Minnie Driver Eschews Tabloid Millions, Shows Off Baby On MySpace For Free
Y’all want to know what sort of thing make me happy? THIS makes me happy. Actress Minnie Driver didn’t go for the millions of dollars that could have been hers had she approached a tabloid mag for the Exclusive! First! Photos! of her new little baby boy, and instead followed in the footsteps of bajillions of other people and posted a photo on her MySpace:
The Oscar-nominated British actress has posted the first images of her one-month-old son Henry Story Driver on her MySpace social networking web page.
Hundreds of thousands of fans have viewed pictures of Miss Driver, 38, cradling her little boy on the site.
Fans posting messages described the infant as ‘Amazingly adorable’, ’simply precious’ and ’so very beautiful’.
Miss Driver, best known as Matt Damon’s love interest in the film Good Will Hunting, gave birth to her son on September 8 in Los Angeles.
He weighed in at a healthy 9lb 12oz.
w00t! A celebrity with brains! Finally, someone who realizes that a baby is a baby is a baby, and a celeb baby is no better or worse than any other baby in the world. I haven’t handed out a Breath Of Fresh Air Award in a while, but Minnie certainly gets one for having some basic common sense about this whole picture thing.
And isn’t he the cutest thing? What a little schmoochums!
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With all due respect to Minnie Driver (Gross Pointe Blank remains one of my favorite movies), do you really think anyone offered her “millions” for exclusive photos of her baby? Until just now, I hadn’t even known she was pregnant. It’s not like she some A-list worldwide celebrity who’s followed around by paparazzi everywhere she goes.
Cute kid, and good for, but I don’t think this was quite the huge principled sacrifice that you’re making it out to be.
Comment by J.R. LeMar — October 7, 2008 @ 11:03 am
That is a cute baby, but no doubt, she could have gotten “something” for her baby pics. There was growing interest during her pregnancy and many pics popped up all over the tabs of her pregnant. I guess the point is, she gave us a glimpse for free, and we appreciate it.
Comment by D — October 7, 2008 @ 12:42 pm
#1: Then it is obvious that you do not pay attention. Minnie has been all over the blogs and mags with first speculation that she was pregnant, then speculation about who the father was. Paps have followed her everywhere searching for clues and just trying to get photos.
If a d-list celeb like Tori Spelling can get big money for her baby pics, so could Minnie. Lately, any celeb who turns up pregnant gets offered something for the exclusive photo rights. Good on Minnie for realizing the fallacy of all this and not whoring out her baby to the almighty dollar.
Comment by k — October 7, 2008 @ 2:49 pm
@ “k”: I guess you’re right, because I really had NO idea about this, so I obviously haven’t been “paying attention” that closely to all celebrity news. And I think I’m feeling pretty good about that. ^_^
But I will say that Tori Spelling is a bit more well-known in America than Minnie Driver, so that’s a tad more understandable. But I still seriously doubt that anyone would’ve paid her “millions of dollars,” as this article implied that she was giving up on.
Now, if Jennifer Anniston has a baby and then posts her baby pics for free, I’ll be a little more impressed.
Comment by J.R. LeMar — October 8, 2008 @ 12:53 am
Well, Nicole Kidman has refused, actually turned down, millions of dollars for “exclusive first photos” of her baby girl. Not sure if you’d consider her in the same class as Jen, but she’s pretty famous.
You’d be surprise at what tabloids will pay for this stuff. For whatever reason, there’s been a lot of interest in Minnie’s pregnancy, probably because she’s not revealed the identity of the father. She’s been on the covers of all the rags and she’s done her share of talk shows. And yeah…there are some of us who’s job it is to pay attention to this stuff.
And I don’t know about Minnie Driver being not as famous here in the states as, say, Tori Spelling…when I first watched GoldenEye and saw the singer in the bar, I said to myself, “Hey, that’s Minnie Driver!” But I’m odd, so there you go.
Comment by k — October 8, 2008 @ 1:05 am
I hope that comment didn’t come out too elitist or anything. I’m not trying to imply that I’m above celeb news. Obviously I read THIS site from time to time (though I’m usually checking it out for Scientology news, to be honest), & a couple of other gossip sites that I won’t name here. So I do find myself reading about “celebrities” that I really don’t care about. I sometimes hate the fact that I even know who “Hiedi & Spencer” are, even though I’ve never seen any of their shows. But it’s just like, you can’t escape them, they’re everywhere. Same with people like Kim Kardashian, & many others I could name. So it’s kind of weird that someone with real actual talent, like Minnie, could fall under my radar like this.
Kidman’s definitely big. And with the problems she had conceiving during her marriage to The Cruiser, I can see why there’d be huge interest in her baby. And, for the record, I totally get your point about this sort of thing, but I look @ it differently. I agree that a baby is a baby. Sure, it’s nice to see a cute little baby from a celeb that you like, but unless it’s got a 3rd arm or something, what’s the big deal? However, if some organization is willing to pay a huge amount of money for your baby pics, why not take it? I probably would. Sure, you can refuse, to make some kinda point, but this is a capitalistic society. If the opportunity is there to make some money, legally, without hurting anyone. I say go for it!
Comment by J.R. LeMar — October 8, 2008 @ 3:03 am
Nah, it didn’t come across as elitist, although we have had some people on here complain that there is too much stupid celeb stuff and not enough intelligent articles on Scientology on this site.
Uh……?
I guess my way of thinking is this…you’ve got a million-dollar payday for baby photos, where basically it is laying there sleeping while mommy (who has had three hours in hair and makeup and wardrobe, not to mention lighting and camera work) has her photo splashed all over the rags. It’s more a media event for mommy than anything else, using the baby as a prop to keep mommy’s name in the news. Plus, it can hurt, as in it can subconsciously start the child out a lifestyle of, “I am better than you because I am famous and I have more money.” Of course, a baby can’t understand that, but as the child gets older its lifestyle and the way it is treated certainly is different than other kids. Then the kid starts believing its own hype and the constant adulation of the media and fans, until it grows up to be Paris Hilton.
I do understand what you’re saying, and if most celebs would just use it as a charity thing PLUS lived the rest of their lives in a fairly normal, non-”I’m better than you” fashion, things would be different. Unfortunately, very few celebs are like that. Just look at the second generation of many stars…few of them are well-adjusted with no inflated egos.
Not trying to argue, I swear. I’m bowing out now.
Comment by k — October 8, 2008 @ 9:21 am
Kudos to Minnie.
Comment by Rachel — October 8, 2008 @ 2:26 pm