| Kate Winslet in Ralph Lauren, in China: frozen, fug or gorgeous? Posted: 13 Jul 2011 08:33 AM PDT 
Here are some photos of Kate Winslet in Bejing, China… two days ago…? And we're just getting the photos now? Sure. So Kate was in Bejing for her role as the "face" of Lancôme (remember her crazy-cheesy ad?). Kate wore this asymmetric, black Ralph Lauren gown, a clutch by Sergio Rossi and jewelry by Tiffany's. If I'm just judging the style part of this look - sure, it all looks nice together, the dress is acceptable, not groundbreaking, but not fug either. It's decent ensemble. So, what's the problem? I think it may be a combination of things - first of all, I don't think the lighting is doing Winslet any favors. Secondly, these photos might raise the ongoing debate about whether Winslet has gotten tweaked. I've been saying she's tweaked for over a year now, even though she denies it, and many disagree. I'm not saying it's Beyonce-level "Bitch Got Tweaked"-dom, but I certainly remember a time when Winslet's face was softer-looking and not quite so… hard. She's 35 years old, and maybe my problem is simply that I haven't seen a natural-looking 35-year-old in a while. But I don't think that's it - I think the bitch is tweaked, and she's lying about it. You know who she looks like in some of these photos? Sharon Stone. Sharon's got a good 20 years on her, so take that for what it's worth. 
Photos courtesy of Fame.
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| Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie are totally getting married, according to Us Weekly Posted: 13 Jul 2011 08:03 AM PDT 
I don't know why Us Weekly is running what seems like a filler-article about Brangelina's alleged upcoming wedding. This seems like more of an OK! Magazine or In Touch Weekly cover, but it seems like Us Weekly got "confirmations" that a wedding is in the works from three different sources (Empress Z, Shiloh and Pax? Or three gerbils?). I still think this has a whiff of BS, thought. Enjoy: 
Get ready for a royal wedding of another sort: After six years together (and six kids!), Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are planning a wedding set to take place within the next few months, three separate sources confirm in the new Us Weekly, out Wednesday. The “I do’s” could take place at their newly renovated Chateau Miraval in Correns, France (conveniently featuring a 16th-century chapel) — but don’t expect a lavish bash in the manner of Pitt’s $1 million nuptials in 2000 to Jennifer Aniston. This super-couple’s wedding “would be intimate and informal,” one insider says of the pair. "They are talking about getting married this summer," a source close to the couple says. "They are seriously considering it, but they may just do something on the fly, without any notice." Another source confirms the details, saying, "They're planning on to do it in September." "Marrying at home will show the kids their mom and dad are committed to each other for the long term," yet another friend of the couple says. Although Jolie, 36, and Pitt, 47, have long resisted traditional marriage until it became legal for everyone — gay or straight — their kids may have changed their mind. “The kids ask about marriage,” Pitt told USA Today in May of Maddox, 9, Pax, 7, Zahara, 6, Shiloh, 5, and twins Vivienne and Knox, 3. “It’s meaning more and more to them.” To read much more on their top-secret wedding plans, an update on all six kids, and how the globetrotting duo keep the romance hotter and heavier than ever, pick up the new Us Weekly, out now!
[From Us Weekly and Hollywood Life] My opinion is still that Angelina isn't opposed to getting married, and that Brad is the holdout. Just last week, he issued a statement to People Magazine, reiterating his stance on gay marriage and making it sound like he wouldn't marry until the gays could, in every state. Maybe that was just a deflection for the ZOMG WEDDING. Maybe we'll get to see photos of Empress Z as a flower girl?!!? Don't get my hopes up, Brange. 
Photos courtesy of Fame.
