Sandra Bullock and her new baby, Louis

It’s no wonder the talented Sandra Bullock has been keeping a low profile in the aftermath of her husband’s despicable cheating – she’s been bonding with a new man.

The Oscar winner adopted a son, Louis, in January and has been doing her best to keep the baby away from the prying paparazzi which has been desperate to snap her in her post-separation pre-divorce blues.

But the 45-year-old had a great secret – she was actually focused on something more important than herself, the baby who was born in New Orleans.

Bullock spilled the beans to American celebrity Bible, People magazine, and is featured on the cover of the latest edition holding the darling little boy aloft, looking every bit the infatuated and devoted mother.

According to the People mag website: “Bullock, 45, and husband Jesse James, 41, began the adoption process four years ago and brought Louis home in January but decided to keep the news to themselves until after the Oscars. Their close friends and family – including James’s children Sunny, 6, Jesse Jr., 12, and Chandler, 15 – were essential in keeping the adoption a secret.”

Despite Bullock and her estranged husband beginning the adoption together, Bullock is now a new and proud single mother. “It’s like he’s always been a part of our lives,” she tells People.

Congratulations to the lucky new mum – she deserves this happiness and baby Louis is lucky to have her – and she him.

]]> http://www.sandralee.com.au/2010/04/people-magazine-reveal-sandra-bullock-adopts-a-baby-and-files-for-divorce/feed/ 0 http://www.sandralee.com.au/2010/04/why-nikes-new-ad-with-tiger-woods-fails/ http://www.sandralee.com.au/2010/04/why-nikes-new-ad-with-tiger-woods-fails/#comments Thu, 08 Apr 2010 15:15:14 +0000 Sandra Lee http://www.sandralee.com.au/?p=917

Tiger Woods in the new Nike ad

Here’s why Nike’s new 30-second advertisement featuring a robotic-looking Tiger Woods and the voice of his late father, Earl, is wrong on so many levels.

Here’s what the late Earl says:

“Tiger, I am more prone to be inquisitive to promote discussion. I want to find out what your thinking was. I want to find out what your feelings are, and did you learn anything?”

And here’s why I think Nike have totally missed the point. The advertisement cements Woods’s reputation as a cold-hearted, self-centered man. It’s not cutting edge. It is pure exploitation.

Sure, Woods has generated hundreds of millions of dollars for Nike since the sporting goods company signed the golfer as a name years ago, but this is no way to resurrect his thoroughly (self) ruined reputation.

It is impossible to ignore what Woods has done. Golf nuts and men have tried to ignore it, but women and all sports fan with a moral compass pointing north can’t. And already the ad has been called creepy. I agree.

Here’s why.

1)            Nike and Woods are usng Woods’s dead father. Ewww. Woods clearly has given his OK to use his late father’s voice. Double ewwww.

2)            Tiger says nothing in the ad. He merely stares into the camera. The ad reveals nothing and answers none of the questions his late father asks. Tiger Woods doesn’t discuss; he doesn’t say what he was thinking; he doesn’t express his feelings, nor does he reveal if he’s learned a thing. He simply stares – like a cold-hearted robot. Like the cold-hearted millionaire who tipped cheap on his black AmEx card. He lets his dead father do the talking, and that’s cheap, that’s easy, that’s a major cop out.

Tiger Woods with his wife Elin, children and two dogs - the picture perfect family - or is it?

3)            Woods has been exposed as a) cheap, b) dirty, c) someone who engages is unprotected sex with many women other than his wife, d) a liar, e) an egoist who continues to play by his own rules even when in rehab – remember the individual cabin? and f) a manipulator – the latest woman to come forward says they had a one-night-stand when she was his teenaged neighbour.

And where did he get up to this behaviour? In the family car and in his office next to the baby’s crib. Eww. Eww. Ewww.

Tiger Woods might be good at golf, and he might prove it at the Masters in Augusta this weekend, but he’s bad at everything else, and he’s already proved that.

marie claire Australia October 2009 cover

Big question: is the sunburnt country with its lands of sweeping plains littered with red-necks, racists and bigots?

I’ve addressed that question in a new story in the latest edition of Australia’s fashion magazine, marie claire, that hit newstands today – the one with Rachel McAdams on the cover.

