We've all seen swimmer Micheal Phelps' mother and sisters cheering him on from the stands as he makes history at the Beijing Olympics. Conspicuously missing from this family picture is his father, Fred. Not only is Fred absent in China, he hasn't even spoken to his son since the games began.
"He's so busy, I'm sure not even his agent can get a hold of him," Fred said. "I'm very proud of him and all he's done. This is not about me, it's about him." Michael's parents were high school sweethearts who divorced when he was just nine years old. "It was like a storybook [marriage], but sometimes chapters go in different directions," says his mother Debbie. "We were close, but we grew apart."
Clearly Fred Phelps grew apart not just from his wife, but from his son as well. When Fred showed up at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Michael admitted that up until that point, he hadn't been in contact with his father since he graduated high school. He also revealed that his father hadn't even reached out to him after he set his first world record in 2001. "There are reasons and I really don't want to get into that," Michael said.
Whatever those reasons were, they clearly were not resolved. After the 2004 Games, father and son became estranged once more. And while Fred Phelps watches from afar, Michael Phelps gives credit for his success where credit is due. "The person I love the most is sitting in the front row - my mom - for everything she's done," Michael told reporters in Beijing.
(Click the photo to see the 10 Dumbest Laws in America)
For one thirteen-day-old baby, life is turning out to be no cake walk. A newborn brought into the world nearly two weeks ago by native Indian Priti Patel, who served as a surrogate mother, is stuck in India. Her would-be parents, Ikufumi Yamada and Yuki Yamada, divorced right before she was born.
Yuki no longer wants to adopt the child, but Ikufumi does. According to Indian law, however, children may not be adopted by single men. As a result, the newborn is living in India with Ikufumi 's mother, who is staying on to care for the newborn. The baby has yet to be adopted. Since she has no adoption papers, she cannot be issued a passport. And, because she can't get a passport, she can't leave the country.
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Patel has also left the scene after serving as the surrogate. She is part of a process known as commercial surrogacy wherein couples who cannot have a child on their own provide the sperm and eggs to a surrogate mother, who carries the child to term and then is paid a fee for her services. The couple then generally adopt their child and are on their merry way. Not so much for the twelve-day-old, who at this point I don't think even has a name! What a sad state things are in when a little technical legality keeps a man from legitimately adopting his own child!
Did you ever play with paper dolls? Perhaps you did when you were young. Perhaps, even now, you continue to collect them for nostalgia's sake, or to refrain back to your old days when you didn't have kids and were one yourself. Well, in the world of paper dolls comes along a set that is fun and humorous and possibly just a wee bit controversial: The pregnant paper doll.
The pregnant paper doll is intended as a gift for the mother-to-be who has a sense of humor and doesn't mind yet one more reminder that her waist is about to become a thing of the past. There's a doll and requisite set of clothes for each trimester, including what some women call the "fourth" trimester--you know, the one after the baby is born but you still feel and look ginormous? The first trimester offers a few tummy-bearing options and some strategic layering, while the third trimester offers sweatpants, a mu mu, and, oddly, a wedding dress.
Not sure what comment the creators of the paper dolls had in mind when they decided to add that garb to the mix. Are they secretly (or not so much) hinting that pregnant women ought to get married? Maybe I'm just being overly analytical; after all they are just paper dolls. The only other thing I think is worth mentioning is that this is a kitchshy item that, while fun, will most likely just sit on the shelf. No mom-to-be is going to take time out of her busy nesting schedule to cut these out.
Unless you've maintained one of your own, it's difficult to describe how addictive keeping a blog can be. Having a corner of the internet people visit just to read your words and thoughts on life and issues can make an ordinary housewife feel like an A-list celebrity.
So you might guess it would be easier for a celebrity to give up their blogging habit, as they already have opportunities in the limelight and have supporters and fans outside the internet. Rosie O'Donnell, who just announced plans to take a blogging break for the month of August, begs to differ. Her most recent blog post read:
i am taking off august in blog-ville 2 c if i can rosie unplugged happy summer peeps peace in peace out
The opinionated former talk show host shared with People magazine, "I'm wondering if I can do it. Every time I watch [the TV show] Intervention I'm like, 'They need this show for people who need to get off their computers!' My real addiction is the computer and the blog."