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| Alex O’Loughlin shirtless in Men’s Fitness: what took us so long? Posted: 13 Jul 2011 07:42 AM PDT 
I’ve only seen one or two episodes of Hawaii Five-O and I remember thinking how hot Alex O’Loughlin was. I guess I also know him from The Back Up Plan, with Jennifer Lopez, which I saw ten minutes of before flipping the channel. Alex’s hotness is confirmed with his new spread in Men’s Fitness. They put him in a clingy t-shirt on the cover and he’s only shirtless inside the magazine (some of those photos below). He’s one solid, good-looking guy and he also seems to be single from what’s implied by the article. He does talk about his 13 year-old son, but his son’s mom lives in Australia, where Alex is from, and they make it sound like he’s no longer with her. Alex stays in Hawaii while he’s filming and he loves to go surfing and exercise outdoors.
Since this is Men’s Fitness Alex of course talks about his meal and exercise plan, and he’s very regimented about it all. He also mentions his friendship with co-star Scott Caan. 
On Scott Caan
We have great respect for each other. We are completely comfortable working together and going for each other’s throats without worrying that we’ve crossed a line. Alex is a natural leader. He takes control and makes things happen on set - and in his personal life too. He’s The General, and I think that comes across in this role. On his diet/nutrition plan
If you look at your open hand, the size of your palm is the amount of protein you should take - about two-thirds of a chicken breast. Your splayed four fingers equal the amount of space you should have for vegetables. And the triangular area between your index finger and thumb is for carbohydrates - brown rice or whole meal pasta. The key is to have a very low sodium diet and understand that 80% [of the process] happens in the kitchen, not the gym. On his exercise plan
I like to circuit train. If you do one exercise after another without breaking, you bump your metabolic rate up to such a place that you create what’s called a ‘furnace effect’ - your metabolism is firing at such a high rate that you can go to sleep and you’ll burn calories through the night. That’s my ideal place to be. On having ADD
It went undiagnosed and I managed to keep it hidden, but it caused me a lot of frustration. When I stopped being cerebral and became physical, my mind cleared. That’s probably why I like to be so active [today]. It’s a huge part of the balance of who I am. On exercising outside
I much prefer being in the canyons or the hills or the ocean - being outside and using the resistance of the earth and gravity and my own body weight. I’d rather hang from trees and do pull-ups than be in a gym surrounded by people in spandex. On his 13 year-old son
My son is not only the greatest thing that ever happened to me, but he’s also my greatest success, my greatest inspiration. I’m getting to pass on all the good things I’ve learned in life to another human soul.
[From Men's Fitness, print edition, August, 2011] That was so sweet what he said about his son! I also like how he explained his diet plan, which sounds pretty sensible, and how 80% of any exercise and nutrition plan is in the kitchen. Don’t I know it. He sounds like a good guy. It’s nice to read such decent quotes from someone who is also incredibly attractive. Plus he’s Australian. That accent does it for me every time. 
Photos are courtesy of Men’s Fitness print edition, where there are more  |
| Duchess Kate “conquered America” according to People Mag: did she? Posted: 13 Jul 2011 07:36 AM PDT 
Duchess Kate and her hair-touching nervous tic take the cover of this week's People Magazine, as if our little Waity gets full credit for "conquering America". Because all it took was a weekend, some polo and a snail photo to conquer California, and as California goes, so goes the nation? Nah, it's just some harmless fluff, some royalist propaganda for Kate's first-ever two weeks of consecutive "work"! Huzzah! And now she needs a holiday! 
