I love reality shows. I know it is something I should be ashamed of. I know it’s certainly something I shouldn’t blog about. But in this case I can’t help myself. For the record, I tape all of my reality shows on my DVR and watch them after my children have gone to bed. The two I love the most are Tori Spellings and Denise Richards. I was a huge 90210 fan, it was on when I was a teenager, who didn’t love it. But I favored Kelli Martin to Tori’s character. And I can safely say that I have seen absolutely nothing that Denise Richards has been on. I don’t watch a lot of movies, unless kid movies count.
I think what draws me to these shows is that I can relate to these two women. They are afterall around my age, mothers, and blond. They are trying to do the best they can in regards to their children, and in my humble opinion they’re doing a pretty good job.
What I don’t understand is why the bad rap for Denise? I know little of her relationship with Mr. Sheen and I don’t care to know more. The media portrays him as a bit of a nutter and frankly the claims they have made, make me believe it’s true. But it’s the media that portrays Denise as a bad mother for having her kids on the reality show.
Why then is it ok for Tori’s kids, Hulk Hogan’s kids, Kamora Lee Simon’s kids…the list is long, really long. I have watched this whole season of Denise’s show, It’s Complicated. Much to my husbands dismay, we watch faithfully every Sunday night. And I like her, a lot. Minus the part where I feel a little envious because of her long, thick, blond hair, perfect body and often darling wardrobe. And don’t think I missed the LV luggage on the last episode, it didn’t get passed me. But I think this is a woman I would befriend. Her own friends seem to love her, as does her family and staff.
Denise seems kind, fair, generous. And given by the size and volume of her laugh I would imagine shes a whole bunch of fun too. She reminds me of my single, mother girlfriends. Just trying to make it in this world, to raise her children and even grow herself a little. She has taken a stance on her divorce that she won’t bad mouth her ex. We all know that it takes two to make a marriage and usually that many to break a marriage. We also know that her ex hasn’t held back the insults. Is that why people don’t like her, or feel her parenting lacks? Because she hasn’t said the awful, insulting things about him. She obviously could rattle off a few less then flattering things, but she cares about her daughters enough to realize that love him or hate him, he is their father.
What a tremendous amount of courage and strength it takes to take that sort of stand. The sort of stand that makes you an amazing mother. She has sacrificed a lot for her girls, like any other good mother has. In her case she has sacrificed her career somewhat; putting it on hold; she has sacrificed some pride, (Although, I think she should be proud of herself) she has turned the other cheek. All Mom’s sacrifice for their children, our lives change once we give birth, and my feeling is that Denise doesn’t regret that, instead she relishes it.
Her children are loved, healthy, well adjusted acting little girls. Denise has help, from her father, who is grounded and funny. He loves her and his grand daughters so much. She has a sister who is one of her best friends. These two little girls appear to be surrounded by people who love and support one another. Her girls have support, love, attention, guidance, security. Hmmmm…seems like a pretty great environment to raise children.
The most recent show ended with a tearful Denise; emotionally exhausted; saying something along the lines of, “I guess it’s maybe not that complicated.” And I think she’s right, it’s just has to be a lot harder to do all that shes trying to accomplish under the microscope that is entertainment media.
