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Today a celebrity baby bump is all the rage and announcing your preggers when you’re a celebrity is a lot bigger (pardon the pun) than announcing your latest movie project.

2011 has barely begun and People Magazine has already featured 23 celebrities who are expecting babies and 2010 wasn’t lacking in the baby mill either!  It kind of makes you wonder, is having a baby a more chic accessory than a Louis Vuitton Monogram Canvas Handbag?  I know that’s terrible, a baby is NOT an accessory, but you can’t deny this growing trend in Hollywood.

At first the road to Hollywood Parenthood seemed to be all about adopting babies from out of the country, but that is so Angelina Jolie 2007!  Now it really doesn’t matter how you have a baby in Hollywood: adoption, surrogate, or just the good ole’ fashion way of getting “knocked up.” Anyone else out there not like this term, but absolutely loves that movie?

Okay, I digress, like I was saying it doesn’t matter how you have a baby in Hollywood, all that matters is the sweet bundle of joy that comes in the end, and that you’ll get to pose with he or she on the cover of some celebrity magazine once they have finally arrived.  So anyhow, with all this said, it really is quite amazing how many celebrities are actually coming up pregnant today in Hollywood.

Now I was joking earlier about Hollywood babies being a chic accessory, however, in harsh reality there are people who believe that this is exactly why celebrities are having babies.  Those people are skeptical to why such a large number of celebrities are turning up pregnant all at once.  Is it really just the fashionable thing to do in Hollywood and a great way to get some publicity?  Or is it just a mere coincidence?

I have a difficult time believing a celebrity would have a baby just to get some publicity, especially when so many of them are A-List celebrities and they don’t even need the publicity.  However, isn’t that part of the reason why Joan Crawford adopted her children in ‘Mommie Dearest?’…And perhaps I am naive to say that an A-List celebrity does not need the publicity, when really publicity is what keeps their careers thriving.  Regardless though, I still don’t think this is why so many celebs are having babies right now.

Click Below For Full Celebrity Baby Gallery at People.com:

http://www.people.com/people/celebritybabies/gallery/0,,20458970,00.html

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For me the fear of my child getting hurt especially haunts me because when I was a child someone hurt me.  See around six years old I was molested by a man who was close to our family who we should have been able to trust, but obviously this was not the case.

Unfortunately during this time I was in need of a male figure in my life.  This damaging and life changing series of molestations took place after my mom and father divorced, but before my mom and step-dad (who I adore) met and married.  So being that my father was in New York, while my mom and I were relocated in California, I was the perfect target for a male Pedophile.  I was a little girl in need of a man’s attention and so this man gave me his attention, doted on me as if I was his little girl, and made me feel special.  That’s what Pedophile’s do, they “seduce” their targets by making them feel special, by making that particular child trust them, it’s all a very well thought out sick plan for them.

This is the reason why I am absolutely beside myself that Amazon.com would allow the sale of “The Pedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure,” an electronic book written and published by Phillip R. Greaves.   I’m even more beside myself that Amazon decided to defend it’s decision to allow for the sale of this book, rather than apologize for it and remove it right away.

In an emailed statement Amazon said, “Amazon believes it is censorship not to sell certain books simply because we or others believe their message is objectionable.” Amazon then went on to say that “Amazon does not support or promote hatred or criminal acts, however, we do support the right of every individual to make their own purchasing decisions.”

These pathetic statements Amazon made absolutely disgusted me to the core. Amazon you most certainly did support and promote hatred and criminal acts as you allowed this “author” to have a forum to sell and promote this product, this hideous book geared towards the victimization of innocent children since October!  SHAME ON YOU AMAZON.COM!!!!!

My question to you Amazon is that you say you support the right of every individual to make their own purchasing decisions, but how come you didn’t support the right of every individual child to be protected?!!!!?  Every child has the right to be safe, but every child is not safe and having products or books that perpetuate the problems and disorders of society such as pedophilia does not promote the well being of children anywhere.  SHAME ON YOU AMAZON!!!!!

The author Greaves argues in “The Pedophile’s Guide” that pedophiles are misunderstood, as the word literally means to love a child.  The author also said that it is only a crime to act on sexual impulses toward children, and offers advice that purportedly allows pedophiles to abide by the law.