In the aftermath of the violent and racist attacks on foreign students from Asia, the words “racist” and “Australian” have been used often in the same sentence, but what does the evidence show?

“When people make snap decisions, they fall back on their prejudices,” says Australian National University Professor Andrew Leigh, who conducted a survey to determine the level of discrimination faced by job applicants of various ethnicities.

The results of his survey might just surprise you.

Meanwhile, it was heartening to realise that Australia has one of the biggest hearts among western countries when it comes to accepting immigrants under the Federal humanitarian Resettlement Program. In the 2007 – 2008 year, the nation welcomed a total of 13,014 people from a variety of countries.

Sure, we could do more, but it’s not a bad start on a per capita basis.

Meanwhile, marie claire closes on a tribute I’ve written about on one of America’s finest and most poised former First Ladies, Betty Ford.

Former First Lady of the United States, Betty Ford, during her days in the White House

Perhaps not surprisingly, the 91-year-old will be remembered for what she did with her years in the White House, as well as afterwards including establishing the respected Betty Ford Center for the treatment of people with drugs and alcohol dependence.

Disarmingly open and unashamedly outspoken, she was a feminist who directed the women’s lib movement to a new audience of conservative stay-at-home women when it was strategically focused on the already radicalised bra-burners and younger women at universities; she was an advocate for people who, like her, suffered addiction to alcohol and drugs – legal and illegal; and she was determinedly honest following the scandalous presidency of Richard Nixon, whom her husband replaced.

But my favourite discovery was when Mrs Ford, in the very early days of Gerald Ford’s presidency, stunned the media and the world when she revealed that – shock, horror – she absolutely would sleep in the same bed as him. At the time, the president a kept a separate bedroom from his wife. What a brazen hussy!

For more on whether our lucky country is a racist country and to discover the wonderful life of an incredible woman, pick up the latest copy of marie claire.

Tony Abbott speaking at the launch of his book, Battlelines in Sydney on July 28 2009, pic by sandra lee

Liberal Party “hard man” Tony Abbott was described as the party’s “intellectual” just hours after it was revealed that Opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull had sunk further in the latest opinion poll today.

“Someone here has already described him as the Liberal Party’s intellectual,” said Melbourne University Press CEO Louise Adler, at the launch of Abbott’s book, Battlelines. “Some might say that is a contradiction, I don’t think that’s the case.

“He is an author without a venal bone in his body.”

Adler, who it should be noted is not known for a conservative bent, said that when she offered Abbott a healthy advance for his book, he halved it. It was an interesting insight into the things that motivate Abbott. Clearly, not money; not for nothing is he known as a conviction politician.

So it was no surprise that the Australian Liberal Party defender  and Federal Shadow Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, launched a strident defence of the embattled Turnbull.

“Look, polls come and go but Malcolm is our leader for keeps. I think Malcolm is doing a good job,” Abbott told reporters. “I think the Kevin Rudd honeymoon is wearing off.”

He also took a swipe at the Prime Minister’s essay in the weekend papers, calling it “vanity publishing”.

Abbott’s book, launched by Sarah Murdoch, is part personal philosophy and part road map for the way ahead for the stricken Liberal Party.

“I have read Battlelines and I couldn’t put it down,” the Bonds model and host of Australia’s Next Top Model said. “You have the strength and character to say what you truly believe in. Tony, your courage and devotion and your commitment to public life is inspirational.”

Sarah Murdoch launched Tony Abbott's book Battlelines after getting to know him when hosting the Today show (Pic courtesy Bonds)

Abbott, who was previously known as John Howard’s Praetorian Guard, has known Murdoch since 2007 when he sparred weekly with now Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Channel Nine’s Today show of which Murdoch was briefly co-host. He joked that he might be a potential finalist of one of her next shows, Australia’s Next Top Politician.

Leadership aspirations, Tony?

“The coalition is not going to win the next election by criticising the Rudd government,” Abbott said. Rather it has to provide good, strong policy alternatives to engage the electorate – and it has to do it long before the election is called.

Good point.

Abbott also said the country needed a “fair go for families because our children are even more important than better roads and water”, a debate about federalism, and support for larger and more cohesive families. While he may be criticised as being deliberately provocative, Abbott said his conservative ideas were in accordance with mainstream Australia, although there are plenty in mainstream Australia who don’t agree with his ideas about taking family law back to the 1970s and making divorce more difficult.

