The Kardashian-Jenner clan revolves around money — almost everything they do is a strategic move to earn more. While it is commendable and honestly extremely impressive that they managed to conceal Kylie Jenner’s pregnancy for nine months, this too ended up being a marketing move for their brand. Memes about Jenner being the real winner of the Super Bowl flooded Twitter, and for a good amount of Sunday, Feb. 4, the focus of America departed from the NFL championship.
Last Superbowl performers:
– 2013: Beyoncé
– 2014: Bruno Mars
– 2015: Katy Perry
– 2016: Coldplay
– 2017: Lady Gaga
– 2018: Kylie Jenner— Andrés (@AndrsRondon) February 5, 2018
Although Jenner’s announcement resembled a marketing move, this doesn’t take away from the fact that Kylie hid the pregnancy in the interest of her and her baby’s health. Too often celebrity parents are forced to deal with the intrusive comments of fans and haters alike. By not announcing her pregnancy, she probably dealt with significantly less stress compared to other celebrities who have been open about their personal choices. In a world where everything is shared online, the secrecy surrounding this announcement is practically unheard of.
To be completely honest, I have never quite respected the Kardashian-Jenner family. They are incredible business people, but some of their choices seemed at best questionable. Quite possibly the biggest reason they are famous is Kim Kardashian’s sex tape and her own mother’s involvement in producing it. To me, that is slightly dubious, and to gain so much fame from it while others are judged and criticized for similar acts seems unfair.
And then there’s the matter of Jenner only being 20. Our society looks at teen pregnancy as a horrifying statistic. Jenner was still a teen when Stormi (what an interesting name) was conceived. In the video she posted on Youtube, it was said that Jenner has been wanting to be a mom since she was fifteen. Had any non-celebrity said that, there wouldn’t have been such a huge audience. But her wealth has allowed what’s essentially a teenage pregnancy to be viewed as iconic.
We can’t and shouldn’t continue to have these double standards where we plebeians look down on teen pregnancy and simultaneously applaud Kylie for her “cute video.” The stigma surrounding young mothers is prominent, yet because of her celebrity status, much of the responses have been compliments and praise. Any other 20 year old mother would probably have been shamed for “making poor choices.”
I’m not saying that we should argue teen pregnancy is great, or the other extreme — that it is something awful and deserving of shame. But all of these double standards continue to stratify us into celebrities and non-celebrities, and we establish divisive guidelines about how to live.
Celebrities live in a different world from us. They float in a bubble, and mere mortals stare from below in awe. But we shouldn’t decide that they live by completely different rules than the rest of us. Just because we aren’t worth 20 million dollars doesn’t mean we should subject ourselves to living a life full of the shame that celebrities avoid.
