guess it is a good thing she has a terrific body. I do not know why ABC chose her to be the voice to represent young republicans on a national tv show. Oh, I guess for the same reason they would pick Stephanopolous to moderate a serious political debate.....