Stage Mom: Difference between revisions

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[[File:dainty june on stage 3556.jpg|link=Gypsy|frame|Behind this child actor is a fame-hungry parent.]]

{{quote|''"I've always dreamed of becoming an actress. [[Suspiciously Specific Denial|That's not why I'm pushing Olivia to do it]]. [[Lampshade Hanging|Is it suspicious that I brought that up unprovoked]]?"''|'''Olivia's mother''', ''[[Family Guy]]''}}

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This is almost [[Always Female]] for cultural reasons. A man is expected to earn stuff on their own, and if he and his wife are both pushy stage parents the wife is usually the one on the scene to take the blame (see [[Shirley Temple]]). But sometimes guys can see their kids accomplishing things they couldn't. When it isn't pushing their kids at sports, it's often this trope.

A variety of [[Meddling Parents|Meddling Parent]].

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=== Comic Books ===

* The original Silk Spectre from ''[[Watchmen (comics)|Watchmen]]'' coached her daughter to [[Legacy Character|take up her profession]].

* Bonnie Jones nee King, Cissie Jones-King aka Arrowette's mother from ''[[Young Justice (comics)|Young Justice]]'' in [[The DCU]], was a superhero stage mother, pushing her daughter into becoming a superhero because of her own frustrated ambitions. In issue #7, this angered Wonder Girl's mother, who has the exact opposite attitude towards her daughter Cassie's heroics. She called out Bonnie on caring more about fame than her daughter's safety, asking whether she even knew that Arrowette had recently taken an arrow through the shoulder. This resulted in a [[Cat Fight]].

* Bonnie Jones nee King, Cissie Jones-King aka Arrowette's mother from ''[[Young Justice (comics)|Young Justice]]'' in [[The DCU]], was a superhero stage mother, pushing her daughter into becoming a superhero because of her own frustrated ambitions. In issue #7, this angered Wonder Girl's mother, who has the exact opposite attitude towards her daughter Cassie's heroics. She called out Bonnie on caring more about fame than her daughter's safety, asking whether she even knew that Arrowette had recently{{when}} taken an arrow through the shoulder. This resulted in a [[Cat Fight]].

** It was also pointed out around that time that the costume that Bonnie had made for Cissie was more flashy than functional, and didn't protect her very well (several iterations of it were a sparkly, girly mini-dress). Arrowette's costume change to a more sensible one (yes, the bare midriff was ''more sensible'' than what she had on before) was supposed to signify that Bonnie had backed off.

** Nightwing chewed that mom out too (he had showed up at the parents conference for Tim).

* The recent ''[[Doctor Strange|Strange]]'' miniseries had a plot that involved pageant mothers actually making deals with a ''demon'' in order to secure a win. As one would expect, and because the demon was a huge cheater who decided he didn't have to adhere to the rules of magic, this backfired horribly. As for the pageant itself when it was shown, more than a few readers who'd been in or been involved with pageants noted that yes, some of the adults at those things really are that scary.

* The recent{{when}} ''[[Doctor Strange|Strange]]'' miniseries had a plot that involved pageant mothers actually making deals with a ''demon'' in order to secure a win. As one would expect, and because the demon was a huge cheater who decided he didn't have to adhere to the rules of magic, this backfired horribly. As for the pageant itself when it was shown, more than a few readers who'd been in or been involved with pageants noted that yes, some of the adults at those things really are that scary.

* [[Calvin and Hobbes|Calvin]] once asked his father if he was attempting to live vicariously through Calvin to make up for his own failures in life. His father shot back that if he was, [[Stealth Insult|he'd be trying a lot harder]]. Calvin manages to deduce his father's disrespect.

* Striker of ''[[Avengers Academy]]'' had a mother like this who gave him his drive to be famous.

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* Dina and Michael Lohan, parents of [[Lindsay Lohan]], are exemplars of the self-serving side of this trope. Dina took Lindsay to nightclubs and let her drink when she was underage, then used her daughter's personal troubles to launch her own career in entertainment, getting herself a reality show on [[E!]]!. Then, she pushed her younger daughter Ali to enter showbiz as well, causing many people to fear that Ali will end up with as many or more problems thanks to her mother. Michael, meanwhile, blabs about Lindsay to the media every chance he gets, and went on ''Celebrity Rehab'' for seemingly no other reason then to get attention and talk about her.

** [[Robot Chicken|"Could you make the check out to cash? It's my nickname for her..."]]

* In a recent blog on ''[[SMBC Theater]]'', JP mentioned that, while he and some others were talking about the show in a diner, a 10-year-old girl came over and told them that her mother said to tell them she's an actress. If you don't get why he didn't like that, let me put it into perspective: A woman had told her 10-year-old child to introduce herself to a group of men neither one of them were familiar with, just so the girl might get an acting position.

* In a recent{{when}} blog on ''[[SMBC Theater]]'', JP mentioned that, while he and some others were talking about the show in a diner, a 10-year-old girl came over and told them that her mother said to tell them she's an actress. If you don't get why he didn't like that, let me put it into perspective: A woman had told her 10-year-old child to introduce herself to a group of men neither one of them were familiar with, just so the girl might get an acting position.

** It would have been worse if the mother was familiar with ''SMBC Theater'', since most of the material is not safe for kids. This is why they always have adults kneeling when they have children in the sketches.

* [[Drew Barrymore]]'s mother Jaid could be blamed in large part for her daughter's drug and alcohol problems at such a young age. Jaid regularly took young Drew to such adult hangouts like Studio 54 and the China Club. Years later, some time after Drew posed for ''[[Playboy]]'', Jaid decided that she wanted to pose nude too!

