Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes waited four and a half months to reveal their daughter Suri Cruise but until they did, people doubted that she even existed (even when TMZ dug up a birth certificate and other celebs claimed to have seen her). Meanwhile, Britney Spears and Kevin Federline never made a formal announcement about the birth of Jayden James but people seem pretty confident that he exists.
To be fair, first we have to ask…
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Virginia on
Thank you for this post. There does seem to be a double standard and it is unfair.
Aleah on
I think the difference between Britney and Tom Cruise is that people have grown to dislike Cruise, sometimes see him as a scary nutcase. Very few people believe(d) in his relationship with Katie Holmes and/or that he’s Suri’s biological father. But Britney, despite all the criticism, people still like her. They witnessed her relationship with Kevin and she completely flaunted her pregnancies (OK, at least the first one – she was more discreet the second time). I must admit I did have doubts Katie was pregnant, what with the belly/no belly thing, and I don’t think I’m the only one.
J.M. on
I think for the most part that everything about Tom and Katie’s relationship is just odd. The fact that they met, were engaged and pregnant all in 3 months and that he was promoting a big film. He was married to Nicole for years and they had to adopt bc many speculated he couldn’t have children, then the fact that Katie’s belly to me atleast never looked right…big one day small the next and that she seemed to give birth later then expected. And then the fact that no Suri has been seen (except for the official released pics).
With Britney and Kevin they’ve been married a few years, they have a baby already, and I think the reason why she’s doing things differently this time is bc of all the hoopla she experienced the first time around with baby Sean. I am sure he exist. I don’t understand why keeping his name is such a secret but then again their choice.
Now either way both parties are entitled to do as they wish when it comes to their kids but they have to understand there will be speculation and questions and the media has a right to do so. They are celebs and even though they’d like to have as much privacy as possible when you pick this road as your career path you can’t expect nothing less from the media and paparazzi.
Autumn on
Oh I would imagine JJ is real, because why on earth would she fake a pregnancy (and thus fake being fat) that soon after her oldest son was born?
IMHO Britney is just keeping her second son under wraps mainly because of all the negative press she received about her care of her oldest son, Sean Preston, this past year.
alexa on
I believe Britney more, because 1)we all know that SPF exists so why lie about a second? and she got a lot of flak for getting pregnant so soon after I doubt she’d make it up, as where TomKat thrives on attention even more then KFed!
MuffThumb on
of course there’s a double standard!!! people expect the absolute worst out of tom cruise, and never give him the benefit of the doubt for ANYTHING!! he’s always the bad guy!
that and the fact that everyone likes to joke that tom is sterile, while the general concecious about britney is that she’s a slut. neither label is fair, but considering what people think about britney, they have no problem thinking she bred a second child!!..
ang on
it’s pretty simple really – nobody has any doubt that Britney and Kevin are both capable of rampant breeding. Tom Cruise on the other hand, is another story. Not to mention Britney and Kevin are hardly on the same scale of A-listedness as Tom Cruise and his captive bride…
April on
I don’t think this situation presents a double standard (not saying there may not be one in general)…the situations are so very different. I think with Britney, she was very open about her first pregnancy and shared her son with the world but in reality that also meant that her parenting choices (mistakes in the case of the car incident) were also shared with the world and she was very openly criticized, whether she was right or wrong I think that is a sting that doesn’t go away easily. So with her second, I think she just has a different mindset…lay low. I don’t care for her at all but I have to agree with how she’s handling things now.
With Tom, I think people were just curious because HE made such a big deal out of his relationship and pending birth of his child all for the sake of keeping his name in the spotlight when it was profitable to do so (i.e. movie press) – then the birth happens and all of a sudden he’s just a private guy enjoying his family and why doesn’t everyone just respect his privacy?! Makes no sense, its like biting the hand that feeds you. Plus I also have to agree with those that say that the timing of everything surrounding TomKat seemed off or odd or both.
Well, I’d say that the options of ppl like Britney and ppl hate Tom are about the same. How come there isn’t a category for ppl dislike Britney? 
Lauren on
I don’t doubt Suri’s existence, but I absolutely agree with April’s analysis that for Tom to go from jumping on couches over a month-old relationship, get engaged a month after that, get his fiancee pregnant a month after that, and all of a sudden hide his daughter from the world is incredibly odd and hypocritical. In the Vanity Fair article, Katie complained that so much hype has been created over the most natural thing-pregnancy resulting from a loving, commited relationship. If I remember correctly, no one really cared that Katie and Tom were together at first. It was a blip on the news and nothing more. It wasn’t until THEY started making a spectacle of themselves and taunting the paparazzi with their relationship that the public began to react. So it is THEIR fault they are receiving so much scrutiny; no one is to blame but them. Maybe if they had behaved more maturely, they would be treated with more respect now.
LaMama on
I believe when Kevin said that Britney doesn’t have much that she can keep to herself. It makes sense that she’d want to keep Jayden to herself for now. Britney also seems to be staying close to home, whereas we always saw pictures of Katie out and about, but no baby.
With Tom, there was all the speculation about scientology’s beliefs in quiet births and keeping people away from the baby. Plus, 7 months later and we still haven’t seen Suri out with her mother.
I must admit, I still question if Tom is the father, ‘though.
preesi on
We believe Britney cause um well we already KNOW that Kevs “boys” can swim, cause of Kaleb and Kory and plus all the bad boys are more virile.
