Cruella De Ville

Is it me, or has Kate, made famous for basically having 8 children and being clever enough to lock-in a reality TV show, being made out to be Cruella De Ville by all the gossip rags? Why do we love to vilify mothers? This whole story fascinates me endlessly even though I’ve only watched that show a handful of times. I don’t need a reality show to convince me that having 8 children, including sextuplets, would be a freaking nightmare.

Now, I’ve watched it enough to know that I get Kate; I like her, I understand how she ticks. I think she can be funny but basically she’s pretty much always teetering on the edge of being grumpy and you can see that her head is the next 10 steps ahead of where everyone else needs to be and she is plotting how they are going to get there. I respect her for that. The woman is organized, opinionated, in control and moderately bossy. She needs to be. If she weren’t, we’d be vilifying her for the same reasons we vilify the octomom.

I’ve also watched the show just enough to see that her husband is pretty lazy and basically takes very little initiative but sure does get annoyed when his wife bosses him.  His wife runs that household like a well-oiled machine and best I can tell – he has very little to do with it. Again, hats off to Kate.

So here we are totally enraptured by the infidelity crisis rocking the family – and what do I see all over the gossip rags – headlines like “From Mom to Monster” with a hideously unflattering picture of Kate shortly after she birthed the sextuplets and then today, the kids are now 5.

OK first – no one looks good after they’ve had a child – let alone 6 – so that is just rude to put the earlier picture on the mags. And second, while Kate has a really butt haircut and someone needs to tell her it’s not 1992 anymore (or whenever that hair might have been acceptable), power to her that she’s totally hot now and got her tummy tuck paid for by TLC.

But again, that is immaterial here – she is being vilified on the cover of magazines when what has landed her on the cover of these mags is her husband’s dumb affair with some even dumber (is that a word?) 23 year old child. I mean, if you are carrying on an affair not just with a married father, but a married father of EIGHT CHILDREN who has a reality TV show, you might be one of the dumbest people in the free world. Why would you want to take that on? He’s not going to leave his wife for you, sweetheart, and even if he did – trust me – you don’t want him. He is responsible for 8 kids.

So back to the issue at hand. Why is Kate being cast under the microscope here? In particular, her mothering skills – because her mothering skills have nothing to do with an alleged affair. And furthermore, if he was driven away because his wife was bossy – well grow up asshole – she doesn’t have an extra second of time to sugar coat the orders she barks at you and she wouldn’t be barking them if you took some initiative and did something helpful without being told. My other favorite is the trashing of her because she doesn’t pay enough attention to her husband.

Umm….can the people writing this hear what they are writing? And have they ever spent even 5 minutes with a small child – let alone 8 of them? Exactly how much time is this woman supposed to have at the end of the day to dote on her husband? And is it 1952 all of a sudden? When is he doting on her? Last time I checked, marriage was a two-way street. I have trouble finding time to “dote” (I just puked in my mouth a little) on my DH and I only have two kids.

So again – we are vilifying Kate – when her husband is the asshole cheating on his wife. Is it because women make up the largest percentage of readers of these gossip rags and we like to read about other women? So it’s more interesting to us to read about Kate and everything that makes her suck – instead of her husband? It’s just like the Jenny Anny-Brad Pitt – Angelina Jolie triangle – the microscope is still on Jenny Anny whenever she makes a move and we love to focus on Angie being the “other woman” – but does anyone remember that Brad is the asshole who cheated on his wife?

My other fav criticisms of her are that she has a nanny that she keeps off-camera. Umm…she damn well ought to have a nanny. DD1’s preschool class consists of 8 children and three adults full time – there’s no way just one teacher could handle 8 kids. Why is a mother expected to be any different? Has anyone considered what Kate would do when 6 of the 8 all have to pee at the same time? Seriously – just think about that for a second and then find yourself wondering why she has only one nanny, instead of ridiculing her for having one. I also love that she was criticized for going tanning on mother’s day…..umm…it’s f’ing mother’s day – isn’t she supposed to take a break and do what she wants?

Anyhoo – I missed the Jon and Kate season premiere but will def DVR it when it repeats because there some odd fascination to the train wreck and raw emotion that comes with this situation – but again – it’s really sad because this is a family we are all talking about. I will also probably continue to devour the gossip rags but know that part of it is because I am addicted to reading about how they are vilifying Kate next and I just remain in disbelief.

For those of you dying for an update on the battle against DD2 and her nightly conversations…I am superstitious and don’t want to jinx myself – so let’s just say that it’s working to my advantage right now and when I feel that we are in the clear – I will give you a full report.

Tune in later this week for “Denied” part two…why my mother of the year application for 2010 will definitely be rejected….