Celebrities are uniquely exposed to public attention with regular coverage of their lives in the media. Their children, by extension, are also of special interest to magazine tabloids and news outlets. However, the representation of children is subject to the question of ethics with the possible breach of consent and privacy. Marôpo and Jorge state that reporting gossip and private details of famous youth or children of celebrities may violate Article 16 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states:
No child shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy, family, or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his or her honour and reputation.
The child has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks. (The United Nations art. 16)
They follow with the argument that often the consequences of releasing intimate stories are not considered by the press (Marôpo & Jorge 29), nor are the children’s best interests (Marôpo & Jorge 18). In the case of consensual reporting wherein the celebrity parents allow or contribute to the representation of their life and their child’s life, Maropo and Jorge question the legitimacy due to the exploitative nature for publicity.
A popular example of this is the case of Suri Cruise and her parents, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. There was a significant following in the media of their divorce and the resulting custody battle for Suri. One article reported that Tom Cruise’s sudden
Tom Cruise (left) and Katie Holmes (right)
decision to fight for custody is rooted in “feeling “double crossed” when he learned that Katie was dating Jamie [Foxx]” (Melas) and his ultimate goal was to “make Suri a Scientologist” (Melas). The Huffington Post described Katie Holmes as “engaging in covert tactics” (Marcus) with her use of prepaid cell phones to communicate with her divorce lawyers.
The media coverage of this conflict was strongest when Suri just under the age of 10. How could this sensationalized biographical representation of her and her parents’ lives affect her personally? The news pieces could provide new or incorrect information and have a serious effect on her relationships with both her parents and others.
struggles with drug abuse and sex work in Vancouver. In particular, the difficulties surrounding the births of Sarah’s children, Sarah Jean (Jeanie) and Ben, were described. Both were born with an addiction to drugs and a troubled family history. At the date of this memoir’s release, Jeanie was 13 and Ben was approximately 7 (De Vries 165). Is there an age at which children should have the ability to control what information is released about them? The act of publicly sharing the de Vries story could have very real ramifications on the lives of the children.
Biographical representation is a sensitive topic with ethical uncertainties and becomes more tenuous when the young subject may not have same level of agency as an adult. The interests of these children must be taken into account when there is a possibility of heavy implications from publication of the private.
