Whilst in work on Friday night i picked up a copy of Red magazine that was lying around while i was on my break. I generally don’t read celebrity type magazines. Sometimes if i am stupidly bored i might pick one up and flick through the pages, not reading any text but just looking at the photos. But they are dull and all.the.same.
But i picked this copy of red up because it had an article about Jools Oliver in it. With her looking particularly stunning on the front. I really have a lot of time for her OH and not because of his cookery skills or his books but because of his heart and his desire to try and change things. Although im thinking the good old U S of cheeseburger is a bit too big a bite for even him!
The title of this article was ‘Jools: one of us, sort of” In the article they were essentially trying to convey that she is just like every other mummy out there. Reading the article it started to niggle a bit..Kind of like it does when you have these parenting, baby sleep, gurus who tell you to ‘just leave baby to cry” when they don’t have kids and have never been so fatigued that you can’t remember when you last changed your knickers.
yeah they are using the “sort of”…
But personally i struggle to see where there are similarities.
Yes we both have large families and yes in fact both of us have more women in our house than men. But the same?
So i thought id do a little compare and contrast..remember that from Uni days? I hated questions that started with those words..but anyways..lets see how similar we are? huh..
talking about her house:
“Luckily we got the chance to buy next door a few years ago and knock it through’
hmmm..the guy who lives next door to me hasn’t opened his curtains in five years so im not even sure if we could convince the bank to lend us even more money that we would even want to buy the neighbours house.
“the kitchen is contemporary with vintage touches like 1930’s tiles and taps”
“my kitchen is chipped plywood with vintage felt tip marks and fingerprinted tiles and taps”
She has become a poster girl for the ultimate yummy mummy”
I am neither a poster girl nor a yummy mummy. I might appear on the 10 most frazzled mummy’s list”
She and her nanny are a tag team. “there are no let ups with 4 kids, even with someone helping, its a total relay”
Yes, totally..dar-ling…..nanny? who what now? Nope, thats just me. 5 kids. no relay. just a bloody long marathon.
“its every inch the domestic scene, right down to the cath kidston wallpaper in the downstairs loo, next to the signed OBE.
Now hang on, Cath kidston does wallpaper? Surely there is some kind of law against that? and digressing but if the decorations of your toilet define your state of domestic bliss..then i hate to think what the couple of pairs of lingering knickers, that odd smelly sock, some toothpaste smears and the occasional floater say about us!?..
“Britain’s most famous stay at home mum is getting a job designing clothes for mothercare. She went to LA recently to find some inspiration for her brand. I am dizzy with excitement”
ah god love her! Last time my job made me dizzy was when i worked a 12 hour night shift, my blood sugar was somewhere in my boots and driving home i thought my car had broken down only to pull over and find out it just wasn’t in gear!’
The couple split their week between their London base and their essex home
We split our time between the upstairs and downstairs of our house…
Hmmm..im thinking that being married to someone who features on the Sunday Times Rich List alone probably means that she can hardly be considered ‘just like us’
Slightly off the point a little i actually really liked the shoot they did with the kids. I would love to be able to create a shoot very similar..only i need the large estate house, boat, cath kidston accessories, couple of thousands to spend on cute designer kids clothes and id be laughing! But i have kept the article because i really like the concept they created…
Im not saying she isnt a hands on, get involved and loving on her kids loads mum. Im not judging her parenting.I like her…really i do. Her name choices for her kids are slightly far out and remind me a little bit of the cast of Fifi and the flowertots.. But one of us?
what do you think?
Im linking this post up today with my fabulous friend Sarah Miles who has bravely started a linky thing (technical term!) over on her blog. You can skip over there and see some others. Just press the button 🙂
Heehee, this made me chuckle. I wish more celebrities would just admit that they rely heavily on live-in nannies, etc. Kirsty Allsop once said as much, so she’s since gone up in my estimations: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1323717/Meet-Kirstie-Allsopps-home-helps–cleaner-PA-TWO-nannies.html
Chloe (from Chloe Witters) recently posted…Lusting after: A Wooden Dolls’ Pram
thanks chloe, i did actually see that article by Kirstie Allsopp and i agree with you and her!! She was very candid about having help and what a difference it makes. I too think more of her for being so honest 🙂
I read this article and thought very similar! Bless her, I ‘m not sure she has a concept of what ‘normal’ is..Good for her an’ all, but unless she admits to having a swift chardonnay to ‘take the edge off the day’, crying on the kitchen floor and going out with yesterday’s knickers down her trouser leg*, than I’m not convinced.
