People Magazine has another baby cover this week, but at least this time they didn’t Photoshop the baby into oblivion like they did with Christina Aguilera’s daughter Summer Rain. This cover features Kelly Clarkson and her first baby, daughter River Rose. River Rose is 8 months old, in case you’re thinking (as I did), “Whoa, that’s a big baby!” This isn’t a newborn! She’s 8 months old already. And this isn’t even River Rose’s public debut – Kelly has been posting baby photos on social media for months now. So why the cover? Because Kelly is ready to get back to work in a big way. She’s promoting her new album and the publicity seems very Motherhood Industrial Complex (no judgment, so many women do that these days). Some highlights from the People cover story:
Life changes after motherhood: “My whole life took a big 180. I never thought I was going to be a mom, so it’s very much changed my world in the most awesome way.”
She’s not just a pop star now: “I love what I do, but I feel like I relied on my career a lot for my self-worth. And now I’m more than that. I’m a mother and a wife and have this whole other thing going on.”
River is a happy girl: “[She is] the happiest baby on the planet.”
She’s at peace now: “I have a certain level of peace I didn’t know was going to come with it… My best friend always says, ‘You just want to create the family you never had.’ I might be doing that. In defense of my family, it happens. People fall out of love, and people go separate ways. People are human. I’ve accomplished a lot, but I guess the biggest success I want is that whenever I die people will say, ‘She was so successful as a mother, and as a wife.’ That’s kind of my big goal.”
I don’t begrudge her the changes in her life and her happiness with motherhood and finding love and all that. I just wish some women would say, after having a baby, that while motherhod is great and everything, they really love their careers too. That their career is their baby too. But that’s not going to happen with a People Mag interview, is it? And I do think it’s good for Kelly that she’s spent the past eight months loving motherhood AND working on her new album.
Here are some pics of Kelly out in London last week:
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet, cover courtesy of People.
Love Kelly, meh on Baby Covers already but I do love her and her break up anthems
Her baby totally looks like Robin Williams.
ETA: in a cute way
lol
Bwahaha. db post at its finest.
for like a split second, all babies look like Robin Williams in a cute way.
My daughter was born wearing suspenders.
Mimi Sir Winston Churchill looks nothing like Robin Williams.
ETA: Typo, I meant mini, but I think I’ll leave it .
Taterho, as long as she wasn’t as, um, hirsute, I think that’s great.
😂😂
http://cdn.overclock.net/9/94/947ad0db_baby-winston-churchill-606.jpeg
Guffawed.
I’m ‘mehkay’ on baby covers but it’s kinda cool to see a small squishy human rather than newborns that all look alike.
That baby appears expressive and with buckets of personality. New borns are dime a dozen to me. Usually the covers have them sleeping too so they look interchangable. This cover though is why I clicked the link. So cute!
I love Kelly and love her interviews. Love this whole thing.
“I just wish some women would say, after having a baby, that while motherhod is great and everything, they really love their careers too. That their career is their baby, too.” – Hmm, I’m sure I’ll get scolded for this but I don’t think anyone would say that because it’s completely untrue. There is a reason that human beings feel the way they do about their offspring, to ensure that the human race continues. There is not a career in the world that causes a flood of oxytocin that makes me love it as much as my baby. In fact there are only three things in the world that actually cause our bodies to release the love hormone; sex, childbirth, and breast-feeding. I don’t think it’s just a coincidence that the only thing that causes us to experience the love flood of oxytocin also ensure that we continue to produce other little humans. In the glow of new parenthood, there is nothing that compares with how much you love your baby, as it should be.
Bluebear, I’m not going to “scold you” as I think you respectfully stated your opinion 🙂 I am going to disagree with you though, but I think every woman is different and every woman has different priorities. I’m in my 30s and though not yet a mom myself (I would LOVE to have kids soon though), several of my close girlfriends are moms. All of them adore their babies and are amazing, loving mothers. That being said, none of them are full time stay at home moms, and they gladly went back to work once their maternity leave ended. Maybe it depends on a mother’s profession, but as for us, we didn’t put ourselves through medical school with the years and years of studying and grueling training to then put our kids before our careers. Why can’t a career be as fulfilling as a child? You may think that I’ll change my mind once I have my own children, but I don’t think so. Ever since I was a little girl I dreamt of 2 things: Being a doctor and being a mom. I hope to be blessed with 2 children, but in my mind I’ll always have 3 (2 human kids and my career, which will always be baby #3).
Oh, I am by no means saying that once a baby is born every woman should not care about a career they worked hard for. No, not at all. I’m just saying that a woman comparing her dedication to a career as being “her baby” while still basking in the glow of her newfound love for her baby isn’t likely. When my babies were born I had never loved anything as much. I didn’t love other things LESS, I just realized nothing could compare to how much I loved my baby. Other women I know have expressed the same, and there is a biological explanation for that. We were still happy to have our career to return to, but it was no longer our “baby”.
I would have. I loved my child too but it wasn’t the way everyone said it would be. There has to be room for different experiences. The notion that every woman falls in love on sight with their child and that it’s a physical feeling–that’s false. Some women are deeply traumatized at that moment, and really aren’t physically capable of that.
Gurrll, get a babysitter and fix those roots! That baby is adorable, I love love love chubby babies!!
That baby is adorable!
River Rose. Summer Rain.
Are they reading the Farmer’s Almanac for baby names?
Summer’s Eve…oh, wait.
Hi this is my son, 30% Chance of Thunderstorms Cooper.
Using the percentage sign in a baby name is so edgy.
HAHA.
Ha! Coffee snort, thanks.