About 150 people crowded into the Wharf Restaurant behind the Sydney Theatre Company for the mid-morning event which featured a Who’s Who of conservative figures and writers in Australia.

Check out the line up; former attorney general Philip Ruddock, Federal member for Mackellar Bronwyn Bishop – who Abbott described as his “political neighbour and friend”, Federal Liberal frontbencher Scott Morrison, monarchist Professor David Flint, and Quadrant editor Keith Windschuttle. John Howard was a late apology.

Media faces included columnists Miranda Devine, Christopher Pearson (who Abbott called his “intellectual godfather since I have been in Parliament”), Dennis Shanahan, and Piers Akerman, and the opinion page editor from The Australian, Rebecca Weisser.

Tony Abbott speaks to reporters at the launch of his book, and defends Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull (pic by sandra lee)

Also putting in an appearance were the ABC’s Lateline hosts Tony Jones and Leigh Sales (doing her best Anna Wintour impression by wearing sunglasses during the speeches to fend off the sunlight), Today co-host Karl Stefanovic (who moved seats to sit next to Sales), Jana Wendt looking every bit as glamorous as ever, Maxine McKew biographer Margot Saville, Lachlan Murdoch and, hysterically, Abbott’s celibacy advisor who he said was one of the people who “helped me through some tough times” when he was studying for the priesthood.

Incidentally, MUP has also published Peter Costello’s memoirs and John Winston Howard, The Biography by Peter van Onselen (who was also in attendance) and Wayne Errington.

My ears pricked up when Adler said the Howard book (he’s currently penning his autobiography) has sold 20,000 copies in hardback, and The Costello Memoirs has done a very respectable 40,000 in its first format.

That comment dispelled two myths – that Costello’s book has been remaindered (and, arguably, is now officially more popular than the vO&E tome on Howard?) and that books about Liberal Party politicians don’t sell.

Well, let’s see how Abbott’s Battlelines goes.

Robert Redford and second wife Sibylle Szaggars

Iconic actor Robert Redford broke the mould on the weekend and did what few men of his advanced years, elevated status and deep pockets do – he married a woman in her 50s.

Shock, horror! Finally, an actor acting his age. Redford, who is 72, tied the knot with his girlfriend of 13 years, Sibylle Szaggars in a luxury hotel in Hamburg, and depending on which report you read, the bride is either 19 or 20 years younger than the man who broke hearts as Hubbell Gardner in the romantic epic, The Way We Were with Barbra Streisand in 1973 and won an Oscar for Best Director for Ordinary People in 1980.

And proving what an old-fashioned fellow he really is, Szaggars and Redford had been engaged since May last year.

Sure, a generation divides Redford and Szaggars but at least he hasn’t embarrassed himself by marrying a gold-digging careerist doubling as a nymphette 40, 50 or 60 years his junior. The artist Szaggars is in his age ballpark – well, at least on the periphery. And they look chronologically matched, with the march of years etched on both their faces, albeit his with deeper crevasses.

The age debate is a tricky one: there are those who say that age doesn’t matter and it’s usually a seriously younger woman who bangs on about how intelligent and fascinating her seriously older partner is – they rarely mention the mountains of money he has, or the toys or the access to power. Interestingly, the older men more often than not remain silent on the subject or dismiss it out of hand when –  indeed, if – asked. Why should they bother explaining themselves? After all, they know the aphrodisiacal nature of money, fame and power.

Then there are the cynics who look at the match and go, hmmmm.

The not-so-curious thing about it, though, is that men can get away with being decades older than their wives and it doesn’t matter how big the age gap. They’re cradle snatchers, wink, wink. Give the old codger a pat on the back. And yes, there may be some science and biology involved – but how much and what age gap is OK?

Not surprisingly, a glaring double standard exists when women partner/marry/shack up with significantly younger men. They’ve even been branded with an unflattering nickname, cougars, as if they are predatory beasts, and movies and magazines have been devoted to them, casting them as subjects of ridicule and/or fascination.

