Should we really be surprised that Kylie Jenner went to Coachella?
Now that we got that out of the way, I think there is a bigger issue at hand here. I’m going to preface the rest of what I’m going to say with this: I am not a female. I never will physically experience childbirth. I am not a parent. I am simply a human being observing another human being and passing judgment on their decision.
While I may find the Kardashian/Jenner clan to be in your face, overexposed and hard to ignore, they know how to work the media, much unlike our current President. Kylie Jenner went missing from social media, and honestly from public eye during the entirety of her pregnancy. She surprisingly did the right thing and went incognito and surprised us (but not really) when she announced the birth of her first child, Stormi (again, these names get worse and worse).
Kylie Jenner gave birth to her child a little over two months ago. Kylie Jenner is also twenty-years-old. While most people her age are in college or attending music festivals or worrying about getting summer internships, Kylie Jenner is a young mom who is on the verge of billionaire status. She has more money than she knows what to do with, and if she wants to choose to spend her money on childcare so she can take a trip to Coachella, she will certainly not think twice about it.
What separates Kylie Jenner from the rest of society is that she is in fact famous and wealthy. Most moms, whether they’re teen moms, young moms, or moms who are somewhat established in life, don’t have the same luxury that Kylie Jenner does. Kylie Jenner is privileged beyond belief and she has to understand that her followers, many whom are certainly impressionable, are not going to have the same experience as her.
The issue comes down to Kylie’s celebrity status. The thing that strikes me the most baffling is that during her pregnancy she completely disappeared from public eye because she wanted to focus on her pregnancy and experiencing that journey for herself and no one else. I think we can all find that commendable. However, doesn’t Kylie know that ANYTHING she does is going to be examined under a microscope and be up for discussion. Some may say that she did not sign up for the life she currently has (you can blame that on momager Kris Jenner and Kim Kardashian for kicking off a decade of Kardashian focused celebrity news) but she also chooses to make a profit off her name and celebrity.
If Kylie Jenner was smart, she would have thought twice about posting from Coachella. Logically, she had been so accustomed to not sharing her life with her followers, why not continue that path. Anytime any one of the Kardashian/Jenner women do anything, there are people criticizing them immediately.
Celebrity moms are held to a much higher standard because their actions are visible in the public eye, if they so choose to share with their followers. There are many celebrity moms who don’t share their kids lives or daily adventures, which is also fine. It’s their decision. You can find any celebrity mom, from Jennifer Garner to Reese Witherspoon sharing fun anecdotes about their kids on talk shows, or pictured out in public with their kids.
With age comes experience, and I don’t think Kylie Jenner has either right now. For instance, let’s look at another teen icon, Britney Spears. Yes, Britney Spears was in her mid-twenties when she was pregnant and gave birth to her two sons, but she faced continuous public scrutiny in the early years over every little decision she made.
There was also Bristol Palin and Jamie-Lynn Spears, two young teen moms who became both clickbait and topic of conversation on teen pregnancy. While both of these young women have grown leaps and bounds from their initial scandals, they also learned quickly that not everything needs to be shared.
Kylie Jenner is a true Generation Z, or post-millennial mom. Her whole life has been in front of a camera and that is all she knows. Kylie is navigating her motherhood in an unprecedented playing field, and that also makes her public enemy number one, whether she deserves the hate or not.
I look at the girls from the Teen Mom show as prime examples of millennial moms who are experiencing what it’s like to be a mom in today’s society. I have been watching the cast of Teen Mom OG since their first appearances on 16 & Pregnant and most of them are my age or around it. I have come into adulthood with them as they’ve experienced various ups and downs.
Comparing and contrasting the young women from Teen Mom to Kylie Jenner, it is night and day (minus Farrah because she’s a despicable trash bag). Even though Kylie Jenner is only two months into her motherhood journey, she has a lot to learn. I don’t think she deserves a lot of the hate and vitriol that she receives, but I also don’t think that she thinks things through. If she does, then that’s her prerogative, but she and her family can’t cry wolf and release statements about the unfair treatment they receive from the public.
I’ll leave you with this: for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Truthfully, Kylie Jenner will never escape public scrutiny because of who she is, but if she was smart, she’d rethink her brand, her message, and her decisions. There is a lot of money to be made by her in the mommy market and she has to capitalize on it as a good Kardashian/Jenner woman does.
Featured image via “137223_5306” by Walt Disney Television / CC BY-ND
