Why do the goings-on of celebrities’ personal lives interest us commoners so much? Maybe our own lives so boring that we need to live vicariously through a celeb’s social media.
It’s been a week of celebrity babies, some announcing pregnancies and others giving birth. Whether it’s Cardi B announcing her pregnancy on SNL or sources close to the family confirming the birth of Khloe Kardashian’s daughter, everyone seems to have an opinion.
When celebrities share details of their intimate lives on TV, people seem to forget that these celebs are still entitled to their privacy. Fans of the Kardashian family were very have been at the prospect of three new additions to the Jenner/Kardashian family, speculating on the pregnancies of Khloe and Kylie for months, starting from around the time Kim announced she was expecting her third child via surrogate. And despite Khloe confirming the rumors of her pregnancy in December, her much younger sister never spoke to rumors of her own pregnancy until after her daughter was born.
“I’m sorry for keeping you in the dark through all the assumptions,” Kylie wrote on Instagram. “I understand you’re used to me bringing you along on all my journeys. my pregnancy was one I chose not to do in front of the world. I knew for myself i needed to prepare for this role of a lifetime in the most positive, stress free, and healthy way I knew how.”
But the thing is, she shouldn’t have felt a need to apologize. Despite the Kardashian family’s decision to share their lives on a reality show, they are still humans, believe it or not. And they are still entitled to their privacy. Having a child is a huge, life-changing experience, and any mother deserves whatever level of privacy she wants during her pregnancy. As a 20-year-old expectant mother, Kylie must have been faced with many struggles and she didn’t need to share those challenges with the public.
Also, why do we care about celebrities’ lives so much? The top three most-liked Instagram posts posts are currently all relating to the birth of Kylie’s daughter, number one being the post announcing Stormi’s name, holding 17.8 million likes. The three next-highest liked posts are more celebrity baby announcements, with Cristiano Ronaldo’s fourth child at number four, Beyonce’s twins at number five, and another Kylie Jenner tweet about her daughter at number six.
Why is a celebrity child such a big deal? Surely people should care more about reveals related to a celebrity’s work more than a celebrity baby, since the work is theoretically why people follow stars in the first place. Beyonce’s Instagram post to advertise her upcoming tour earned 3.6 million likes—7.6 million less than her pregnancy announcement. Do people care this much about pregnancy and birth announcements from their own family and friends?
Followers of celebrity culture seem to forget that celebs are people, too. They eat, sleep, and breathe the same as everyone else, and when they experience significant milestones within their families, they should be entitled to privacy. Even Kardashians.