Yes, they are the future king and queen of England, but the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are also newlyweds – a fact that was on full view during the 11-day royal tour that took them from Canada to Los Angeles. “They seem very close, very connected,” Steve Tisch, who hosted a benefit for the Duke’s TUSK wildlife charity in L.A. on July 10, tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story. “It was beautiful.” Also on display during the couple’s trip: their determination to chart a new, contemporary course – no curtsies, please! – for the royal family. From PDA to playful ribbing, “they were warm and nurturing,” says Cynthia Harnisch, president and CEO of Inner-City Arts, where the Duke and Duchess, both 29, visited on July 10. Despite the couple’s warmth, they still managed to intimidate a room full of Hollywood’s heaviest hitters – including Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Lopez – at a BAFTA gala for the British film industry on July 9. Says Owain Yeoman, who stars on the CBS drama The Mentalist and was among the “Brits to Watch” honored at the event: “It was the first time I’ve seen major stars becoming like little school kids, going, ‘Um, when would it be a good time to say hello?’ ”
[From People] That is one thing I will give both William and Kate credit for: they did seem genuinely connected, and like a nice, happy married couple. They seemed to support each other and have fun together, and I think they both looked like they were enjoying themselves throughout the whole trip. It might seem like a pretty dull and obvious point to make, but William's parents tended to look like they hated each other during royal tours, and I don't even know what to say about the Queen's marriage (not that I would dare speak of it!). I keep saying it, and I keep getting yelled at for saying it, but I'll just say it again: while Kate seems like a nice girl, she's not a "natural" at this, nor does she have the "star quality" that everybody seems to want her to have. All of this - the People cover, the thousands of articles about how Kate "conquered" America and Canada, it all seems like a full-on propaganda campaign to CREATE another "star" in the royal family. People are hungry for it, I get it. The years in between Princess Diana's death and William's marriage were exceedingly dull for the royal family, and people want Kate to be The Next Big Thing. I just don't think she's going to live up to those expectations. 
Photos courtesy of Fame.
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| Justin Theroux met “secretly” with his ex to apologize for Jennifer Aniston Posted: 13 Jul 2011 07:01 AM PDT 
According to this week's Star Magazine, Jennifer Aniston's newly de-furred boyfriend Justin Theroux is already seeing another woman behind Jen's back! That "other woman"? His original girlfriend, Heidi Bivens, the one that Justin was with for 14 years. Is this scandalous? Is this even shocking, that two people who were together for so many years would somehow end up having a conversation after the breakup? Well, ask Jennifer Aniston. She's always said she still talks to Brad (although her dad says she doesn't). Justin reaches out to ex Heidi Bivens after hearing she was spotted with another man — is Jen destined for another heartbreak? Jennifer Aniston's latest romance with actor and write Justin Theroux may be over almost as quickly as it started — he is already seeing his ex Heidi Bivens again! Star reports, "Justin and Heidi secretly met on Father's Day, and Justin spent most of their time together apologizing for acting like a cad." Uh-oh Jen! One person who may not be surprised by Justin's devious ways is Jen's best friend Courteney Cox, who apparently warned her pal about her new man. "Courteney has begged Jen to dump Justin," a friend tells the magazine. Courteney may be right too! "[Justin's] already complaining how Jen is suffocating him, so suddenly he's wondering if he broke up with Heidi too quickly."
[From Hollywood Life] Yeah, I just don't see how there's anyway that Justin could have come out of a 14-year relationship after having some kind of torrid (alleged, or not so much) affair and NOT end up apologizing to Heidi. Unless he's just that big of jagoff - and while he might seem like a jag in general, I kind of like him more if he really went to Heidi and apologized. As for the part about Justin already feeling suffocated - er… he knew what he was signing on for. Hang in there, Justin! I have money riding on the relationship lasting through February 2012! Meanwhile, British tabloids are claiming that Aniston has only been able to achieve a "successful relationship" with Justin because of extensive therapy to overcome her trust issues. Sure. The sources claim… hahaha… that Aniston has been doing couples' therapy on her own. Of course. "She's been doing a really intensive form of couples' therapy on her own. She's conquered the crippling trust issues she had… [Aniston and Theroux] are so, so madly in love. He makes her feel happier than she has ever done in her whole life. Justin isn't like the other guys she has met, he doesn't pretend not to be into her, he tells her how much he loves her and all he asks for is honesty in return. Jen says Justin completes her and that if she hadn't had therapy, she may have driven him away."
[From Music Rooms] I'm already getting sleepy with the media's constant need to turn Aniston into a victim. How many things are victimizing her this week? It's endless. Meanwhile, OK! Magazine has a decent interview with Millionaire Matchmaker Patti Stanger about this whole Justin & Jen sitation here - Patti thinks that Aniston has found her "One" and that they could get married. 
