Calling all moral celebrities!

I asked this question of a few friends, in relation to something that I'm writing about fatherhood, and I've been getting some fun answers, so I thought it might be entertaining to ask the wider blog audience:

What female celebrity or celebrities do you consider to have "good morals," in the sense that you might say of your (real or hypothetical) daughter, "I hope she grows up to have good morals like _______"? (The implicit, unspoken end to that sentence, of course, being "...and not like Britney Spears, Lindsey Lohan," etc. etc.) And why?

No questioning the premise of the question, please. :) I know all individuals are unique, and I cherish my daughter's uniqueness; and further, I know that celebrity hero-worship can be toxic, especially for girls, and I'm not actually hoping Loyette grows up to be just like some celebrity or other. I'm simply trying, for analogical purposes really, to come up with a list of celebrities who people consider to be "moral," whatever that means to each of you.

P.S. Feel free to define the term "celebrity" however you like.

Comments

[Marty West]

Ellen Page

[Marty West]

or Ann Coulter.

[Antonia]

hm... well I never had that thought regarding my daughter.
But if I had to pick a Celebrity I wanted them to have similar morals to it would have to be Dolly Parton. LOL I just love her ...
so yeah Dolly Parton :)

[USC 2L]

Lindsay Soto

[Andrew H]

Reese Witherspoon

[Nadine]

There are so many American women, but here are two:

Katharine Graham [her autobiography Personal History is an interesting read].

Melinda Gates wife of Bill Gates.

[jlr]

Jamie Lynn Spears. Monica Lewinsky. Amy Fisher. Mary Kay LeTourneau. Oh, wait... yeah, nevermind.

Elenor Roosevelt
Mother Theresa

But if you want real celebreties, why not...

Natalie Portman
Julie Andrews

[Father]

Miley Cyrus

[Benedict]

Rosalynn Carter
Barbara Bush
Laura Bush

[bree]

Julia Roberts for her wit, talent, and ability to command respect from everyone.

Natalie Maines for her integrity and her willingness to stand by her beliefs, even during times of harsh criticism.

Beyonce Knowles for her morals, and her ability to stay out of tabloid scandal despite the fact that she is a 20something superstar involved in one of the highest profile relationships today.

Angelina Jolie for showing us that even someone with a rocky past filled with questionable decisions can grow up and mature beautifully. And for actually doing something to improve humanity on a daily basis.

[dcl]

How old / dead can this person be?

[Brendan]

See the P.S., Dane. :)

[Aaron]

This will be hard to do if questioning the premise is against the rules, but you did say we could define "moral" however we wanted.

My definition of "immoral" is so narrow that my answer to your question - which celebrities do I think have good morals? - is "almost all of them."

That's not useful for your list though, and I'm bordering on obnoxious by this point. ;) So how about I define "good morals" as "admirable - possessing qualities I'd be proud to see in my own daughter."

I nominate Danica McKeller. (Not a big celebrity, I'll grant you - but hey! Winnie!.) Beautiful. Charming and confident. Summa cum laude gradute in Mathematics from UCLA. [sorry Brendan ;)] Author of a book entitled Math Doesn't Suck: How to Survive Middle-School Math Without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail.

[Aaron]

From the Amazon description of the book:

"As the math education crisis in this country continues to make headlines, research continues to prove that it is in middle school when math scores begin to drop—especially for girls—in large part due to the relentless social conditioning that tells girls they “can’t do” math, and that math is “uncool.” Young girls today need strong female role models to embrace the idea that it’s okay to be smart—in fact, it’s sexy to be smart!

It’s Danica McKellar’s mission to be this role model, and demonstrate on a large scale that math doesn’t suck. In this fun and accessible guide, McKellar—dubbed a “math superstar” by The New York Times—gives girls and their parents the tools they need to master the math concepts that confuse middle-schoolers most, including fractions, percentages, pre-algebra, and more. The book features hip, real-world examples, step-by-step instruction, and engaging stories of Danica’s own childhood struggles in math (and stardom). In addition, borrowing from the style of today’s teen magazines, it even includes a Math Horoscope section, Math Personality Quizzes, and Real-Life Testimonials—ultimately revealing why math is easier and cooler than readers think."

[CKF]

It's hard to think of celebrities with morals merely because those are the celebrities who aren't shoved down our throats on a daily basis. How sad that the majority of the time it's the "immoral" celebrities who we know of and talk about.

-With that in mind, after thinking about this too long...Julia Roberts and Sandra Bullock

[David K.]

Hmmm, off the top of my head Tom Hanks and his wife, Ted Danson and his wife Mary Steenburgen.