Some things Rosie could do to help survive her non-blogging month:
Take the kids to the beach
Create toupees for Donald Trump out of craft supplies
Prank call "The View"
Cover Elizabeth Hasselbeck's toilet seats with plastic wrap
We all know the economy is bad these days -- have you filled up your car lately? bought milk? checked the stock market? For many families, the one thing standing between them and financial stress is Mom's job. Except that in an economic downturn, women's jobs may be at particular risk, according to a government study released this week.
So don't count on Mom to pay for your gas.
Wives are providing up to thirty percent of household income, the study states, which is a big number, even in a house with two wage earners. In addition, nearly one quarter of kids in this country are being raised by single mothers, which leaves them particularly at risk should Mom lose her job.
Why are women more likely to lose their jobs than men? The study blames this partly on the fact that since the last recession, in 2001, women haven't really found a foothold in the job market again, with fewer women working now than seven years ago. Women are also statistically more likely to lose manufacturing jobs than are their male coworkers. It's possible that this is due to the fact that women, particularly women with kids, often opt for flexible or part-time work schedules, which are typically the first to go in times of economic belt tightening. Or maybe it's just that women are easier to fire.
Anecdotally, I am hearing stories of families who have decided that Mom's job costs too much -- that transportation and day care and other related expenses are outweighing whatever paycheck comes home. Of course, those are moms who are quitting, not getting laid off. Either way, though, it seems that women's jobs are more expendable than men's.
For someone who had little to say about her pregnancy, Minnie Driver is certainly opening up these days. She won't reveal the name of the baby's father and she has no plans on finding out the baby's sex before the big day, but she has a lot to say about the rest of parenting.
The actress recently revealed she has no real plans to stay with the baby's father and is seriously considering single motherhood. Now she admits she is prepared to be a "chubby" mother as well. As opposed to other Hollywood starlets who look like they were never pregnant to begin with (Keri Russell, I'm talking to YOU) or those who hit the gym moments after they shed the placenta and worked out frantically to reduce their size, Minnie has no plans to do anything other than be a mommy! Take that, Kate Hudson! (Hudson gained seventy pounds with son Ryder.)
Driver says to plan on seeing her around Malibu, and to plan on seeing her fat. As most of us realistic gals know, it takes a year to put it on, and heaven knows it can take at least a year to take it back off--if we ever do. Nice to hear someone from tinsel town taking a breath of reality! I doubt Minnie will stay 'chubby' as she likes to call it, given that she gained a ton of weight for her breakout role in Circle of Friends and lost all of it, but only time will tell. I just wish someone would advise Minnie she doesn't look fat now that she's pregnant--she looks fantastic!
Minnie Driver may want to give Bridget Moynahan a call. Ms. Moynahan has experience in something Minnie thinks she may be taking on pretty soon: single motherhood. The actress, who is expecting any day now, says she isn't certain whether or not she'll stay with the baby's father and is considering single motherhood as a definite option. Minnie has even set the stage for the possibility of a man-free world by surrounding herself with family and friends to help rear the baby.
According to the actress she'll have her mother, aunt and best friends to support her. Minnie has still refused to let on who the father of the baby is. She is also quoted as saying it's great to be independent in that way--and she certainly already has a leg up on that by denying the Hollywood gossip rags info on the baby daddy! Way to go, Minnie!
Minnie has also stated she'll probably go for a regular old baby name instead of some type of fruit, a day of the week or something that belongs on a space station. We'll see about that--she's resisted telling us the baby's daddy, the sex and now she wants a normal name? Who is this person who does whatever she wants? Independent indeed!
Actor Gary Oldman has come clean about his preference for work. According to the actor, who was once married to Uma Thurman, he'd rather take on projects that let him spend more time with his children.
Oldman, star of the recent Batman films but normally known as the bad guy (True Romance, anyone?) sees like a tough guy in real life. Not so, at least not anymore. Maybe it was all those Harry Potter films. Although he alleges his ambition isn't what it once was, and that he'd rather spend quality time with his kids, starring in such huge hits as Batman Returns and the aforementioned Potter flicks is no small feat! Most actors would be lucky to even be considered for such roles.
So, looks like Oldman will get to have his proverbial cake and eat it too--only with his kids at the table! His main reason for signing on to Batman 2--director Chris Nolan lets him get home in time to put his kids to bed. That's a far cry from the man who was accused by Thurman of being,er, not so nice to her!
Former boxing heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield hasn't fought a match in a while, but he is still making the newspapers. Unfortunately, he's in the legal notices section and the news isn't good. Holyfield's $10 million estate in Atlanta, Georgia is facing foreclosure and is about to be auctioned off to the highest bidder.