Photos courtesy of WENN.
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| Linnocent’s Plum Miami cover story is a portrait of a crackhead catastrophe Posted: 13 Jul 2011 06:43 AM PDT 
These are some outtakes from Linnocent's cracked-out photo shoot in Miami, back in May before her "house arrest" started. You may remember that she flew down to Miami and seemingly partied her ass off for days under the auspices of "working". Her "work" is now just being a budget, cracked-out model, this time for a cover piece with Plum Miami Magazine. Many people used to say about Linnocent's photo shoots, "Well, the camera still loves her, despite the fact that she's a cracked-out mess." Not so much anymore. Anyway, I put this in the links yesterday, but it deserves its own post - Radar got the exclusive "excerpt" from Linnocent's Plum Miami piece. I shall call this article "Portrait of a Crackhead Catastrophe": Lindsay Lohan’s lifestyle is brilliantly put to words by Plum Miami writer Jacquelynn D. Powers in an incisive new magazine story titled The Long Goodbye, detailing how the actress showed the author both sides of her personality, for better or for worse, on a recent trip to South Florida. Powers tells the story of how she shadowed the Mean Girls star for a few days, with a photoshoot and last but not least, an interview scheduled at the end of the weekend trip, prior to Lindsay beginning her 35-day house arrest sentence earlier this summer. With sharp, unflinching words, Powers described the juxtaposition that is LiLo — ranging from a charming, generous, personable star-of-the-people, to an out-of-control Tinseltown snob constantly on the prowl for the next booze-drenched party. Upon arriving at the Fort Lauderdale airport, Powers writes: “In the chauffeured Lincoln Navigator, it was all about puffing Parliament Lights and Miami chitchat with her entourage. Lindsay traveled with a revolving pack of pseudo-chaperones, whose most responsible member was her 17-year-old sister, Aliana.” In another sequence, Lindsay, en route to one of the city’s top hot spots, shows off classic Hollywood arrogance despite being a long way from Sunset Boulevard. “As we pulled up to the Fontainebleau, a bright-orange parking cone was blocking the entrance,” Powers writes. “Not accustomed to waiting, apparently, she lowered the car's window and shouted, ‘Move that cone. I'm Lindsay Lohan.’ And it was done. This foreshadowed the arrogance and demanding personality she exhibited as her sweet-girl façade started slipping.” During another moment of observation, Powers noted that “Lindsay's aura — while professional — seemed almost melancholy. She was pretty and talented, albeit a little sad and weary. And constantly looking for drama, whether it was picking a fight with her younger sister … or freaking out over a lost pair of Zanotti heels.” When she wasn’t looking for drama, Powers wrote, she was out painting the town red. “Saturday was another night at LIV, and all that implies. Sunday was an all-day party in the penthouse and on the beach. When I arrived at The Raleigh at 7 p.m. to conduct my interview, even her handlers were incoherent. Car services were sent and rebuffed. "Even Aliana departed, but Lindsay wouldn't end the party … it was like watching the lights come on at a nightclub after-hours — not pretty." So how did the interview itself go? “I never got my interview,” Powers wrote. “My associates and I were exhausted from the constant demands, drama, outbursts, cancellations and tsoris from the Lohan clique.”
[From Radar] It sounds like… I called it. Most of you called it too, to be fair. This is the kind of thing I think about whenever someone defends Linnocent's behavior or gives her the benefit of the doubt: she doesn't deserve it. THIS is how she behaves when she's around a journalist - a cracked-out drama queen, an entitled little bitch, and a woman who still doesn't know when to stop. It's not sad. It's pathetic, and I mean that in the most contemptuous way possible. Linnocent doesn't deserve anything - no more "chances," no more sympathy, no more attention, no more "work". She's just pathetic. Oh, Plum Miami hasn't released their cover or anything yet, but they did release a "behind the scenes" video of the photo shoot. Someone says something about how they didn't want to make Linnocent look like a "bad girl" - "We want to make her innocent and sweet." So… I guess they did the photo shoot before the interview. BTW: HER LIPS. Jesus, her crack lips are so jacked. I can't help but stare at them. 
