Justine Bateman Says She Wants Well-Rounded Kids

Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic

If and when the time comes, Justine Bateman says she’ll help however she can should her children Duke, 6, and Olivia, 4 ½, decide to pursue a job in the entertainment industry. She won’t encourage it, however. "There’s an awful lot of choices in the world as far as what one can do for a living," the 42-year-old actress explains. "It’s best to be familiar with as many sectors of the working world as you can be so you’ll be better at your creative job anyway."

"I want them to get out there and know everything about everything."

Justine — who shot to fame in the 80′s on the legendary sitcom Family Ties — may have her work cut out for her. While Duke is happy to play his favorite video game Four, her daughter is already showing a serious creative spark. "[Olivia] is into art…she loves making stuff and painting and drawing," Justine says, adding of both her children: "They’re really fun people." Of course raising kids isn’t always fun and games, and when it’s not for Justine, she’s noticed that she does have a go-to refrain that she often repeats.

"If my kids were to make a talking doll of me as a mother, one of my recorded phrases would be ‘I will throw that in the trash.’ ‘If you don’t put that down right now, I will throw that in the trash.’ It’s very funny to hear myself say certain things –- like noticing which phrases become the most popular to use."

Olivia and Duke are Justine’s children with husband Mark Fluent; the couple have been married since 2001.

Source: OK!

Thanks to CBB reader Valerie.

Comments

AWW!! I love her~I loved Family Ties! I hardly recognized her on Desperate Housewives last season.

- brooklyn on October 17th, 2008

That is the worst picture of Justine. She looks 60 years old.

- catesmom on October 17th, 2008

She looks nothing like she used to or thats a bad pic of her..

- Cortney on October 17th, 2008

I didn’t even recodnize her in the picture. I can’t get over how haggared she appears. I loved her on family ties, her brother is quite a character too. They both have great demeanors. It seems as though she has weathered more than her fair share of hard years. She is still a cool cat in my book.

- Nikey on October 17th, 2008

God Bless Justine. Every time I see her, I cringe. She looks like she’s sick. She didn’t look well in Men In Trees, she didn’t look well in Desperate Housewives and this picture doesn’t help. I’m not expecting her to be glamed out or anything like that. She’s a lovely woman, she just doesn’t look healthy or well. I hope she’s OK.

- JK on October 17th, 2008

I like her recorded doll message. Mine would be “not at the moment, no”. My mum used to say it to us ALL the time and it infuriated me because it didn’t mean anything. It didn’t mean yes, but it didn’t mean no… Now I find I use it with my neices and nephews. It comes out of my mouth and a part of me is horrified but it feels right to say it.

- Lilybett on October 17th, 2008

I guess I didn’t know she even had kids. I thought the picture was Billy Bob Thorton in a wig.

- Carol on October 17th, 2008

I wasn’t going to be the first to say it, but when I first saw that picture of Justine it didn’t even occur to me that it was her, and when I realized who it was, I did a double take. I cannot remember the last time I saw such a horrendous picture of someone. That goes beyond being unflattering; As JK said, she looks frail and unhealthy. Is she okay?

- Lauren on October 17th, 2008

Please tell me that’s just a bad pic of her, she’s not that old, c’mon!

- Bugs on October 18th, 2008

I’ve seen better photos of Justine, but I think she looks like a 42-year-old. Kudos to her for not falling into the plastic surgery-botox thing that the others seem to…she looks like a “real” person to me.

- Mama C. on October 18th, 2008

Obviously she has not gone the route of most of hollywood with the Botox etc. and that says something about her confidence as an actress and a woman. But, girl, get a facial and a massage! Get your hair done! LOL!!

- cc on October 18th, 2008

“I think she looks like a 42-year-old.” Mam C, hate to break it to you but NO she doesn’t look like a 42 year old. And she yes, she does look like a “real person.” A real sick person. I’m 44 and I look about 20 years younger than Justine looks right now. I don’t think anyone is asking her to do Botox or plastic surgery. We’re concerned at how unhealthy she looks. And I agree with JK, I also saw her on those shows and was absolutely shocked. Hair and makeup people couldn’t do it for her. I hope she’s Okay.

- Hooligan's Momma on October 18th, 2008

OMG – She does look terrible! Poor thing!

- Jane on October 19th, 2008

Justine was so beautiful years ago, but no she is not aging well. There’s a lot of 42 yr old women that look great, salma hayek, halle berry, cindy crawford, eva larue, brooke shields is 43, lori loughlin 44, being in your 40′s isn’t old. I’m 26, but I still don’t think 42 is old ebough for you to look hagged. I saw her kids last year in pics, neither one of them look like her. Go to gettyimages and type her name, you can see some too there when they were younger. Her brother jason’s daughter francesca looks a lot like justine though.

- brooke on October 20th, 2008

You really do have some fickle standards when it comes to comment monderation. I find it interesting how you let certain comments slide as long as they are done in a passive aggressive manner.

- rubydellson on October 20th, 2008

First of all, I was reading the comments about how horrible she looks … like she’s 60. Well first off, Tina Turner, Goldie Hawn, Susan Sarandon, Kristie Brinkley and Madonna are over 50 and some of these women are 60+. And they are beautiful and vital. And don’t say plastic surgery; a number of these women refuse to get it done, because of the risks. Susan Sarandon didn’t start having children until she was well into her 40s. I’m in my 50s and it seems as though there is a cutoff age, when you’re no longer a woman, no longer capable of being beautiful. 50+ seems to be that point. And it’s unfair; some of us couldn’t achieve our dreams at a younger age, whatever the circumstances. People need to drop this mentality.

As for Justine Bateman’s appearance, sometimes when you’re in the public eye they catch you with a headache, tired, angry … the woman is human after all. I understand why she doesn’t want her children in show business. To be under such cruel scrutiny. I thought she was beautiful as Mallory in “Family Ties” and I think she is still beautiful. And an excellent actress. End of story. Let’s look at her contributions to the industry and to her craft and stop picking her apart. These twenty-somethings better hope they look as good when they get into their 40s.

- Marilyn on August 23rd, 2011