Demi Moore and husband Ashton Kutcher

Me? I think there’s a bit more dignity in the older woman with a younger man than, say, Anna Nicole Smith with the late octogenarian and billionaire J. Howard Marshall, who was a sprightly (not) 89 when they tied to the knot, or Hugh Heffner with one of his many cookie-cutter blondes.

After all, the relationship is based on more than the obvious superficial attractions of power and money. Just think Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis, Mariah Carey, Demi Moore, Cher, Cameron Diaz, Mira Sorvino and, if you cast your minds waaaaaay back, Linda Evans.

I know who I’d rather see. A cougar not a codger.

Chris Bath, seen here in action, becomes Channel Seven's new 6pm news reader

So, journalist Chris Bath has finally scored the coveted 6pm news reading gig over Seven’s new recruit, Mark Ferguson, when Ian Ross retires later this year. Or so she said today on a Sydney radio station.

Big deal!

It’s not as if it’s a first for women or a break through for feminism. Yes, Seven’s nightly news is in the number one spot, but again, big deal! The top spot is ephemeral.

Women broke through the glass ceiling decades ago when the honey-voiced Helen Tiller scored the solo newsreader’s gig in prime time in the 1971 for GTS/BKN out of Port Pirie in South Australia. The network covered a wide sweep of country South Australia and into Victoria, Tiller told me.

Tiller, now a renowned voice coach who has taught many of the on-air talent how to project and enunciate, was soon followed by another female ground breaker. Gail Jarvis smashed through the plexiglass ceiling in 1977 for ATN and then moved on to become the first female boss of Nine’s flagship 60 Minutes, which she followed by a string of other top jobs.

And here’s another news flash – there have been plenty of capable women reading the news alone in various versions of prime time – morning and night  - for years.

Helen Tiller, the First woman to read the news solo on Australian TV

Jessica Rowe was easy on the auto-cue at Channel 10 before her short-lived stint at Channel Nine from where she was “boned” by Eddie McGuire.

Over at ABC we recall Angela Pearman in the 1990s, and SBS had the eminently capable Mary Kostakidis sitting solo on the World News at 6.30pm for almost 20 years before the powers-that-be decided that, after two decades of professionalism, she needed a male side-kick to help her out. They teamed her with Stan Grant (also short lived in the role) and she walked out in 2007, before subsequently settling a lawsuit with the network.

There have been plenty more in the decades since Tiller and Jarvis truly did break new ground for Australian women in broadcast journalism, and here’s a small sample (apologies to those who I’ve missed; too many to name); Jana Wendt, Katrina Lee, Anne Fulwood, Jennifer Keyte, Anne Saunders (also at Seven in the mid 90s), Juanita Phillips, Felicity Davey, Lisa Millar, Leigh Sales, Maxine McKew, Sandra Sully, and Deb Knight.

It’s great that talented women are getting top jobs, but it’s not new or news. They’ve been getting them for years. And there is no currency to be had for Seven to bask in Bath’s deserved rise to the prime time slot in this day and age, especially when she’s been a proven talent for some time. It’s deserved.

Sure, it’s good news for Bath, a former Dancing with the Stars contestant, but as a social comment about women it amounts to nought.

Incidentally, I’m curious to know if Bath will get one of Seven’s blokish nicknames. As she said on the  Steve Price radio show earlier today: “When Roscoe retires I am taking over Monday to Friday … and Fergo will be doing weekends. That’s the plan.”

Roscoe. Fergo. Batho? Nah; and Bathie doesn’t work either.

But you’ve got to give the woman credit – she went on the front foot and announced that David Leckie - Seven’s boss – had promised her the 6 pm job that many had thought was going to Ferguson. And her announcement makes it very difficult for Leckie to now hand it to Ferguson on a silver platter.

The new righteous brothers - Nick, Joe and the newly engaged Kevin Jonas (r). pix Viacom International Inc

Is teen heartthrob Kevin Jonas getting ready to ditch the purity ring he’s been brandishing for the past few years after popping the question to his girlfriend, Danielle Deleasa, on the weekend?

At 22, Kevin is the oldest of the Jonas Brothers, all of whom wear the rings as a public statement about their decision to remain virgins until they marry.

I met the three Jonas boys in New York last year and went to the world premiere of their Disney Channel movie Camp Rock, a music filled extravaganza that was viewed by millions and millions (and then some) which confirmed their status as the world’s hottest teen stars.

