Tuesday, December 28, 2010

My Take on the STAR article, since you asked . . .

Several of you have asked to see the article outing me in Star Magazine and for me to discuss it. I have the issue (of course) and the PDF file that the guys sent me before it hit the stands, so I have saved sections as jpegs so you could see it best. More of my comments at the end.

First of all, here's the article in its entirety- Do you like how I kept it small so you can't see the horrible picture of my face?
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Now here are some sections that you can actually read.

Box with Picture "Hey! Who cut out the face?" Yeah, that would be me! Whenever I complain about this picture, people always say, "You were about to have twins," like I'm pissed because I'm so big. Let me clarify . . . I could care less about how big I look in the picture because #1 I'm not a skinny girl and #2 I was almost 37 weeks pregnant with twins. I post up belly pictures all the time, even naked belly pics, so that wasn't it. It was the grimace on my face . . . my face that had no make-up on and my hair was pulled back like a woman on bed rest who was able to get out of the house on the days she had Doctor's appointments. Anyone want to guess what October 1st was? Yup, a Dr's appointment.

Oh and I love that my HRC sticker on my van is showing . . . it's like they knew keeping it in would soften the blow of the picture :)

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Left Side
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Right Side
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So- big Thank Yous to Star for the following things . . .

* Running the article before I turned 36.

* Not disclosing my actual City where I live and work.

* Mentioning my boutique, Ruby Q's . . . I'll take the free advertising.

* Mentioning my blog . . . Again, I'll take any traffic I can get.

* Keeping the HRC sticker in the picture.

* Giving me props for helping out another gay couple (Yay, George and Sanj!)

* Sending the PDF to the guys so they could give me a heads up.

* Saying I had a "healthy sense of humor" and mentioning my "Big Heart" numerous times. (Better that than Big-Boned) LOL.

Things that are either wrong or I find it interesting that they left out . . .

* I find it convenient they left out that I'm a College Instructor. What, do they not want to let it out that some Surrogates are actually educated? Hmmmmm . . . . .

* My NOH8 photo is my profile picture on blogger and twitter, both of which they mentioned visiting . . . so they could not have used that picture? Or referenced it somehow? Dang it!

* They always get the part about shopping around for Surrogates wrong. At Growing Generations, Intended Parents do not get to look through tons of profiles at one time. They get one. If they don't like her, they get another.

In Conclusion, in all the articles I read in Star about my Intended Parents there are numerous false statements, some of which I won't even talk about because they are personal in Nature. But my biggest complaint in the article about who I am, is that when they discuss me "carrying NPH's babies," and "before she gave birth to NPH's daughter and son-" . . . ah, remember there are two dads in this story. I think it would've been more accurate to say, when I was carrying their babies and before I gave birth to their daughter and son.

Being involved in this and knowing the truth regarding these things, it has taught me a lesson about these types of magazines. I was reminded that the stories they publish are not accurate but I never realized how off they could be. How they would say they have a "source" and what the "source" supposedly said was totally false. When you read these magazines, blogs and websites, I'd be careful what you believe because yes, I am big hearted, have a healthy sense of humor and in fact, am beautiful . . . but other parts of these stories are not always so true and sometimes, very hurtful.

**UPDATE**
One last thing. I have to say I am grateful that the article, although it had issues, was very kind to me. Other Surrogates for famous couples have not had the same experience. So, Thank you Star for being nice to me and not trying to make the wonderful thing I did seem horrible. I help make gay men fathers, it's a calling really, so thank you for not tarnishing that.

**UPDATE**
Okay, the People article came out and they discuss how they used each partner's sperm. . . . That was the other thing that bothered me . . . all the articles would just talk about Neil using his Sperm. What's up with that? Why would they assume that they'd just use Neil's? Haven't seen the pictures in the article yet, but David better be in them. I get so pissed when they have a picture of "Hollywood Babies" and they only have the most famous parent with them. HELLO?! If I were Mario Lopez's girlfriend, I would be upset if I wasnt' photographed with their baby. What, she just carried her and gave birth to her . . . and is her mother. But I digress . . .

6 comments:

D. Perry ;-) said...

I saw you posted this on FB, so I decided to check it out. I am glad you are so positive about it. I don't think I would be. I HATE bad pics of me. Thanks for sharing.

nanesko said...

I agree, it always bothers me when a celebrity's SO is being excluded from baby pictures, because they'd "sell worse". But David is in the pictures, too: http://coverawards.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/6.jpg

Which sadly, however, is prolly the reason it didn't make the big cover. Those magazines and their standards irritate me.

Loved what you have done for them! Surrogates like you are a blessing for the community.

Kat Bryant said...

Kelly, thank you for making 4 gay men fathers. You are a blessing. As a gay woman, I applaud you for standing up for what you believe in . . . Human Rights! It shouldn't matter who we fall in love with. All that should matter is that we are in love and are loved in return. Thank you, Kelly.

Bethany said...

Wow!! I'm really surprised they said they used NPH's sperm. That's actually really sad. Especially considering that both of them have a biological child out of this. To give all of the "credit" to NPH just seems so wrong. But alas, this is the media world.

And I agree about it being your "call" to do surrogacy for gay dad's. I love my IP's and while I was willing to work with any "type" of couple, I'm so glad I was matched with the two guys I am.

Kristen said...

Thanks for talking about this! I was kinda wondering there for a while what you meant about the Star article. I know you mentioned it before but I didn't quite put two and two together. Kudos to you for putting yourself out there to help a high profile couple. You are one tough cookie and I admire that. I read your post the other day and was reminded to come back and post a comment while watching Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs with my son today, lol! Hope you have a fabulous New Year and I can't wait to see what's in store for you next! I vote round 3! ; )

Maneko said...

I applaud you for doing this. I'm sure it was a stressful but unique journey.

Just wondering, what is your take on the recent controversy about "gay celebrity parenting"? Hope it's not insensitive asking this, as you are personally involved in this. It just hurts me so much to read so many hateful comments and blogs; even on sites made for and by the gay community!

Is this really the year 2011? I'm baffled.