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* More than one similar accusation has been leveled at Billy Ray Cyrus ([[Miley Cyrus]]' father and co-star) in regards to the ''[[Hannah Montana]]'' franchise. Billy Ray says it's the other way round: that the executives were the ones abusing and restraining Miley. Then again, he's also blamed atheists for the same thing. [[Cloudcuckoolander|Billy Ray might just be cuckoo.]]

* [[Thora Birch]]'s father (Jack Birch, a former porn star) has meddled in his daughter's affairs enough that he's caused a hit to her reputation. He reportedly showed up on set during production of the 2007 film "Horrified" and watched over his daughter while she performed a simulated sex scene with Dean Winters, then in 2010 he reportedly stayed in her dressing room at a stage adaptation of ''[[Dracula]]'' and tried to micromanage the production. This ended up getting her fired from the play.

** Thora was also recently fired from a biopic about the Manson family girls, and the director specifically blamed her father's interference.

** Thora was also recently{{when}} fired from a biopic about the Manson family girls, and the director specifically blamed her father's interference.

** Equally distressing, Thora doesn't appear fazed by her dad's behavior, nor is she upset that he has cost her work. After she was fired from ''Dracula,'' she said, "My dad is my support, and he is the best support that I ever could have."

* [[Will Smith]] and Jada Pinkett-Smith have been accused of pushing their children into showbiz at too early an age. Their son Jaden is an actor (best known for the ''[[The Karate Kid|Karate Kid]]'' remake, which was produced by Will and Jada), while daughter Willow is a singer.

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* [[wikipedia:Wanda Holloway|Wanda Holloway]], the woman who inspired ''The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom'' and ''Willing to Kill: The Texas Cheerleader Story''. She asked her brother in law to hire a hitman, who then was supposed to kill the mother of her kid's rival in a cheerleading competition.

* Watch any show about child pageants. All the moms and more than one dad shown there will be like this, more often than not, to ''sickening'' degrees. This is the whole point of the show ''[[Toddlers and Tiaras]]''.

** One particularly sickening example is the ~~recent~~ story of [http://www.monstersandcritics.com/lifestyle/consumerhealth/news/article_1639085.php/Plastic-Surgeon-slams-Pageant-Mom-8-year-old-getting-Botox-story-repugnant Kerry Campbell], who gave her ''eight-year-old daughter Botox injections''. When she was found out, she not only defended this practice (claiming it was never too early get your child cosmetic surgery to "get rid of the lines"), but also claimed that ''other'' pageant moms practiced this as well. The fact that the story turned out to be fake [[The Tyson Zone|did nothing to dispel it]].

** One particularly sickening example is the story of [http://www.monstersandcritics.com/lifestyle/consumerhealth/news/article_1639085.php/Plastic-Surgeon-slams-Pageant-Mom-8-year-old-getting-Botox-story-repugnant Kerry Campbell], who gave her ''eight-year-old daughter Botox injections''. When she was found out, she not only defended this practice (claiming it was never too early get your child cosmetic surgery to "get rid of the lines"), but also claimed that ''other'' pageant moms practiced this as well. The fact that the story turned out to be fake [[The Tyson Zone|did nothing to dispel it]].

** One 5-year-old girl named Carley developed an alter-ego called Darla to cope with her mom's pushing.

** One 5-year-old girl named Carley developed an alter-ego called Darla to cope with her mom's pushing.{{verify}}

* George Sampson, the winner of ''[[Britain's ~~Got Talent|Britains~~ Got Talent]]'' in 2008, should have had a very promising career after his victory in the show. Unfortunately, his career was run into the ground in less than a year, in no small part due to his obnoxious and extremely demanding mother, who was largely responsible for Simon Cowell's company ditching Sampson after they became sick of her. Sampson is making a rebound, however, as he has starred in ~~a recent~~ film, ''Street Dance''.

* George Sampson, the winner of ''[[Britain's Got Talent]]'' in 2008, should have had a very promising career after his victory in the show. Unfortunately, his career was run into the ground in less than a year, in no small part due to his obnoxious and extremely demanding mother, who was largely responsible for Simon Cowell's company ditching Sampson after they became sick of her. Sampson is making a rebound, however, as he has starred in the film ''Street Dance''.

* Rose Hovick, mother of burlesque star Gypsy Rose Lee and actress June Havoc. She became legendary for this trope following Gypsy's 1957 autobiography and the subsequent musical adaptation ''[[Gypsy (theatre)|Gypsy]]'' as mentioned above.

* [[Brooke Shields]]' mother Teri was infamous for this well into her daughter's 20s. For example: when Brooke joined the [[Princeton Triangle Club]] (a musical theatre troupe) during her freshman year at [[Ivy League|Princeton University]] and earned a small part in their annual revue, Teri Shields swept in and tried to wrest control of the production from the club and its hand-picked team of professionals. The Triangle Club fought her to a standstill, but still had to cope with her attempts to direct publicity and make it appear that the production was essentially ''The Brooke Shields Show'', as well as installing armed guards in the theatre.

* [[Brooke Shields]]' mother Teri was infamous for this well into her daughter's 20s. For example, when Brooke joined the [[Princeton Triangle Club]] (a musical theatre troupe) during her freshman year at [[Ivy League|Princeton University]] and earned a small part in their annual revue, Teri Shields swept in and tried to wrest control of the production from the club and its hand-picked team of professionals. The Triangle Club fought her to a standstill, but still had to cope with her attempts to direct publicity and make it appear that the production was essentially ''The Brooke Shields Show'', as well as installing armed guards in the theatre.