Curiously, though, when asked about the purity rings, youngest brother Nick, clammed up. Defiantly.

“We are here to talk about Camp Rock today and we choose not to talk about that,’’ he said, taking control of the interview as brother Joe and Kevin looked straight ahead. Why not talk about the issue? After all, they are proudly devout Christians – their father Kevin Sr was a minister in the Assembly of God church in New Jersey before the boys hit the big time – and had long made a public show of their chastity with the bands on their ring fingers. Furthermore, the JoBros website quoted Joe Jonas saying he wears the ring as “a promise to myself and God to say pure until marriage”.

Absolutely nothing wrong with that. In fact, in these days of rampant celebrity exhibitionism when the It Girls are bad girls and bad boys are considered cool, it’s refreshing to see that some people – celebs especially – are not afraid to wear their morality on their sleeve. So far, it seems to be working for them.

Kevin, Joe and Nick Jonas remain among the few stars who haven’t been plagued by scandals and tawdry kiss and tell sagas, and their clean-cut image has helped make them multi-media multi-millionaires.

But back to Nick, who hadn’t yet turned 16. Even though there is no first among equals among the JoBros, and sibling rivalry seems to be non-existent, he appeared to be the leader of the pack during our interview for Australia’s sunday magazine. Joe said as much: “I would definitely say Nick is the leader type who I think will be the president one day”. Understandable, when you consider Nick was the first of the boys to get into the entertainment business, having made his Broadway debut, aged eight, playing Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol: The Musical.

Meanwhile, congrats to Kevin – there’ll be millions of hearts breaking across the world tonight, to borrow a memorable line from Top Gun.

And for those of you who want to catch my footage of the JoBros on the red carpet at the world premiere of Camp Rock, see below – and listen for the dish on Nick Jonas’s romantic ways with the girls!

What would you do if you caught your husband/wife, boyfriend/girlfriend en flagrante with, ahem, the computer? Shut him down? Boot him out? Purge memory and forgive him? Or join in with a little laptop action of your own?

I’ve addressed some of these issues in a story about the contentious topic of when exactly does pornography becomes adultery (you be the judge) in the new edition of Australian marie claire magazine that hit newsstands today.

Interestingly, the women I interviewed whose marriages had been ultimately destroyed by their husbands’ use of porn – some of it downright disgusting and depicting violence towards women – wanted to help their blokes overcome their addictions and, in the first instance, did not think it was a deal breaker. They are reasonable, intelligent women and the reasons the marriages finally fell apart are compelling.

I asked Bettina Arndt, a social commentator and author of a recently published book, The Sex Diaries,if she thought “pornography is adultery”. Her response was a definite no, backed up by evidence. Here’s a taste:

“We know men have a very visual sexual imagination and are attracted to visual material; some women are, too. There is good evidence that the visual aspect is a large part of stimulating the male libido.”

She has a point – what do you think all those men rely on when at the IVF clinic? Visual porn.

But contrast Arndt’s response to that of Melinda Tankard Reist, author and spokesperson for Women’s Forum Australia:

“The feedback I get from women in this situation is that they feel the compulsive use of porn is akin to adultery. They do feel cheated on, and they speak about an emotional betrayal.”

Sam deBrito, All Men Are Liars* blogger, newspaper columnist and author (as well as being a former desk buddy of mine) had an interesting take on it from a man’s point of view – and it may surprise you.

The story is provocative and will make you think. As a married woman, I’m still not sure how I’d react and what I’d do in the same situation.

Happy reading – or not, as the case may be!

Jenny Sanford, the wife of cheating South Carolina Governor who took off to Argentina to visit his mistress, is fast turning into a new role model for Gen X women. Mrs Sanford, 46, told reporters that she will “not only survive” her husband’s very public infidelity, but “thrive”. When asked about his on-going political career, the former investment banker who refused to stand by the Governor when he ‘fessed up to his week of debauchery, said simply: “His career is not a concern of mine. He is going to have to worry about that.” You get the impression that she will indeed thrive. My bet is that while Mrs Sanford’s strong stance in letting her husband face the music in public alone will win her plaudits, she’ll be criticised by more strident feminists arguing she should have given her wayward hubby the boot. Me? I like her.