If that wasn't enough to make the champ want to punch someone, he is also facing deadbeat dad charges from one of the mothers of his children. Holyfield has been married just twice, but admits to at least nine children fathered out of wedlock. One of those children is a 10-year-old son with Toi Jenese Irvin. Irvin has gone to court claiming Holyfield is behind on his child support payments and now owes her $9000. She also says that Holyfield hasn't maintained a health insurance policy on their child despite a judge's order to do so.
It sounds like Holyfield is having some serious financial issues and the foreclosure and the child support issue may just be the beginning of things. Irvin's lawyer is aware of this and wants to make sure his client is at the top of the list when what's left of Holyfield's money is disbursed. "My concern is there may be a lot of other mothers not be getting paid, and I would like my client to be at front of the line," says her lawyer, Randy Kessler. And Kessler means business. If Holyfield doesn't pay up, the lawyer wants him tossed in jail. "This is such a small amount given the scope of what he has," Kessler said. "If Evander Holyfield can get away with it, anybody can. There are guys making $15,000 a year who go to jail for missing a $100 payment." Yeah, he's got a point there. I don't know what happened to the reported $200 million Holyfield has earned over the years, but perhaps he should have set a little of it aside to take care of all his kids.
Christie Brinkley's divorce proceedings aren't even underway yet and already the spectacle has begun. You may recall that the 54-year-old Brinkley filed for divorce from hubby Peter Cook after catching him cheating with a 19-year-old office assistant two years ago. If that wasn't humiliation enough, Brinkley now has to deal with Cook's new love inserting herself into the sure-to-be messy divorce proceedings.
After Brinkley kicked him to the curb, Cook began dating single mom Suzanne Shaw. She's the former lover of a Park Avenue dentist who dumped her when she was six months pregnant. Because of that experience, she says she sympathizes with Brinkley. "I've been there, and I feel for her," Shaw said.
However, Shaw is concerned about the public beating she is sure Brinkley has planned for Cook and would like the former supermodel to back off her boyfriend for the sake of the kids. "He obviously made a mistake," she says. "But one mistake doesn't erase years of being a good person.
"She's doing this to publicly flog him," she continues. "This shouldn't be about her. It should be about their kids, [and] it will mean long-term, protracted damage to them."
I understand Shaw wanting to protect her man, but I think she is way out of line here. This is about Christie Brinkley, her kids and her cheating ex-husband. Shaw is entitled to her opinion, but should seriously consider keeping her mouth shut. If I were Brinkley, Shaw's comments would infuriate me.
The story behind that headline isn't quite as weird as you might think, but it is still kind of strange. Larry Birkhead, former lover of Anna Nicole Smith and father of her child Dannielynn, has purchased a few pieces of the late star's lingerie. No, Larry isn't a secret cross-dresser. The pink bustier and white negligee purchased at auction for a total of $2,800 are for 1-year-old Dannielynn.
The sexy items were worn by Smith for a Playboy photo shoot and Birkhead thinks they are the perfect way to help his little girl remember her mother, who died of an accidental overdose in 2007. "You know, it's not something I can show today, but something down the road," he says. "It's not going to be in any bedtime stories anytime soon."
It is worth noting that the same auction featured some Marilyn Monroe memorabilia that fetched over $100,000. Larry Birkhead may be a caring dad trying to help is little girl hang on to a piece of her late mother, but he might also be a shrewd investor. In another 45 years or so, Smith's lingerie might be worth a whole lot more.
Earlier this year, when an unusually high number of girls began showing up in the Gloucester High School clinic asking for pregnancy tests, school officials began to wonder what was going on. Was it a fluke? Was it the influence of movies like Juno and Knocked Up? No, it was actually something much more disturbing : a group of girls at the Massachusetts high school had made a pact that they would all get pregnant and raise their babies together. By the time school was out for the summer, seventeen of them had succeeded in getting knocked up. On purpose.
What on earth would possess a group of high school girls to do this? Former student Amanda Ireland thinks she knows. She gave birth during her freshman year at Gloucester and says the reaction from her fellow students was not what you would expect. She wasn't shunned or pitied. She says she was envied by girls who wanted what they thought she was getting from her child: love. "They're so excited to finally have someone to love them unconditionally," Ireland says. "I try to explain it's hard to feel loved when an infant is screaming to be fed at 3 a.m."
