Castle-Hughes: "Media Made Me Feel Ashamed of Pregnancy"
Australian actress Keisha Castle-Hughes was forced to hide her bump while she was pregnant last year, because the heavy criticism she encountered in the press made her feel ashamed of becoming a young mother. The Whale Rider star was just 16 when she fell pregnant with 19-year-old boyfriend Bradley Hull's baby, and because of the media furor surrounding her age, she felt she was doing wrong by celebrating her impending motherhood. She says, "It hurt at the time because it's supposed to be a huge celebration. I was supposed to be able to go, 'Wow, I'm having a baby and this is amazing'. I felt like that I had to hide. I felt like it was bad for me to be happy about it." And she admits the constant presence of paparazzi outside her house in New Zealand was a "scary" experience. She adds, "I felt scared in my own home and it was horrible. I should be entitled to walk around my front yard without worrying that these people are watching me." Um...Keisha Castle-Hughes, I understand that you are excited about being a mother, but the fact that you are an Academy Award nominated actress doesn't mean you aren't a part of the teenage pregnancy statistic. You are 16...if you went to my high school (when I was there), you would be friends with that crazy pregnant freshman who was so proud of being pregnant that she talked loudly and a lot about her baby shower, only to disappear in the middle of March to have her baby, never to return again. And while you are a successful actress and so won't be worrying about which McDonald's is hiring, you are still like that girl -- hopelessly naive.
You are a teenage mother, and while you shouldn't be ashamed of that if you don't want to be, the fact that you can't recognize why people are criticizing you is EXACTLY the reason why you are being criticized. It's not just naivete, but a teenage ignorance of the world around you. While you think you're special because you're an actress, you don't realize that most people aren't actresses and see things through a real world lens. That lens tells them you are throwing away opportunities to enjoy yourself and be young. Now you might interpret that as good, as in a baby will keep you from being Paris Hilton, and that's a good thing. But, if you don't have that self-control in the first place, don't have a baby. Secondly, being young is about going to clubs with no underwear on, drinking, dancing, being spontaneous, and making mistakes (all in moderation of course). You can't do that with a baby, and that's a shame for you.
Basically, Keisha Castle-Hughes, be excited, be a good mother, and enjoy yourself, but most of all, see where everyone else is coming from and stop complaining about it. You made your bed, but society has made theirs first. So you have to lie in both.
...
or something.