*All not me of course. Honestly. Almost never.
Thanks so much for joining in the linky – hope you’ll come back next week! x
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thanks hun. maybe she does have days like that..im sure it has more to do with how the article was written than anything else. She has been famous for a long time now and maybe i guess you loose touch a bit 🙂
Oh dear … she should come along and live in my home!
older mum in a muddle recently posted…All Change …
ok i could say a few things here, but basically want to tell you that the ‘floaters in the toilet’ comment made me laugh out loud. he he….. you’re kids are lucky to live in your home, floaters and all !!!
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I loved the Red article as much as I love Mrs Oliver herself! We all need a little escapism from our daily grind and this beautiful piece provided that for me. Jools hasn’t promoted herself as sort of one of us – Lauren Laverne did that. Plus, I am reminded of my motto “Count Your Blessings” in that we need to remember that we all have our own riches; while I doubt she would covet my bank balance, my house or juggling my full time teaching job with 3 kids and one on the way, I suspect she might be envious of the fact that my hubby is at home every evening for bath, bed and story time.
thanks so much for your comment Helen. i think i said in the post that as a photographer i really liked the article. I would love to be able to create a stylised shoot like that one. Its an interesting one isnt it, whether a celebrity would give up their fame, fortune etc for a more ordinary, see your OH every night type life? Maybe that something they could ask her in her next interview? thanks again 🙂
That’s the question indeed! Love your blog by the way! Just discovered it today 🙂
thanks so much Helen and thanks for coming back to read my response! im never sure if people do 🙂
So in essence she’s not a lot like us at all!
I fail to see why someone needs a nanny if they are a stay at home mum with children at school.
Lovely post by you & I’m a firm believer in a house isn’t a home unless there’s a floater 🙂
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LOL thanks Alli, your comment made me laugh out loud. my house it SO a home then in that case. thanks so much for your comment 🙂
Oh to have her worries eh?
This is why I rarely buy women’s magazines any more. Well that and the fact they are the financial equivalent of my weekly Costa treat! I know which I prefer.
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im with you on that one. I only ever read them at work where people leave them once they are done with them. Id vote for costa every time too!
I have Kath Kidston shower gel I got for Christmas, does that count? Never mind splitting between London and Essex my house is three storey meaning I have a choice of three different places to be so take that Jools! : )
I am sure she really has no concept of ‘normal’ life (whatever that is) is nice to read about how the other half live though – we can dream right???!!
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Sinead..you are for sure one of the upper classes with three storeys to spend your time between 🙂
Yes we can all dream, i would love so many aspects of her life but could very much do without the press invasion they must get. 🙂
Heeheee, thank god for lingering knickers. I thought we were the only ones like that! I think if I had a nanny I would probably dive straight back into bed and get a bit more shut eye. Your car breaking down made me laugh. I have done that once where my car started smoking. I pulled over to realise I hadn’t taken my handbrake off. Oops 🙂
Notmyyearoff recently posted…Things I’ve Learnt about One and a Half Year Olds
LOL! Fortunately for me there was no-one else on the road when i free-wheeled to the side thinking my car was broke. It did put me into full ‘how am i going to work my day around no car’ mode though for a split second. Sometimes, and this is really scary, i dont even remember driving home. Nights suck.
Loved this post. I read a article about her in the Sunday papers. She’s doing the ‘promo’ rounds alright!. Can’t make my mind up about her actually. I’ve always thought she was a bit of a drip but I think that’s the way she’s been portrayed. Certainly isn’t one of us though!
i think you might be right about how she is being portrayed but then again i bet being Mrs jamie Oliver is no walk in the park!!
xx
Haha, so not like us at all… unless you count the fact that she is a mother. Great post. Love how you split your time between the upstairs and the downstairs of your home. 🙂
thanks sandy. Yes she is a mother and i suppose that does unite us all 🙂
So in short. Mothercare’s press team are selling in Jules to various target media, to plug the new collaboration. There is really nothing very interesting to write about her. Not because she isn’t lovely and no doubt a very fabulous parent, but because there really isn’t anything interesting. So they come up with puff like this and hope we’ll all lap it up. Hmm.
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ha! just love your comment. Tell it like it is sista x
Great post Sarah- I like Jools too but the similarities between her life and mine are few and far between!
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thanks so much emma xx