All I can say to that is give me an F’n Break!  Amazon.com should have never allowed this book to be on their website!  And if they were unaware at first, then it should have been removed as soon as they were made aware of it.

I’m disappointed that they put out those ridiculous statements about censorship instead of apologizing and removing the book right away.  Even the child online-safety advocacy group Enough is Enough said that although they’re not surprised that someone would publish such a book, they said that Amazon should have removed it because selling the book lends the impression that child abuse is normal.

Unfortunately, this story gets much worse.  Even though Amazon has finally removed the book, since this story broke yesterday morning, sales of this self-published e-book went up by 101,000%!

So this is what I want to know now, why did we have to ask Amazon to remove this book in the first place?  Were they too dumb to not know that selling this book was wrong to begin with?  Once again SHAME ON YOU AMAZON!!!

When I look back on my childhood to those brief months that felt like a lifetime, when a grown man was touching me inappropriately and making me feel ashamed…I realize now as an adult woman how he robbed me of my innocence, of how he brought the world that I had seen before him, with such sunshine and light, into a place of confusion and darkness for me instead.  And yet I stand here today feeling like I was one of the lucky ones because the abuse did stop, because I was only touched and not raped.  However, I can’t help but wonder about those children who weren’t and aren’t so lucky?  What kind of “rights” did this book serve them?

I have a wonderful mom and a wonderful step-dad who I adore and they gave me a great life despite the fact that a man, not even a man, a monster, entered my life for a brief period of time and made an impression on it, in such a way that a child should never have to imagine.

And even to this day, I have carried the secret around.  I did tell my mom about it when I was 11 years old and of course she was devastated by it.  However, I made her promise not to tell my step-dad because I didn’t think he would be able to emotionally handle it…..And still, I’m not even sure if my mom ever told him or not.  At that time she said she wouldn’t tell him and so it is my belief that the secret was kept.

With all this, I did go to counseling though and I have opened up to my best friends about it  as well…And of course my husband knows about it too. Yet, this is the first time I have ever really gone public with it, but this Amazon story just made me want to come out with my story though.

I just feel that I’m a grown woman now and I shouldn’t have to feel like this is my dirty little secret to keep anymore, because it’s not mine to keep.  It’s that child molester’s dirty little secret to keep, he has ownership over the shame now, not me anymore.

Also I want Amazon to know, and I want everyone to know that roughly 33% of girls and 14% of boys are molested before the age of 18, according to the U.S. Justice Department. However, what’s scarier is that these statistics are only based on reported cases and unfortunately most cases of child molestation goes unreported.  It is estimated that only 35% of sexual abuse is reported.  Most children are just too scared, ashamed, and embarrassed to say anything.  I know I was.

Do me a favor, if you know me, don’t act weird around me after you read this because I’m still the same person.  Please just be aware that these atrocities towards children can happen to anyone, to the happiest, and most stable of homes.

On my website www.mommyhoodtohollywood.com, I have a page called, ‘Mommy’s Hood’ where I refer moms to places where they can find deals on products.  Amazon is one of those places I often refer moms to.  I put out a statement yesterday that if Amazon did not remove this book from their website, then I would remove the products I have from them off of my site instead.  Well, Amazon has removed the book, but yet I still find myself feeling weird about referring moms to their site now.

At this point, I would like to ask Amazon if they can donate or create a program that is geared towards helping victims of child molestation.  I think that could help rectify the situation a bit.  Everyone let’s just remember that we need to start protecting the children and not the predators.

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Several of you don’t really understand what I am doing too, but even with that I am still being supported by you.  That is so kind, so I want to explain to everyone my personal quest with ‘Mommyhood to Hollywood,’ what exactly it is that I am doing, and share my hopes and dreams for it with all of you.

For several years in my life I spent time as a singer/songwriter and performer.  I loved this passionately….you know the way a 23 year old loves their boyfriend or girlfriend passionately…it’s usually a clueless and blinding love, but yet you throw yourself into it wholeheartedly anyway.  Well that was me.  However, after years of performing, almost getting signed to major record labels, and then being absolutely disappointed by the biz, just like you get disappointed by that relationship in your 20’s, I decided to move on with my life.  So I broke up with the music business.  Now I still love music and singing, but I am just not as interested in being in the business of it anymore, that’s all.

