Mommywood Read Free Page A

said, ―Oh, never mind, and hurried away, embarrassed. The same thing has happened to me ever since I can remember. People come up to me and say, ―Didn‘t we go to high school together? I‘m thinking, Um, only if you went to the fictional school appearing in Beverly Hills 90210.
    I‘ve actually always found it kind of sweet that when people recognize you from magazines or TV, they think you‘re an old friend, that you go back a long way together. It‘s like we all shared something, even if we were on different sides of the experience. But when I saw and recognized Deacon, for a moment it was like I was outside the fishbowl looking in. I was like those fans, like any mom anywhere recognizing Deacon or Liam, and I felt a little sad. These young kids are already being seen in a different way, and they have no say in it. Does it make their lives harder? Does it change the way people treat them?
    Does it change the way they see the world? I wish I knew the answers.
    I grew up in Hollywood, but like I said, I didn‘t grow up with the paparazzi—not like there are now. At each event there was maybe one photographer, a legitimate professional whose job was to capture the event, like a photographer at a wedding.
    Now there are masses of people with cars and cameras stalking celebrities, shooting up your skirt as you climb out of a car and bombarding you as you enter or exit an event or restaurant. The pictures of me with my parents at events show that I was shy but used to that single flashbulb. Liam would think it was strange if we came out of a restaurant and there weren‘t four or five photographers with flashes going off in his face. This is the first generation of kids growing up with that.
    In the outside world, like any mom, there‘s only so much I can do to protect my child. I shielded his baby carrier, but he‘s too old for that now. I‘m not going to lock him away. I‘m not going to put a mask on him. I don‘t want him to feel embarrassed about or restricted by who he is. There‘s a point at which the protecting can do more harm than the threat itself.
    I can control the reality show—the cameras inside my house that expose Liam to millions of viewers every week. It‘s my choice as a parent to allow that to happen. But I love doing our show. I actually think it‘s changed the way people see us. Some of the people who recognize me on the street now treat me more like a friend than a celebrity. A couple will tell us that they had the same fight that Dean and I had, or a mom will tell me she has the same issue with her son that I‘ve had with Liam. It actually makes me feel more normal. The media puts celebrities up on a pedestal; even when they say we‘re ―just like you, one page later they‘re separating us again. The show is my chance to say that even though our world may be a little odd, we‘re still just people. I hope Liam will be proud to have been part of it one day. The show is my livelihood, and it allows me and Dean to spend more time with Liam. It keeps our family together.
    I didn‘t choose my upbringing, but now I‘m making decisions about my own children‘s lives and that upbringing is the only personal experience I have. I skipped college to stay on 90210 . I worked on 90210 for a total of ten years—so long that when I finally walked out into the bright sunlight of the real world I couldn‘t imagine being anything other than an actor. I still can‘t. I have no other life skills. Entertainment is my life. I was born in it. I grew up in it. I‘m stuck in it. And I love it. I can wonder about taking Liam out of the spotlight until the end of time, but the truth is I don‘t really feel like I could support my family any other way.
    I glanced back at the yoga kids, now rolling on their backs in happy baby pose. Deacon seemed fine. The other kids in his class didn‘t see him as different. They were all only three or four. School, I hope, will be a safety zone for Liam, where he can