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I am going to preface this post by saying that I am not a big “celebrity” person and I don’t usually pay much attention to what most of them are doing. I heard about this quote on one of my adoption boards and thought it would make an interesting topic.
In a recent article on the New York Daily News webpage, Michael Douglas (actor) is quoted from a new “GQ” article as saying, “”I don’t know about Brad Pitt,” says Douglas, “leaving that beautiful woman [Jennifer Aniston] to go hold orphans for Angelina [Jolie]. I mean how long is that going to last?”
Here is a link to the article
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/gossip/story/399197p-338236c.html
How does that one make you feel?? Personally, I have several feelings about it.
Lots of adoptive parents know about Angelina Jolie. That she has a son from Cambodia and a daughter from Ethiopia that she adopted as a single mom. Granted, her resources as a single mom are significantly different from most single moms, but she was a single mom nonetheless.
There are lots of celebrities that adopt children. I think what makes Angelina different is that for one, she is very “out in public” with her children, and open and vocal about her adoptions.
She also seems to be really committed to making a difference in the world. She is an ambassador for the United Nations, and has traveled all over Asia, Africa, Haiti and elsewhere in her efforts to make a difference. Jolie has been quoted as saying, “The crisis we face in Africa is matched only by our degree of hope that we can and will be a force for positive change.”
So, I like her. I like that she is a rich, famous and gorgeous woman who chose a transracial family. I like that she makes TV specials about the crisis in Africa. I like that she has stood in an orphanage in Ethiopia like me and had the overwhelming experience of being given a child.
So my first reaction to the quote by Douglas was to be irritated. Where does he get off? It seems sort of pathetic that he has nothing better to talk about in his interview than bashing others.
I have no idea if Angelina and Brad are going to break up next week or never, but that’s not the point. The point is that it is pretty rotten of Douglas to use the term “orphans” in such a derogatory way. His statement gives the image of Jolie and Pitt just “holding” orphans and not being parents of a family (Pitt is in the process of adopting Jolie’s children so he will be their dad). It’s just a rude and ignorant comment in quite a few ways.
But I have to admit, that there is a part of me that felt sort of good about the quote. Not because I liked it or anything, but because there was something comforting in the fact that even rich, famous and gorgeous adoptive moms get this sort of crap. As we’ve pointed out in other posts and discussions, we have all been at the wrong end of pesky, irritating and downright rude comments. To put it in perspective, the next time I get a rude comment when I am out in public, I will take comfort in the fact that the person that said it didn’t say it in a popular national magazine.
