Ah, summer. A chance to catch up with our favourite shows we may have missed during the regular season (in rerun), staying cool in the theatre with the latest blockbuster and playing outside with our kids. But one thing that happens every single summer is what I consider to be the worst fashion accessory—the deep, dark tan.
Gone are the days that a tan was a sign of status (Hey, look! I can afford a vacation!), and with good reason. Skin cancer is a preventable disease if we make sure we protect ourselves and our kids from those harmful UVA and UVB rays. And it seems like Hollywood is (mostly) on board...except a few bad eggs.
Kim Kardashian
Oh Kim. Quickie marriages, dating some of the craziest celebrities around, and in 2009, a BRUTAL sunburn. Kim tweeted, "Help! I got a sun burn" and flashed this photo:
I can't even imagine the pain she was in for weeks after this. I've had two bad sunburns in my life and both were unbearable.
Christina Aguilera
X-tina is getting better at staying under wraps with her fair skin and fair hair, but she's had her moments of orange-glory. Luckily for her skin, she switched to self-tanner...but that lead to the now infamous photo of her singing at Etta James' funeral earlier this year.
Donald Trump
The Donald. As he's gotten older (and crazier), his skin has become more orange. Proof women aren't the only ones vain enough to try and get that (un)healthy glow under the lights of a tanning bed. How does he not realize that the tan makes him look older and increases his chances of melanoma?
Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi
Gym. Tan. Laundry. The mantra of the "Guido" on Jersey Shore. No one took that "Tan" part to heart more than pint-sized Nicole "snooki" Polizzi. She tanned so much, she was nicknamed the Oompa Loompa. She looked terrible. A joke version of herself. However, Nicole announced her pregnancy earlier this year and immediately stopped tanning. Hopefully, she'll continue along that vein since we all know that our actions as parents speak louder than words. Hopefully, this pale, healthier Snooki sticks around, cause she's much cuter.
For more info on sun sense for your family, check out The Canadian Cancer Society's pages on protecting our kids.
Oh Dads. The unsung heroes in the fight against the boogey man. The toy fixers. The rough and tumble warriors. The best dudes to nap with ever. This weekend is Father's Day, so I thought it would be fun to take a look at some of the Dads I think are doing it right in Hollywood.
Matt Damon
Matt surprised everyone when he married divorcee Luciana Barrosso in 2005. She already had a daughter from her previous marriage who Matt happily became "Dad" to. The couple has had since had two other girls. Of his family, Damon has said, "The way I feel about my family wasn't something I expected. I knew I was going to love being a father and a husband. People who were already parents would tell me: "It's great!" "It's wonderful!" But I don't think you can really appreciate it until you experience it for yourself. It's really quite something."
Ben Affleck
Where would Matt be without Ben? Ben Affleck was a bit of a Hollywood lothario before surprising everyone and settling down with Jennifer Garner (also in 2005). The couple have really made it work and have 3 kids; daughters Violet and Seraphina and newborn son Samuel. Ben totally is a hands-on Dad and makes it look so effortless.
Will Smith
Megastar Will Smith is no stranger to parenthood. He has one son from his first marriage (Trey) and two kids (Jaden and Willow) with his current wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith. I remember seeing him on a late-night talk show about 5 years ago, talking about filming and flying home to LA every weekend, and sometimes, just for 24 hours, because his oldest son's high school football team was in playoffs, and he'd made a commitment to be at every game. He said that it was exhausting, but that his children bring him more joy than he could imagine. That's dedication.
Brad Pitt
When Brad met Angelina, tongues were wagging beyond words. Angie had already adopted Maddox. Soon, their brood expanded. Next was the adoption of Zahara. Then, Angelina gave birth to Shiloh, and the following year adopted Pax. Finally, they had the twins Knox and Vivienne. 6 kids in less than 7 years. By all accounts, Brad's a doting dad who has proposed marriage to Angie in order to make their kids happy.
Seal
Seal and Heidi Klum met after she'd found out she was pregnant and split from her beau at the time (2004). They were married a year later, and Seal has always raised Leni (Klum's first child) as his own even adopting her. The couple have 3 other children born between 2005 and 2009. Klum once said of her (then) husband, "When I first met Seal he had a kindness and compassion that was so sincere I knew he'd be a good father...But it wasn't until Leni was born and we had our three other children that I grasped what a great dad he is...He has infinite amounts of love and patience for our kids...He puts me and the children first." Sadly, the couple split in January of this year.
Matthew Armstrong
OK, OK. So maybe he's not exactly a celebrity, but he's a star at our house. My husband chose to quit his 9-5 job at the end of 2011 so that I could come back to work...the Mr. Mom jokes went on for weeks. As all things do, our new, not-so-standard arrangement took some getting used to, but my husband is a rock star with our little guy and everyone's crazy happy. Matt is on the Board of Directors at Creating Together to make sure other families get the support and education they need, and works a few nights a week while I relax with Henry. Can you tell I'm crazy proud of my Mister?
News broke last week that 19-year-old Miley Cyrus is now engaged to her 22-year-old fiance Liam Hemsworth (brother of Thor actor Chris Hemsworth). The first thought that crossed my mind was IS SHE OUT OF HER MIND? That was immediately followed by WHERE THE HELL IS HER MOTHER? If I told my mother that at 19, I planned on being married, she would have taken off her hard-bottomed slipper and whacked me with it (Greek mothers are notoriously tough). Miley's parents are "over the moon!" But why? I'm sure that young Liam is a nice lad and he really splashed out on a 3+ carat engagement ring, but what's to be over the moon about? Nearly half of all marriages end in divorce and I do believe the number is higher for couples married before the age of 25.
And what about couples who are May-December? The other news that shocked the hell out of me in La-La-Land is rocker, and former Cher husband, Gregg Allman declaring his love for a 24-year-old girl named Shannon whom he declared would not be wife number seven (SEVEN! If I met a man who'd had 7 previous wives, I'd run away. RUN AWAY!), but "wife number one." What does this very attractive young girl's mother think about this?
What is it about Hollywood that allows for this type of behaviour to be almost "rewarded"? Women like Liz Taylor and JLo seem to be praised for their multiple nuptials and we're basically setting girls like this up for the road of multiple husbands. Number 1? Well, I was too young (see Kim Kardashian) Number 2? We drifted apart (see JLo + Puffy, Ben Affleck and Marc Antony) etc, etc.
And please, don't even get me started on Courtney Stodden, whose mother seems to be so whackadoo that she's in on the whole thing with a man old enough to be HER husband (the mom's).
Spill it! What do you think about young Hollywood marriages?
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