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Author Topic: Celebrity Stalking with Children  (Read 2690 times)
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dkpen
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« on: March 08, 2007, 01:22:41 PM »

Not sure if this is where I should post but I have a question on Celebrity Stalking with children....

Is it a crime for reporters or cameramen to stalk celebrities with children? Isn't it placing the children in danger when these reporters or cameramen stalk and chase celebrities in an attempt for an oppertune interview or photo? Wouldn't it be concidered child endangerment when these cameramen persist causing the celebrity families to have to run to get away or speed off feeling they need to protect their children from these celeb stalkers? It could place them in an accident causing harm to these children.

Could the celebrities have injunction laws put in place to keep these reporters or cameramen away when they are out in the public with their children or at least an injunction to all reporters and cameramen of a distance of at least 500 feet or more out of protection for their children? And if these reporters or cameramen approach or get closer than said limitations set ie 500 feet or more, go to jail, their license suspended from them or stripped completely?

I know that when you are a celebrity you take the risk of placing yourself in these situations but the reporters or cameramen should be held responsible when children are involved. They need to be protected.

What do you all think? Is it a worthy cause to persue or attempt to have a law passed?


God bless~
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LouiseVargas
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« Reply #1 on: March 08, 2007, 09:33:30 PM »

Hi dkpen

My daughter has a significant other who is a celebrity and the father of her two boys. She has kept a very low profile over the years.

When the SO took her to the Grammys, he was posing with the winner and she was in between both of them. When the cameras started to take pics, she turned her face away.

I asked why wouldn't she want the world to know she was a significant other of the celebrity. She said, "There are crazy people out there, if they knew my face and where I live, they would camp out and be trying to take pics. Also, there is the issue of kidnapping for a ransom." At the time, I thought her paranoia was silly. But the first time I took the first baby Joe out for a walk in the stroller, I was kind of scared and then I realized the importance of anonymity. My daughter knew the ropes better than I did. No one followed me. No one knew who I was or who the baby was.

The parents are the only ones who can protect the child. If they don't want reporters and cameras, The most logical things to do are:  
1) Do not announce the pregnancy.
2) Do not announce the birth.
3) Seek zero publicity.
4) Make sure it is not known where you live.
5) Remain anonymous.
6) Do not sell pics to the tabloids.

Brad and Angelina publicized their children, thus the paparazzi are following them. Same with Brittany's kids. Michael Douglas and Zeta Jones sold pics to the tabloids.

I know for sure, if you don't announce anything, no one will know. Thus the children will be protected while they are young and have a chance for a normal life.  My grandsons, who will soon be four and six, have no idea who they are.
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IBE
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« Reply #2 on: April 22, 2007, 08:11:26 PM »

Louise... 100% right on. You and I could write a book! just on survival here!

When I taught children on the set and was an enforcer of safety and child labor laws, I can say that stalking, kidnapping and ransom were big thoughts and major concerns to me, but that was me.

When I first started in 1969 the other set teachers thought I was "over-thinking" these issues but found out as time went on that I was right in my "what ifs and what to do theories".

I personally know of times of stalking, death threats, kidnapping attempt near our schoolroom, with his gunshots hitting the wall next to the school room,... the nut was going after an adult actor on Dallas to kidnap, tie up and I guess ramsom, but who knows .....  and another word I can't think of at the moment that happened. The word I can't think of happened when I was private tutoring children of a very famous lady here and in Europe.  Oh it's extortion!!!

Even in my purse I kept the children's telephone numbers in code.  

A very famous young boy I had as a student, just a few days on a commercial, had a mom who was very forward in her thinking. We'd go to lunch like regular people at the Santa Monica Mall and the fans would flock all over him. He could never finish a hot dog. They'd have these "crazed focus faces" I called the look. Forgetting all their manners. Soshe'd step in and say "let him finish his lunch, please, then you can have the picture".  Their face would then change, as if they hadn't realized they'd overstepped into someone's lunch time!

She devised a plan she used for years and I enjoyed working it with her when we'd put it into action in public. (She was from outside NYC, I think, so was more aware than here)

Anywhere he walked, as he needed independence, one of us, however would try be in front of him and one in back. He knew that was going on and just rolled with it.

Each time a picture was taken with him with a fan it it, she'd comment how great it looked and "wanted" the same picture for her scrapbook. That wasn't the real reason. She was taking the picture to have a picture trail for how the picture might end up and for ransom areas if ever needed.

If a fan took a picture without being in it, she'd just turn her camera onto them and joke about how she liked that he had fans and wanted a picutre of his fans. They never had an inkling she why she would take these pictures. She was one of the coolest studio moms I ever worked with! Perhaps she thought the same of me, as she always requested me to work with her son.

