Are Celebrities More Fertile Than the Average Woman? Inside the Hollywood Baby Boom

By Jo Piazza Posted Jan 14th 2011 05:30PM

The quick and easy answer is that celebrities are not necessarily more fertile, or even more predisposed to avoid contraception than you and me. It just seems like celebrities spawn more often than the average person because we are more likely to hear about their process of procreation..all..the..time.

That's the media's fault for reporting it and America's fault for loving it. Supply and demand dictates that the celebrity press writes lots of baby stories because their audiences eat it up.

But lately it does seem like Hollywood is having a lot more babies than they were a couple of months ago. Let's go through the roster: Natalie Portman, Kate Hudson, Marion Cotillard, Devon Aoki, Owen Wilson, Alicia Silverstone, Selma Blair and Tia Mowry.

Now one of the reasons it seems celebrities have more babies as of late is that outlets (us included) write about pretty much any celebrity baby. So the Devon Aokis and Tia Mowrys, lovely ladies, but not necessarily A-list, bolster the supposed baby boom.

Some of the celebrity pregnancies weren't exactly expected which makes us even more apt to talk about them. We know Kate Hudson's was "unplanned." Her camp confirmed it to Us Weekly magazine. Natalie Portman had only been with her beau Benjamin for about a year, so everyone guesses they weren't making any big family plans. And Selma Blair's "friends" have intimated that her news is also "unexpected."

Now this unexpected quality has a lot of celeb watchers murmuring about the overall availability of birth control in Hollywood. But a look at the statistics from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy shows that celebrities really aren't that likely to have an unplanned pregnancy than the rest of America.

Half of all pregnancies in the U.S. are unplanned, which means that of the 6.4 million pregnancies in the U.S. ever year, more than 3 million are unplanned.

Kate Hudson and Selma Blair are in their 30s. Three-quarters of unplanned pregnancies happen to women younger than 30: most to women in their 20s, less than a quarter to teens. But there are still 677,000 unplanned pregnancies to women 30-plus every year.

It just seems like celebrities are having a lot of babies because we are programmed to consider the celebs we read about on a near daily basis as similar to our circle of close friends. When you look at them like that and consider the fact that only one of your close friends got pregnant in the past month or two then it seems like celebrities skew higher. But instead look at the circle of celebrities we read about as the "friends" in your Facebook or Twitter universe. Doesn't it seem like someone in that friend group is always showing off a new ultrasound?

There's no fertility drug running through the faucets of the Hollywood Hills. In this case, celebrities really are "just like us."

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Comments

(13)

Friday 14 January

By lisa

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And why are "we are more likely to hear about their process of procreation..all..the..time"? Because gossip rags like this keep publishing this crap. This has got to be the dumbest thing Popeater has published.

By shangr7

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That's the media's fault for reporting it and America's fault for loving it. Supply and demand dictates that the celebrity press writes lots of baby stories because their audiences eat it up. I love reading this , So does My boyfriend .he is almost 11year older than me .i met him via age'lessmate.c'om a nice place for seeking age le ss love.which gives you a chance to make your life better and open opportunities for you to meet the attractive young girls and treat you like a king. Maybe you wanna check it out or tell your friends..

By courtney

this isn't a new phenomenon at all it goes in cycles look how many adult star kids were born in 1965 for example Joely Richardson,Jemma Redgrave,Claire Newman,Lucy Dahl & Zach Starkey amongst others. of course three of the above mentioned weren't first children for their parents correct Joely was 2nd for hers Lucy was 5th for hers and Claire would've been her fathers 7th child in 15 years from two marriages had her mother Not miscarried her first pregnancy during the honeymoon 7 years earlier. but magazines cover celebrity pregnancies more now than they did in those days when you still weren't allowed to say pregnant in print or on television

By jlyn

Is this headline for real?
At the oh so adult age of twenty five I know of many former peers who have one or more children (many who are toddlers) from different fathers...survival of the dumbest.

By Findley

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You forgot Jennifer Connelly, Beckham's wife, among others...

By Heidi

yes but don't forget Victoria Beckham, Jennifer Connolly and I know there are others as well that are escaping me...there is somethin' in the water!! :)

Oh, And Jewel! I was happy about that one!!

By lemmonherk

This isn't odd at all. Hollywood is obsessed with youth -- that's who's famous, mostly, and they are, by definition, in their child-bearing years. duh!

By Culinary Clod

They all must have attended that high school in Memphis Tennessee.

By lapin

me thinks,maybe they are breeding like rabbits, since all the babies will be born in the "year of the rabbit."

auspicious

Saturday 15 January

By YellowRose3218

This is the most ridiculous head line ever written.
These hollywooders go to doctors to make sure they have twins, and what sex of a child they want. They can have a child any time they want to. And so could I when I was young, with out the help of a doctor. As if anyone would think these woman are more fertile. Its just ridiculous.

Sunday 16 January

By Viviana Preston

That is one of the most absurd titles I have ever heard. Quite the opposite I would say - these women starve themselves by the hundreds! Which we all know leads to infertility!!! You generally have decent news and gossip... don't slip to the dark side!

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