Recently Tom said he was picked on amd bullied in school so we know HE aint the virile bad boy.
Brit Brit aint no ones beard, if ya know what I mean!
Jessi on
I think the main difference here is that the whole Tom/Katie thing was so strange and unbelievable to begin with, even when there wasn’t a baby in the picture.
alyce on
People!! We all seen Britneys belly in the flesh.. Remember when she took Sean to the beach with no hat, she was in her bikini with her big belly hanging out. Its just another topic for sad people who dont have a life.
Hannah on
Why doubt that Tom is Suri’s biological father?
People had no problem believing Nicole Kidman when she said she miscarried Tom’s child, didn’t they?
gargoylegurl on
I think this whole thing is a plan. Britney is staging a BIG “come back” so she’s purposely laying low right now. Not only will it give her a chance to work on her post pregnancy body, and finish her new album, but it will create a media frenzy – which has already started! It’s really quite genius. Brit’s no dummy; she hasn’t released an album in a few years, the last one wasn’t that successful, people have been saying that her hay day is over…
I do think that she is also enjoying her children, and has possibly been very hurt from all the comments about her parenting skills, but I say the main reason for this is all about her career. Mark my words! 8) lol
Northern Girl on
I think the biggest difference is because Tom and Katie’s relationship seemed so forced. Like they (mainly he..) were going out of their way to make sure people were listening and paying attention. It all seemed like a big publicity stunt. I think the pregnancy would have been more believable had they just been a normal couple. Not parading around on couches and screaming from the rooftops for attention.
Meanwhile Brit and Kev have been together, gotten married, and she said she wanted to be a young mom.. so nobody was surprised when it happened.
Erin on
People lose all common sense when it comes to Tom Cruise. They seem to be extremely paranoid with whatever he does and make up the most disgusting and moronic rumors about him.
OF COURSE there is a double standard with Tom and Britney… plus with Tom and every other celebrity in the whole universe. To ask this is kind of stupid in my honest opinion – it doesn’t take a genius to figure this out.
In my opinion, Suri is his, she exists and all of these rumors surrounding TomKat are pathetic. And as someone has already said, no one ever questioned Nicole losing their baby around the time they split but surprise, surprise – he just CANNOT have a kid with anyone else! PATHETIC!
Megan on
People feel sorry for Britney because of all of the bad press she gets, but it seems like Tom creates all of the press he gets, and he has also become quite annoying.
Gabbie13 on
I really think this is two totally seperate things. For starters, as Alyce mentioned, we saw Brits belly at the beach and in the photo shoot she did when she dyed her hair black. There is no doubt Brit had a baby, I think she just realizes the problems caused with being so public with SP that she is trying to keep things quiet for them while they still can.
izzy on
I think there is a double standard. I still can’t figure out why jumping on a couch is such a big deal to everyone!!! Yeah, so their relationship happened kinda fast but no one complained about angelina and brad’s fast relationship either…brad gets divorced, they adopt lil Z and bam she’s pregnant in a space of a few months!! SO what!!
Now Britney is “hiding” her baby, quite possibly for the same reasons Tom is accused of and everyone is understanding. Hmmmm, Brit is staging a comeback K-Fed’s album dropped, etc,etc.
I think what put most people off was Scientology. Whatever you may feel about it, it is still his religion and people should be more tolerant of it. Look at everything that’s going on in the middle east that spawned from religion. Haven’t we learned to have an open mind and accept other people beliefs even if you don’t agree???!!
OK, enough ranting and raving… Sorry!!
javy on
ITS NOT UNFAIR AT ALL BRITNEY SPEARS WAS LIKA A NORMAL THING BUT THE FACT THAT TOM CRUISE IS A PSYCHO WITH RUMORS OF HIM BEING GAY AND ALL BEING A PROMOTIONAL STUNT THEN THERE WERE DOUBTS IN PEOPLE’S MIND. THATS WHY THERE WERE THE RUMORS ABOUT SURI!!!
Lauren on
I am sorry, but nobody is ever going to convince me that Scientology is a legitimate religion. The fact that it has a “Celebrity Centre” in LA speaks volumes about its disgusting lack of priorities, and I for one feel no desire to sympathize with Tom because “people are misunderstanding his religion.” What they are doing is understanding his ignorant, bigoted beliefs.
And Izzy, the reason people were shocked with his jumping on Oprah’s couch was collective. It had to do with his entire interview rather just that snippet, which the media loved to dwell on. He spent virtually the entire hour plugging his relationship when he was supposed to be promoting a movie, acting insane over a woman he had been seeing for a month, AND saying he had never felt this kind of intense love before (completely disregarding his two previous wives and the mother of his children).
Furthermore, Britney may come across as dense, but at least she doesn’t go around insulting other celebrities’ medical choices and insisting that she knows the history of psychiatry. She doesn’t go out of her way to insult or be rude. Instead, people view her as not being smart enough to know to act in such a way. That is why people feel differently about her.
Oh, and about Brangelina’s relationship-many people, myself included, were stunned by how quickly they got together, adopted Zahara, and got pregnant, all while denying a romantic relationship. I thought it was disgusting, and I know many other people did too (there is a wax display in LA I believe that depicts Brad as a prince, Jennifer Aniston as a princess, and Angie as the Wicked Witch. I think that says a lot about public opinion regarding that triangle).
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