Extra, Extra, Read All About It!

The latest W magazine has an interesting photo spread about family and what that means to various celebrities. I was oddly fascinated by one in particular -- former porn star, Jenna Jameson. She says that since she became a mom to twin boys nearly two years ago, she not only chose to give up her profession in the skin flick biz, she has gone so far as to have her breast implants removed and has relocated to the burbs with her family in an effort to "blend in" and focus on being a mom. The woman who sold her sex empire to Playboy for an estimated $30 mil says she won't even pose, scantily clad, for a mainstream magazine nowadays. And she hopes that someday, her sons will know that she gave up the sex industry to focus on motherhood.

Many of my friends look alike in our standard mom uniforms (unwashed hair up in a ponytail, sweats and a large bag that contains diapers, sippies, miniature clothing for various seasons and the occasional raisin or goldfish cracker crumbs). And while I'm sure Ms. Jameson has toned it down now, I just can't imagine that she blends in as much as she thinks she does. But, I do give her credit for trying.

While my high school shenanigans and collegiate mishaps do exist, evidence of them thankfully remains only in old photo albums and in the memories of those who took part in them. Behavior that may seem cool and amusing today but could be downright embarrassing in the future, is now displayed proudly for all to see. Seemingly no thought is given to the fact that this information has a never expiring shelf-life in the age of Facebook, YouTube and various reality TV programs. Are we so desperate for fame (or infamy) that we will literally do anything for a temporary laugh or acknowledgement, regardless of the ramifications. Has privacy fallen so out of favor that we are more concerned with being known for something -- anything -- no matter who sees it -- even our own families?

It never ceases to amaze me when moms (or dads, for that matter), famous or not, choose to divulge past indiscretions, sexual encounters or drunken escapades, in a public forum, purely for entertainment's sake. Are they unaware or ambivalent about the fact that their children may unintentionally become privy to these intimate details of their parent's lives? Perhaps it's a matter of feeling we're past our prime that drives some of us to revisit sordid chapters of our ancient history and put it out there for public consumption. I'm not saying our kids should grow up thinking their parents are saints, but honestly, there are certain things that our kids are better off not knowing because knowing them serves absolutely no purpose and might cause extreme embarrassment and pain.

Perhaps Jenna Jameson should have thought about her chosen profession and the effect it could have on future offspring when she was filming explicit sex acts years ago, but at least she thought of it eventually and decided it was best to put it behind her. No doubt, her kids will someday discover what their mother did for a living and I'm sure they will endure more than their fair share of teasing at school, but Ms. Jameson did take parenting seriously enough to put an end to the behavior unbecoming of a mom.

My by-line is attached to many articles that have found second lives online and continue to pop up now and again. But I can honestly say that I don't feel I've written anything that will come back to haunt me. I'm one of the few Facebook holdouts simply because the privacy issues are too much for me at the moment. Those who know me well, and have for many years, may have some dirt, and I'll admit, there are some juicy stories from my past. But I'm happy for them to be known only by the people who took part in them and not by society at large. I'm just old-fashioned that way, I guess.