Anyhow, I have always been interested in television, in reporting and TV Hosting specifically, and so although I already had a BA degree in English Education, I decided to go back to school to get another degree in Film and Television with my option being in Broadcast Journalism.  After I graduated, I got my first job in Denver as a Production Assistant at a sports network.  I hate sports.  Ha! Ha!  But I tried my best to like it while I was there.  However, I did manage to find the one entertainment/lifestyle TV show this network had and I assisted on it for awhile and then eventually got the opportunity to report on the show.  This was a great first reporting experience for me and it became even more great when I won an Emmy Award for it!  WAIT!  REWIND…

Before I won the Emmy two major things happened to me in my life: First the network canceled the show I won the Emmy for, and second, I found out I was pregnant.  OK!  FAST-FORWARD….

At the Emmy Awards I was almost 5 months pregnant and I had won the Emmy for ‘On-Air Talent Rookie of the Year.’  It was awesome.  My mom said that if I had a girl I should name her Emmy because she was my good luck charm during the Emmy Awards.  So I did end up having a girl, and yes she is my good luck charm, and no I did not name her Emmy.

When I had my baby girl I fell absolutely in love with her of course, and I really enjoy being a mom.  Yes being a mommy does have its challenges like anything else worthwhile doing in life, but you quickly learn how to deal with those challenges and for me it made me start looking at a lot of things in my life in a different perspective.

First off, I hated my job, especially since I was no longer getting the opportunity to do on-air work there, second I missed my family and friends in California, and third I missed California too.  I missed the entertainment world and to me that world was specifically in Southern California.  I knew I had to get back there as soon as I could, so when my daughter was 8 months old we moved back.

Since I’ve been back in Cali I’ve been a stay-at-home mom.  It seemed to make the most sense for our family, but it was always meant to be a temporary situation.  It’s been a blessing to be at home with my little one, but just because I’m a mom doesn’t mean my passion for entertainment or my dream of continuing a career on television has died.  Therefore, I was itching to get back into it again.  I also had this nagging feeling to write again, to be creative.  I used to always keep a journal and  write songs, so I was racking my brain about possibly writing a book or creating a blog, but about what?

In March of 2010, I decided to take Marki Costello’s ‘Become A Host’ bootcamp.   I had no idea of what to expect from it, but I was ready for it though…..or so I thought. For those of you who don’t know who Marki Costello is, she is the granddaughter to the comedy legend Lou Costello of Abbott & Costello. However, besides that interesting fact,  Marki is also one of the leading casting directors in the television industry, as well as considered to be one of the top talent managers for TV Hosts as well.  In addition she runs this TV Host Academy, ‘Become A Host.’   The weekend bootcamp that I participated in was jam packed with TV Hosting exercises and I was so out of practice that in my opinion I sucked, BIG TIME!

Also, Marki pushed the importance of finding your brand and I was unsure of what my brand was.  I knew I loved entertainment/lifestyle television, but that was too broad and too common, so basically I was clueless. Then at the end of the weekend I kept thinking, “I’m a mommy who loves entertainment and celebrity/pop culture” and then the phrase ‘Mommyhood to Hollywood’ kept running through my mind.

Finally, the last day of bootcamp, Marki said she wanted us to write a 30 second show open that demonstrated our brand and then she wanted us to perform it in front of her.  This would be the audition to see if we would be invited by Marki to join her host academy.

Since I felt that I had sucked so bad during that weekend, all I wanted was just to do well in front of Marki and trust me when I say that she can seem quite intimidating when you first get to know her.  She is definitely a force to be reckoned with, but in a good way.  So I went in and performed my brand “Style Trial.”   Uh……WTF?  Yes, that’s what I came up with, I fully dropped my ‘Mommyhood to Hollywood’ idea and did something that was so NOT ME!  Okay, I went in and did my show open and I did pretty well and I was happy with my performance and yes I got invited into the program, but I was invited into the beginners class.  I didn’t care though, I was just relieved that I had gotten in, however, I knew ‘Style Trial’ was not my brand and you know what, I’m sure Marki knew that wasn’t my brand either.