Photos courtesy of Alan Gelati/PLUM Miami, via Gelati's website.
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| Jennifer Lopez’s new photo shoot: tragic, dated and/or fabulous? Posted: 13 Jul 2011 06:11 AM PDT 
I'm not sure if these images are new, but I think they probably are. The Mail says that these are the promotional images for Jennifer Lopez's new album, and her latest single "(What Is) Love?". Yes, J.Lo is wearing a metal jumpsuit ("onesie"), and yes, she's wearing hot pants AND a Mongolian lamb coat, and YES, she's wearing some kind of additional onesie with some 80s-style "rips" in the thighs. It's all very dated. J.Lo doesn't know that there's a new millennium upon us. Oh, and it's looking like Jennifer is smart enough to realize that she's only relevant again because she's on American Idol, and she probably renewed her contract: The On The Floor singer is set to return as a judge on American Idol next year. Although she refused to be drawn on the topic when she appeared on the U.S. morning show Today when she announced she would be playing the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas in September with Lady Gaga and Coldplay, insiders say the paperwork has all be sorted. Apparently, the star has already signed a deal that will see her back on the panel for the 11th season of the show. Also set to return are Steve Tyler and Randy Jackson. Only a month ago, Lopez told the BBC that she wasn't sure if she wanted to come back to the hit Fox reality competition. She mused: ‘I don’t know. I haven’t been forced to make a decision and I’m glad about that because honestly I’m very on the fence about it. I had an amazing time doing it and I loved it, but I have a lot other things happening, and it’s going to come down to me making a choice of what I want to do for the next year and we’re not really at the breaking point of “You have to make a decision right now!” I’m just really enjoying the time of just waiting and seeing.’ American Idol Season 11 kicks off in early 2012. Meanwhile, a release date for (What Is) Love? has yet to be confirmed. It will be the third single from the star’s seventh album Love?, following her smash hits On The Floor and I’m Into You, which went to Number One and Number Nine respectively.
[From The Mail] As I've said before, it was one of Jennifer's smartest career decisions when she agreed to come on Idol, and she and the Idol brand have worked well together. I hope they continue to work well together in the years to come, just because Jennifer amuses me, and I enjoy her shenanigans. She's a legend in her own mind! 
Photos courtesy of The Mail.
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| Megan Fox’s “no Botox” face courtesy of Botox and Photoshop, obviously Posted: 13 Jul 2011 06:10 AM PDT 
Late last week, Megan Fox posted some photos of herself on Facebook trying to pull faces. The title of the photo set was “Things you can't do with your face when you have Botox.” Well maybe Megan should have titled that “Things you can’t do with your face until the Botox settles,” because experts have chimed in to say that the photos show evidence of past Botox use and also that they seem to be Photoshopped, particularly in this image where she has a bizarre swirly pattern of wrinkles on her forehead that would be impossible to achieve in nature. Kudos to all of you who commented that the human forehead does not normally do this:
Here’s the article, which is what many of you were saying already but it’s nice to read the same sentiment from plastic surgeons and dermatologists: "Looks like Megan is just as talented with Photoshop as she is in entertainment," said plastic surgeon and blogger Dr. Nicholas Vendemia of New York. "Those lines on her forehead are totally fake. … Muscles in the forehead and brow simply don't create curved wrinkles like that. The wrinkles Megan is showing us don't coincide with brow anatomy, nor do they match the facial expression she is making." Dermatologist Dr. Vince Afsahi of Tustin and Newport Beach said, "The photo looks altered. The muscles in the forehead do not usually create an arc-like pattern seen in the photo. … Anatomically [it] does not make sense." Dermatologic surgeon Dr. David Sire of Fullerton said, "I have never seen the frontalis [forehead] muscle do this unless the muscle was surgically cut. It appears as if she is frowning and elevating her brow at the same time. Quite a feat!" Plastic surgeon Dr. Val Lambros of Newport Beach said he's undecided about whether the photos are fake, but the pattern of wrinkles in the top photo "looks odd to me" while a second one "looks bogus. Frown lines just don't look like that and if you look at the position of the medial brows [the part closest to the nose], they do not seem to move." The doctors' doubts are in response to four photos that Fox, 25, posted on her Facebook page last week, showing herself scowling