You just wanted to work some (\)..(/) in there.
Yep! When I read those names so close to each other, I imagined what other names people might come up with that fit in this category. My guess: Holly Oak, Maple Syrup, Sky Fall…
Pond Lily
@JenniferJustice I could go on for hours making up weird babynames. Found a website with baby names inspired by nature. According to them Evening is a nice name for a girl (Evening Star Aguilera – just in case…) or Cloud for a boy. If people would give him the nickname Cloudy it could be a term of endearment or (if he gets grumpy) an actual modd description.
Some parents are just nuts when it comes to naming their children. Even 30 years ago, my kids went to school with Summer Knight, Autumn Day, and Holly Wood. I grew up with a girl who was named Christmas Candy. Wouldn’t it be refreshing if one of these entertainment folks named their kids Susan or Fred?
I was thinking Kelly must be a Doctor Who fan… River and Rose both being major characters in the modern reboot of the series.
Cool!
I love her so much, but why the undercut Kelly? It looks bad, plus the yellow shade of her hair isn’t flattering. But all in all, she looks great and baby River is a cutie.
Has any celebrity mum ever said that her career is very important? I don’t remeber any.
Ivanka Trump did.
The hair is killing me! And she looks lovely as a brunette, she should go back to that.
Her baby is way cute and I don’t mind her hippie name. I also like that she didn’t do a newborn cover. All newborns look the same, like old men. But at this age they are adorable.
I love Amy Poehler’s approach to the working mom thing: she’s like, I love my kids but I don’t feel guilty when I’m working because I really love my job. I admire that attitude a lot.
I’m a working mom only so I can afford to raise my child. Otherwise, I would love to have the luxury of being a stay at home mom and I don’t see the problem with either stance: loving your career outside of home, or loving your career as a mom.
I’m a stay at home. In a way it is a luxury (I’m not a single mom or anything that absolutely requires me to work and obviously I’m here commenting on a gossip blog in the middle of the day so that’s a privilege) but it doesn’t always feel like it. We budget like crazy and do without a lot to make up for only having one income. And I can’t wait for my youngest to be in school so that I will have more time to work on my own aspirations. I don’t consider being Mom a career, I just felt better about staying home than doing daycare because of my own childhood experiences, so these celebrities are so hard for me to relate to when they try to polarize it. There are so many variables along the Working Mom / Stay At Home spectrum.
Shes a cutie!
I’ve always liked the name River. Not sure if I like it being paired with Rose though, a bit too matchy matchy.
Awww so sweet 🙂 But how the hell did she give birth to such a big head? lol
That baby is so cute! I’m super excited for new music from her.
I’m so happy to see a normal sized woman who isn’t stressing about losing every pregnancy pound or talking about diet, exercise, etc., but just enjoying motherhood, family life, AND their work. Kelly is a great role model for younger (and younger-ish) singers to show that they don’t have to resort to gimmicks or poor behavior in order to be successful. Or plastic surgery (fake boob singers… you know who I mean), or dressing in skimpy (or no) clothes.
PS – Baby River is ADORABLE! My daughter was a big fluffball, too when she was 8 months old.
Cerulean Skygirl, I agree with you about Kelly being a good role model for singers today. So many of them think they have to be half naked (or completely naked in Miley’s case!) to sell records. Kelly proves that’s not true if you have talent and are willing to work hard. I love Kelly!
That being said, it makes me feel bad when people use the term “normal sized” to describe any type of woman. I know what you meant, but I feel so strongly about us as women being all-inclusive about what’s “normal” for a woman’s body. We come in all shapes and sizes, and we’re all “normal.”
“I just wish some women would say, after having a baby, that while motherhood is great and everything, they really love their careers too. That their career is their baby too.”
Here’s the thing though. I found that for the first two years after my baby was born, I really didn’t care much about my career. I knew I wanted to go back to work and get back into my career eventually, but during the baby honeymoon and early part of his life my focus was on motherhood and family and that is what made me happy. Eventually my life became whole again and I cared more about the things I was interested in before baby. I think in some ways its probably a biological function of nature for us to feel that way while baby is small.
I agree with you.
Plus Kelly was single for 7 years before meeting her husband. She stated in interviews before that she never thought she was going to get married or have a family (and it was something she did want). She finally got it, and I think she’s still surprised and thrilled by it all.
That adorable baby looks EXACTLY like her father!
Love Kelly–she seems like such a real and nice person. Good for her.
I was thinking she looks exactly like her mother.
I think the cover pic could’ve done with some bottom teeth in view, but otherwise it’s a cute picture
Felicity Huffman did say it. She got creamed for it, too.
I love her, I’m happy for her, and her daughter is adorable. Just wish she hadn’t gone the baby magazine cover route to promote her new album.
I’m looking forward to new music from her though, I’ve always enjoyed her albums.
Cute kid but the Demi Lavoto hairdo is tragic on her. I like Kelly a lot though especially after I learned that she wanted to buy Jane Austen’s ring. I thought that was a really cool thing to want to splurge on.
That is one seriously cute baby.
Baby looks exactly like her, so cute. Enjoy the baby, everything else can wait.
Aww she’s already Kelly’s mini-me! Adorable!
If her goal is to be remembered as a successful wife and mother then what is the point in working at all? She has plenty of money to get by. Just focus on being a wife and mother.
Her baby is adorable and that’s great she’s happy but I am so, so tired of the celebrity “new Mom” stories. They almost always say the same thing and it’s boring. I don’t like that so many of them use their babies for publicity. Also, their lives are so different from regular people who don’t have household staff or nannies to help them out-it’s hard for me to take anything they say seriously.