On a radio show yesterday, Mike Huckabee hit Oscar-winning and pregnant actress Natalie Portman for, allegedly, glamorizing single motherhood (Portman is currently engaged to a choreographer).
"One of the things that's troubling is that people see a Natalie Portman or some other Hollywood starlit who boasts "Look, we're having children. We're not married, but we're having these children and they're doing just fine."
But there aren't really a lot of single moms out there who are making millions of dollars every year for being in a movie, and I think it gives a distorted image
.... most single moms are very poor, uneducated, can't get a job, and if it weren't for government assistance, their kids would be starving to death and never have health care.
And that's the story we're not seeing, and it's unfortunate that we glorify and glamorize the idea of out-of-children wedlock."
Mediaite's Tommy Christopher wonders why Huckabee didn't hit Bristol Palin for her out-of-wedlock pregnancy, either.
I'm guessing it's because Bristol's approach was different from Portman's.
Bristol has repeatedly said single motherhood isn't ideal, and two years ago, embarked on a campaign for abstinence, whose foundation is pregnancy prevention.
She told the View:
“I’m going to be honest about it, being a teen mom, it’s not the best situation."
UPDATE: Huckabee issues a statement, clarifying what he says were misrepresentations of his comments.
I was asked about Oscar-winner Natalie Portman's out-of-wedlock pregnancy. Natalie is an extraordinary actor, very deserving of her recent Oscar and I am glad she will marry her baby's father. However, contrary to what the Hollywood media reported, I did not "slam" or "attack" Natalie Portman, nor did I criticize the hardworking single mothers in our country.
My comments were about the statistical reality that most single moms are very poor, under-educated, can't get a job, and if it weren't for government assistance, their kids would be starving to death. That's the story that we're not seeing, and it's unfortunate that society often glorifies and glamorizes the idea of having children out of wedlock.