and raising her eyebrows. She labeled the photos "Things You Can't Do with Your Face When You Have Botox." Some doctors interpreted the photos as showing a Botox patient in whom the effects of the wrinkle-smoothing drug are starting to fade. "This photo [top] is totally consistent with the wrinkle pattern you will see in someone whose Botox has begun wearing off," said plastic surgeon Dr. Terry Dubrow of Newport Beach. "When you have Botox to the entire face, different parts wear off at different rates and can give you a strangish-looking pattern of wrinkles until it all wears off. I bet this photo was taken the day before her Botox appointment. "She's a beautiful girl and should ease up on the Botox and obvious filler she has in her lips," Dubrow said. "She's starting to look a bit alien and should consider parking her spaceship for a while." Plastic surgeon and blogger Dr. John Di Saia of San Clemente and Orange said, "Maybe Ms. Fox has just shown us that she has not done her usual whole forehead Botox but now has scaled back to just the glabella [the area between the eyebrows]. I believe this explains the foreign appearance best." In the top photo, "it looks like the Botox is wearing off but part of the effect is still in," Di Saia said.
A second photo of Fox frowning looks like a patient from several years ago whom Di Saia injected only between the eyebrows, he said.
[From OC Register via ONTD] I love that comment: “She's starting to look a bit alien and should consider parking her spaceship for a while.” Why do celebrities do this? Why do they deny and try to act like their beauty was naturally achieved when they look like an entirely different person? Do they think we’re stupid and that their work is so subtle that it’s not noticeable? Megan doesn’t even look like someone who is genetically related to her 1.0 version, which again is this (from 2004). Remember she’s only 25 now.
 Would it kill Megan to own up to Botox, fillers and her obvious nose job? She’s probably had even more done. If she doesn’t want people to question her on the whole plastic surgery and injectables issue she shouldn’t even bring it up. If she would have kept quiet about it we wouldn’t be talking about her other than that whole issue with her getting canned from Transformers and Shia being a kiss and tell douche, though. She wants to change focus and this is the best she can do. 
Megan is shown on the set of The Dictator in NY on 7/11/11. We saw some of these photos yesterday but I thought I’d include them again. Credit: WENN.com  |
| Katie Holmes: “Suri is an amazing athlete, singer & dancer” Posted: 13 Jul 2011 05:53 AM PDT 
Katie Holmes is the cover girl for the August issue of InStyle, as I talked about yesterday. I didn't have access to these interview excerpts, though - Katie talking about why Suri is rarely seen in a coat. That issue is kind of old - weren't people talking about that constantly, like, two years ago? And then the "Why isn't Suri wearing a coat?" issue faded away and the next issue was "Why is Suri wearing heels, like her daddy?" And then that issue faded and the newest issue is "Why does Katie insist on taking Suri out for midnight runs for fancy New York City c-ckblockers?" I'm still waiting for Katie to explain that one (I want her to spell it out, like she did for P-E-N-I-S Gummis), but in the meantime, I'll listen to her explain the old coat issue, plus the Kate-bot muses about Suri’s future as an actress, and Suri’s take on fashion: Speaking to InStyle magazine, Katie Holmes admits to being red-faced over the pictures of Suri not wearing a coat in winter. ‘Recently, Suri and I were taking a walk and a fight got started because it was cold outside and she didn’t want to wear her coat,’ she tells the magazine. ‘My philosophy is, well, fine, because after a block of walking you’re going to ask me for your coat. So the pictures of her [without a coat in cold weather] are sort of embarrassing, but I said, “Suri, I’ll take the hit. Just put it on when you get cold”.’ Katie also discusses Suri’s future in show business. "I think she's going to do a lot of different things. She's an amazing athlete, singer, and dancer, and I think she'll probably be an actress," Katie says. Also, Katie says: "I do not dress her. She dresses herself! Obviously, I buy her clothes, but she is the one who puts her outfits together. In fact, she helps me. If she likes something of mine, I know it's good.” She has revealed a lengthy list of other actresses she looks up to. ‘I love Renée [Zellweger], she can do no wrong in my eyes,’ she says. ‘I relate to every character she embodies, because she has no pretense. I also love Amy Adams. She’s so kind and talented, and whenever I watch her I think, “I want to be her friend” - I’ve seen Enchanted many times with my daughter. Meryl Streep, of course. And I love what Cate Blanchett brings to every movie she does.’
