Alec Baldwin effect? Columnist calls out hypocrisy of people slamming 'old' Hillary Swank for having twins
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: A columnist has expressed outrage after actress Hilary Swank was bombarded with hate for having children when she's almost 50. The barrage of comments came after Swank, 48, revealed she was blessed with twins -- a boy and a girl.
Taking to Instagram, the actress posted a heartwarming photo of her cradling her two newborns. “It wasn’t easy, but it was worth it,” she captioned the image, and while many of her celebrity pals and hardcore fans showered her with love, there were a lot of people venting their disgust at the actress for deciding to have children so late in life. One said it was "deeply irresponsible" of her to have kids at her age "just to fulfill some inner selfish desire for children."
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'Why aren’t men ever criticized for this?'
Mary Madigan, who is part of news.com.au's editorial team, pointed out that such criticism was rarely directed at men who had children later in life. "Deep breath first, but why aren’t men ever criticized for this? Why are women the only ones slammed for having children later in life?" she wrote in an opinion piece for NZ Herald. "Why... I mean, yes, sexism, but can we stop giving women separate standards from men – it is a little obvious in 2023."
Madigan said she was qualified to comment on the subject since she herself is the daughter of older parents. "I am the daughter of a man who had me in his late 50s, and all the stuff that people fear for Swank happened," she continued. "He got sick when I was in my teenage years, and he died in my 20s, and it was awful, rigorous, gut-wrenching, and feels entirely unfair. He was older and didn’t die young, but I lost my dad young. I don’t wish I had a different dad because I adored my dad, but I do wish he had me younger and we had more time together. Yet, I never heard my father get the kind of criticism that is leveled at Swank," she added.
The columnist acknowledged that people may have passed commentary behind closed doors, but overall everyone seemed happy that he got to have a family again. "Dad wasn’t a celebrity, but I think that translates to how we treat male celebrities who have children later," she explained. "Sure, we might roll our eyes a bit at the growing trend of famous men getting older and getting younger wives and having families all over again, but I’ve never seen a famous man face mass disapproval for having children in his late 40s or early 50s and I come armed with examples." Madigan then cited several instances of famous men who became fathers when they were older. She noted how comedian Steven Martin started a family in his late 60s, while actor Michael Douglas had kids with Catherine Zeta-Jones when he was 58.
Jeff Goldblum of 'Jurassic Park' fame and the legendary Robert De Niro also had children in their 60s. Hugh Grant became a father only in his 50s, while action hero Bruce Willis decided to have more kids in his 50s after previously welcoming three daughters with Demi Moore. Madigan noted how Willis' youngest daughters Mabel, 10, and Evelyn, 8, are having to deal with their father's frontotemporal dementia.
The controversial Alec Baldwin, 65, already had one daughter before he tied the knot with Hilaria Baldwin and went on to have six children with her.
'Swank doesn’t deserve the venom she’s getting'
Madigan insisted many of her readers would be surprised to learn the ages of the aforementioned men when they became fathers or decided to expand their respective families. "Do you know why you were surprised? Because their late-in-life fatherhood wasn’t closely examined by the media to the point it wasn’t even a loud conversation," she assessed. The columnist said she understood why people were critical of women having children later in life, admitting that "there are some very real facts to consider and I do worry it gives ordinary women false hope in terms of actually being able to carry a child at that age." However, Madigan believes that is a separate conversation altogether. "Swank doesn’t deserve the venom she’s getting for daring to be an older parent and we certainly don’t treat men like that," she declared. "My dad was older when he had me and I paid the price as his child, but it is one I’d pay over and over again," she concluded.