Ireland was able to complete her education at Gloucester because the school goes to great lengths to support teen mothers. There is an on-site daycare and babies at school are a common site. But after administering some 150 pregnancy tests by May, the clinic's medical director, Dr. Brian Orr, and the school nurse, Kim Daly, began to advocate prescribing contraceptives without parental consent. That idea was promptly shot down and both have since resigned in protest. "Dr. Orr and Ms. Daly have no right to decide this for our children," says Mayor Carolyn Kirk.
Has success gotten to Alec Baldwin? Is he ready to throw in the sweaty, tear-soaked towel of Hollywood and make a go of it elsewhere? Quite possibly. Recently Alec, the eldest of the famous Baldwin brothers, took stock of all that has happened to him over the course of the last several years and feels he might be ready to say hasta la vista to Tinsel Town.
Between Alec's never-ending divorce from actress Kim Basinger, the ensuing very ugly custody battle, and some behavior Alec is ashamed to call his own regarding his daughter Ireland (he, uhm, referred to her as a selfish little pig, in case you don't remember), Alec has still found time to act and basically steal a show away from Tina Fey. Now, though, he is reconsidering what it's like to deal with the media non-stop and getting through it all just to act.
According to Alec, who recently spoke to the New York Post (which, by the way does nothing to ease your troubles in the media zealousness area), said that if you have four bad days in four years that is essentially all the public gets of you from the media. He also feels the business has changed and that there are other things outside of acting he'd like to get into. Alec also has repaired his relationship with his daughter and is looking for someone to love. Sounds like someone is having an epiphany!
Actress, Givenchy spokeswoman and all-around pretty lady Liv Tyler recently spilled the beans on what life has been like since becoming a single mom. The Hulk star recently split from Spacehog rocker Royston Langdon and has been going it solo with their four-year-old son, Milo.
Tyler, who has always seemed so down to earth to me, despite being daughter of rock legend Steven Tyler, says she spends her evenings at home in front of the television instead of partying. And, she likes it!
After five years in a high-profile marriage, I can imagine Liv, or anyone, enjoying the quiet life! Tyler says her other favorite activity other than holing up in her New York City pad is eating popcorn and going to the movies. With two new movies out (The Hulk and the previously released The Strangers) I can imagine wanting to spend a little down time at home!
Funny man David Spade is set to be a dad. The funny man and former Saturday Night Live star, 43, is set to be a first-time dad with ex-girlfriend, Playboy playmate Jillian Grace.
According to In Touch Magazine, the couple dated briefly last year and the Playmate has recently revealed she is expecting. Spade has not come forth and publicly acknowledged the child to be is his, but says he is prepared to accept responsibility is that is the case.
Well, it's only a matter of time before the truth is revealed--so good luck and hopefully congratulations to Mr. Spade! if he is the daddy, then the baby stands to be beautiful and funny.
We've all seen swimmer Micheal Phelps' mother and sisters cheering him on from the stands as he makes history at the Beijing Olympics. Conspicuously missing from this family picture is his father, Fred. Not only is Fred absent in China, he hasn't even spoken to his son since the games began.
Unless you've maintained one of your own, it's difficult to describe how addictive keeping a blog can be. Having a corner of the internet people visit just to read your words and thoughts on life and issues can make an ordinary housewife feel like an A-list celebrity. 
We all know the economy is bad these days -- have you filled up your car lately? bought milk? checked the stock market? For many families, the one thing standing between them and financial stress is Mom's job. Except that in an economic downturn, women's jobs may be at particular risk, 
Former boxing heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield hasn't fought a match in a while, but he is still 
Christie Brinkley's divorce proceedings aren't even underway yet and already the spectacle has begun. You may recall that the 54-year-old Brinkley filed for divorce from hubby Peter Cook after catching him cheating with a 19-year-old office assistant two years ago. If that wasn't humiliation enough, Brinkley now has to deal with Cook's new love 
The story behind that headline isn't quite as weird as you might think, but it is still kind of strange. Larry Birkhead, former lover of Anna Nicole Smith and father of her child Dannielynn, has purchased 
Earlier this year, when an unusually high number of girls began showing up in the Gloucester High School clinic asking for pregnancy tests, school officials began to wonder what was going on. Was it a fluke? Was it the influence of movies like Juno and Knocked Up? No, it was actually something much more disturbing : a group of girls at the Massachusetts high school had made a pact that they would all get pregnant and raise their babies together. By the time school was out for the summer, 