[From The Mail and Hollywood Life] While I think that it would be nice to hear a story from Katie that ended with "…And so I realized that I was the adult in this situation, and I ordered Suri to do what I said with a simple 'BECAUSE I'M YOUR MOTHER'," I do understand Katie's argument. My mother reminds me all the time that for a year, when I was a toddler, I refused to wear shoes. I was fine with socks. But I absolutely HATED shoes. My mom was all "meh" and yes, I grew out of it (although I still mostly just wear flip-flops, come to think of it). My point? Katie knows/hopes that Suri's anti-coat stance shall pass. As far as Suri being “amazing” at singing, dancing and athletics… hm. Don’t get me wrong, I have no doubt that Suri will end up a performer, but I think little Suri’s teenage years are going to be particularly rough on her parents, and we’ll see how “amazing” everything is when she’s 16. 
Photos courtesy of Fame & WENN.
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| Sarah Jessica Parker: “We don’t have any live-in help, we’re hands-on parents” Posted: 13 Jul 2011 05:52 AM PDT 
Yesterday, I covered the first excerpts from Sarah Jessica Parker's Vogue cover profile for the August issue. The problem I have with SJP is that the more she talks, the more I dislike her. If she keeps quiet, and I'm just looking at photos of her, I usually have affection for her. In this case, the photo shoot is pissing me off as much as the interview. Vogue and other fashion magazines have the nasty little habit of using small children in their photo shoots. It's not a simple matter of photographing kids - it's that the kids are often used as "props" or "accessories" in the fashion shoot. Such it is with this SJP shoot - I'm guessing that Testino shot SJP in her home, with her kids and her husband, but that Anna Wintour didn't just want "candid"-type photos of a realistic family. Instead, SJP is all dolled up to the nines, standing amongst the "prop" messy house, messy babies, etc. Also: considering that SJP is promoting a film about "the myth" of a woman having it all, it seems hypocritical that the photo shoot merely reinforces the myth. You can read the whole Vogue piece here, and here are some additional highlights that I haven't covered already: On the paparazzi, fame and why she'll never move away from NYC: The paparazzi may stalk her every single time she walks James Wilkie to school or takes the girls out—"They follow every move I make until I'm back inside the house"—but she refuses to withdraw. "You do start to understand the behind-the-gate mentality, the getting in the car in your driveway," she says as she pours herself tea, "but I can't imagine living in seclusion. We flirted with it. We went outside the city and troubled all these Realtors and stood in these homes and fantasized, and then I kept picturing nine o'clock at night and"—she breaks into mime, drumming her fingers on her crossed knees and staring into the middle distance. "The beautiful thing about New York is, you have to expose yourself to other people the minute you step outside the door. There is no choice. And I love that." Plus, of course, there's the cultural life. Broderick, a born-and-bred New Yorker, works mostly on Broadway. Next spring he will star in Nice Work if You Can Get It, directed by Kathleen Marshall. As for Parker, "If I didn't have kids," she says, "I would be at the theater or the ballet every single night of my life." Borrowing beautiful clothes, like vintage McQueen: "I love the opportunity to wear something really special and go to a wonderful event at some great cultural institution," she says. "Not to sound too Pollyanna about it, but I really didn't imagine when I was a little girl that I would be there to see it all myself." On-Set, first week jitters and Pierce Brosnan: "I lose my appetite," she says. "By Wednesday of the first week on I Don't Know How She Does It, I was sobbing, I was apologizing. I was feeling so awful and ashamed, like I had let the director down. If only they would not tell me when the camera was running, I would be OK. I'm like that two weeks into every movie. But the beauty of nerves is that you can