Most studio mothers weren't that forward thinking at the time. I haven't been in the Industry for about 9 years so can't report on the security now.  But I do know that the ones who used to laugh at me first, in the early 70's weren't laughing a few years later.

You are 100 % right.. keep the lowest profile you can! There are a lot of nuts out there! and not just toward the famous!

Love, IBE
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IBE
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« Reply #3 on: April 22, 2007, 08:27:57 PM »

dkpen I appreciate your frustration and thoughts. It's a catch-22. when I watch TV now I see reporters, photographers much more aggressive and quicker than I remembered and in times, so close to getting someone hurt... the parent, the child or both.. In time someone will get hurt and probably not a child of an actor or actress who were like the ones Louise mention who bring on the publicity.

A very small % of the people of power on the set, including the set moms or dads (or in production offices) where I'd had to (gladly) enforce Child Labor Laws and Safety would make a come back.. something really stupid... like, "well, it's safe" and I'd say "only God knows 100%, you and I aren't God".. or "well, we haven't had any child killed". They stopped saying that after the two children and actor were killed on TZ movie. I was involved in something about that and had someone with the a rifle in front of my home waiting for me one night, and all the lugs loosened on one of my tires another time.

It 's a dangerous situation for all, but Louise is 100% right.

Even if there was a law; would it be obeyed? who'd enforce it? It's a idea to think about.
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LouiseVargas
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« Reply #4 on: April 22, 2007, 09:20:35 PM »

Dear IBE,

While my daughter had the right idea to protect her boys, I think she went way overboard.

One day I asked if I could take Joe to the Westside Pavilion Mall or the Third Street Promenade. She said no, you don't have a car seat. I said I'd buy one. Then she said my 2002 Honda Accord was too small and they could get crushed in an accident. I said, ok how about if I take them in your SUV for the day and you can drive my car. She said no, if you take them to the mall or Promenade, they could be kidnapped. I said, how could they be kidnapped when they are in a stroller with a five point harness. If anyone approached the baby and tried to undo the harness, I would be screaming at the top of my lungs and mall police would come running. She said they could pick up the stroller and run. I said not likely, as the stroller and baby are heavy and I would be screaming and he would not get far carrying the stroller.

So I asked for further reasons why I was not allowed to take the children anywhere. She said I could walk them around the block for several hours (at 90 degree heat) in Santa Monica. I said I'm too old to walk around in the heat for several hours.

So all her talk about car seats, the size of cars, the issue of the kids being kidnapped while in a five point harness stroller in the mall ... that was all BS. There is a bigger reason and the only thing I can think of is she doesn't trust me. I don't have a clue why.

Thanks for reading. I try not to obsess about this every day. Since this has been going on for so long, I try not to think about it. There is nothing I can do. But every now and then, it comes back to me and stabs me in the heart. She was my daughter for a long time, but she is not my daughter anymore.
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Tylergal
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« Reply #5 on: June 01, 2007, 02:09:58 AM »

My very attractive #3 son was asked and encouraged and courted to become a child movie star.  By age 13, he knew he was more than that.  He did some commercials, which I will not name here, but he could have become a silver screen name, but we encouraged him to use that gift he had for something better.   How were we to know that he would regret that we made that decision for him?  He did.  While in college, he was angry that we had encouraged him to go ahead with his studies and not take that opportunity that he considered a missed opportunity.

Now that he is an adult with a beautiful child who looks just like him and I think the monkeys who have seen that picture will agree he is a very beautiful child, he does not regret it for one minute for they, too, have had offers to photograph their child and they have said "no."  Isn't maturing a funny thing.

Parents become so much wiser to their own children, as their children age.
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tcumom
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« Reply #6 on: June 01, 2007, 02:18:17 AM »

Quote from: "Tylergal"
My very attractive #3 son was asked and encouraged and courted to become a child movie star.  By age 13, he knew he was more than that.  He did some commercials, which I will not name here, but he could have become a silver screen name, but we encouraged him to use that gift he had for something better.   How were we to know that he would regret that we made that decision for him?  He did.  While in college, he was angry that we had encouraged him to go ahead with his studies and not take that opportunity that he considered a missed opportunity.

Now that he is an adult with a beautiful child who looks just like him and I think the monkeys who have seen that picture will agree he is a very beautiful child, he does not regret it for one minute for they, too, have had offers to photograph their child and they have said "no."  Isn't maturing a funny thing.

Parents become so much wiser to their own children, as their children age.

And so, exactly when can I expect my wisdom to be appreciated?  Confused  Wink  Confused
Tyler ~ I love reading your postings ~ always interesting, always insightful.  We talked during the Kristina storm, on that thread ~ are you the monkey originally from Dallas, with the SMU ties?
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