During my first month of class ‘Mommyhood to Hollywood’ was still nagging me in my mind.  I talked about it with my husband Mark, but at first he didn’t seem to understand the concept.  He had a concern that I was at the risk of becoming an annoying TV Host who always talked about her kids.  He referenced the early days of Kathy Lee Gifford on Regis and Kathy Lee.  I didn’t really agree with him about his concern or about Kathy Lee!

Anyhow about 2 weeks passed after the conversation with the hubs and I attended my  first industry night.  This is a night where students have the opportunity to perform and leave their press kits with a big industry professional. Then that industry professional stays and chats with us afterwards about the business. That night a casting director Tara Flanagan was our guest.  She said that one of the performers that stood out most to her that evening was a mom (I did not perform, I just went to watch that night).  She then went on to say that there was a huge demographic in television for moms.  That’s when the light bulb went off in my head.  Ding! Ding! Ding!  Yes I heard a bell too. I thought to myself, “Why in the world have I been denying my ‘Mommyhood to Hollywood’ idea?”  The importance of a brand is that it is true to who you are.  A brand must be the authentic “You.”  I am a mommy! ….And not only am I a mommy, but I’m a mommy who has been a part of the entertainment industry for many years and is passionate about entertainment and celebrity/pop culture.  Thus, ‘Mommyhood to Hollywood’ made total sense for me.  So then it was on this night that ‘Mommyhood to Hollywood’ was born.

I wish Tara Flanagan knew how she changed my life that night.  I hope one day I’ll be able to tell her.

That night when I was driving home from industry night my blood was pumping with excitement and I could not wait to get home and talk to my hubby.  I had all these ideas running through my head of what I wanted to do.  I knew I wanted to dish about celebrities, but then I also knew that I wanted to get inside the lives of celebrity moms and their babies.

Then eventually the idea grew even bigger.  Look I am not a celebrity mom or anything, but I always want to try and give my daughter the best of everything the best way I can, like most moms do.  Therefore, the idea of giving your child the A-List life without paying those A-List prices seem to become a wonderful and practical philosophy I wanted to share with all moms, especially in today’s challenging economy.

Before I knew it I was blogging, tweeting, and developing my ‘Mommyhood to Hollywood’ website…..And it keeps growing!  I’m in the process of developing a ‘Mommyhood to Hollywood’ webisode and I’m developing a mommy resource page too!  It’s become such an exciting thing!

My hope someday is to have a TV show called, ‘Mommyhood to Hollywood’ so that I can reach moms by the millions!

As a quick side note, I have to say that Marki Costello knows her shit!  I have grown in so many ways as a host and as a business woman since joining ‘Become A Host.’

I also have to give my hubby Mark props too.  He has ended up loving the idea of ‘Mommyhood to Hollywood’ and has been in full support of it.  He even did the website for me.  I gave him all my ideas and he helped me bring them into fruition.

Some wonderful friends have helped me also, like my pal Craig K., thanks Craig!  I know all of you out there don’t know Craig, but trust me when I say he’s a great person to know.

Okay, done with the shout outs…..So there you have it my new baby ‘Mommyhood to Hollywood’ in a big nutshell.  Now my hope is that you will all join me on this new journey that I am on and continue to watch my baby business grow.

Recently I auditioned to be in an industry showcase and I made it in.  So now in about 2 weeks I will have the chance to present myself as a TV Host and also to present my brand to a bunch of television agents, casting directors and TV network executives.  It’s a very exciting and scary event all at once.  Maybe something great will come out of it or maybe nothing at all.  No matter what happens I will continue to nourish my baby ‘Mommyhood to Hollywood’ and I hope you will all continue along with me through this interesting, unknown road that I am running and sometimes tripping on.

So with all this I will leave you with some shameless plugs so that you can join me on ‘Mommyhood to Hollywood.’  The first one is to please subscribe to this blog, it’s free or I wouldn’t ask-lol!  The next is to follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MichelleRivera5.  The last thing is to please join my ‘Mommyhood to Hollywood Facebook page at http://bit.ly/ckxelb.

Thank you so much again everyone.  I send you all love and positivity always!

Marki Costelli Audition Tips: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nST6aaE6C6I]

Michelle Rivera’s TV Hosting Reel:  [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywh6tWlnQ8I]

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