always find a comrade in it. When Pierce came"—Pierce Brosnan plays her colleague and potential romantic interest—"he was a nervous wreck! Of course, by then I was really relaxed, but I was so comforted by it." Even James Bond gets the jitters. The end of her own Sex & the City experience: Parker knew it was time to move on. The 20-hour days on set, during which she also worked as producer, were no longer viable once she became a mother. "It wasn't hard when I didn't have children," she says. "I loved it. But I ultimately chose to stop doing the television series because I felt like it required, and deserved, a lot of time when I really wanted to be a parent." Also, she says, circumstances had changed. "It was such a different time in the city, culturally, socially, economically . . . the kind of liberty that Carrie Bradshaw had. You couldn't start off with a story like that today." Her crazy schedule: "It's a pretty simple setup," she says of the domestic situation she shares with her husband, Matthew Broderick. There's a nanny for their toddler twins, Loretta and Tabitha, and someone else to help with the logistics of eight-year-old James Wilkie's schedule. "We don't have any live-in help. We're pretty hands-on parents. That's something that's important to both of us, and we don't shirk it, because what's the point in having a family if you're not going to really participate in it, you know?" For now, she schedules her meetings after walking James Wilkie to school but tries to be home after the twins' afternoon nap. "I feel like if I'm only missing up until 3:30, when they wake up, that's not so awful." She doesn't use a cell phone, except in emergencies; for her it's e-mail or texts, "otherwise it's one more thing I'm trying to keep up with." The twins: After her much-publicized struggles with fertility, Parker had her daughters via a surrogate, and, in their white sandals, slightly outgrown smock dresses, and hair ribbons, they couldn't be more adorable. Loretta is bigger and fairer than Tabitha, who is tiny and olive-skinned, with enormous brown eyes. "Tabitha's very, very outgoing, but physically she's very shy," says Parker. "She shakes in elevators; it's very sweet, like Bambi. And then Loretta is pale, like my husband, with piercing blue eyes. But she's physically bold." Watching them, she marvels at how they could be so different and yet so recognizably related. "I think it's funny how much she looks like my husband," she says of Tabitha. "Except then I look at Loretta and she has my husband's mouth and sort of sad eyes, you know the kind that go down? The Broderick eyes. They both really look like him." Being an older parent: "I guess I think there are things about it that I hope have made me a better mother," she says. "I've had a lot of opportunities to do the things that I wanted to do, like sleep. I have slept till 11:00 for a lot of years. Honestly, the only thing that I'm concerned about is the energy: I hope I can maintain the energy. I think about all the years I've spent parenting James Wilkie and everything I put into it, and there are two of them."
[From Vogue] At the end of the day, I think I'm consistently put off by SJP because she's just one of those women who are self-perpetuating hurricanes of multi-tasking, and I just don't see how she finds the time to do any of it, or understand WHY she feels the need to wear so many hats when she could just sit down, calm down and focus on one thing at a time, which is my general approach to life ("Slow and steady wins the race" is one of my favorite sayings). I don't even have kids, and some days I'm so busy that I skip taking a shower. So how does SJP do it? I have no idea. THAT should be the point of the film and the press for the film - that SJP is just a woman on the verge, like me and like so many of us. But that's not SJP's message, at least that's not the way I'm reading it. Her message seems to be: "See a movie where I play a woman who juggles everything in her life, often unsuccessfully, but in real life I have it all and then some." It's off-putting. 
Photos courtesy of Testino/Vogue, slideshow here.
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