[gerry D]

The biggest influence upon your children are parents -- you. Kids will be fascinated by celebrities and dream. But you and the way that you and Becky live and conduct your lives will be the biggest influence upon little Loyette and little brothers and sisters. And little Loyette will be watching you every moment.... reminder, stop cursing when the Packers don't make a first down. ....

[PenguinSix]

Winnie Cooper

[Brendan Loy]

David, I didn't realize Tom Hanks and Ted Danson had had sex-change operations. Luckily, I'm not one of those Mike Huckabee types who thinks that such things by themselves make them immoral. :P

Gerry, replace "the Packers" with "the Trojans" and you might be on to something... :)

[Mad Max, Esquire]

To be honest, I don't know any female celebrities personally, so I can't assess whether they have good morals or not. Now if you wanted to say "which celebrity promotes a good moral image," that gives me more latitude.

[Kristin]

After thinking about this for a little while (and limiting myself to younger celebs that little girls might more easily know), I have come up with the following:

Natalie Portman and Julia Stiles (partly because they both made sure to finish their undergraduate degrees while at the height of their fame)

Anne Hathaway and Mandy Moore (for being teen stars and NOT ending up like you know who)

Emma Watson (because I think she's adorable, and I haven't heard a negative word about her)

[David K.]

Sorry missed the female only part. But as far as role models go, both sets of couples have been married without scandal for quite some time, a rare trick in hollywood.

[Brendan Loy]

No worries David, I was just giving you a hard time. :)

In response to Kristin's comment about "younger celebs that little girls might more easily know," I just want to clarify that I'm not making this list of celebrities so that I can someday say to Loyette, "You should try to be like these people." Heh. It's just for something I'm writing.

Thanks for the suggestions, everybody!

Sigh, not too many people here keep up with the celebrity gossip, do they? Some real beeyotches with the morals of an alley cat have been listed.

[Lisa]

Not that I'm a big fan of hers, but I'd say Lee Ann Rimes. She was thrust into the spotlight at a very young age and, as far as I know, has always stayed out of trouble.

[TS Kelso]

Great question. My wife and I were just discussing role models for the boy we're expecting in 8 weeks. Male nominees now accepted. BTW, there is absolutely nothing wrong with heroes or role models, we need them; they reinforce societal values

As for ladies... Condi Rice, Pat Summitt, Jamie Lee Curtis and the late Grace Kelly

[Alasdair]

How about the late Queen Mother ?

[Brendan Loy]

FYI, I decided to go with Josh's suggestion of Mother Teresa. Not that there weren't lots of other good options -- I was originally thinking along the lines of someone like Mandy Moore -- but upon reflection, yeah, Mother Teresa is sort of the iconic woman for "good morals," isn't she? Hence, she fit well into the sentence I was writing:

Obviously, Loyette will grow up to have Jennifer Garner’s looks, Mother Teresa’s morals, Oprah Winfrey’s business sense, Marilyn vos Savant’s brains, and Xena the Warrior Princess’s brawn. It's inevitable! :)

That's really all this question was about: filling in the second blank in that sentence. The context of which, BTW, is gently poking fun at the concept of getting carried away with the competitive-parenting "my baby is a genius" mentality.

Anyway, it's very interesting to read everyone's answers! Now, who has male role-model suggestions for TS Kelso?

[Condor]

Hopefully it won't be Jennifer Garner’s morals, Mother Teresa’s looks, Oprah Winfrey’s brawn, and Xena the Warrior Princess’s brains.

[Brendan Loy]

Heh.

[Aaron]

Mother Theresa works fine in that sentence. But "iconic" is exactly the right word to describe Mother Theresa's relationship to "good morals", because an icon doesn't necessarily have to share the characteristics of the thing it represents. What, exactly, were her morals? Can you describe them? Personally, I think some of her morals were repulsive. But when you say that most people look at you like you're crazy.

[Bernie]

J.K. Rowling! Duh.

Also, I adore Scarlett Johanssen, if only for her acting chops. But she doesn't seem to be floating around any tabloids skirtless, so that's a good start.

[gahrie]

I'd second Mandy Moore and Anne Hathaway...and throw in Lee Anne Rimes. Lee Anne is about the same age as Britney, and got famous at about the same time.....but look how different their lives have turned out......

[Wobbly H]

Anne Hathaway showed her tits in Brokeback Mountain. Of course, Gary, you were so scared that you would enjoy that movie that I'm sure you didn't watch it

[jlr]

Wooo! I win! When do I get my Mother Theresa Prize Package?

(The poor woman is probably rolling in her grave now that I've said that)

--And for all of you Catholics out there, just remember: Mother Theresa is only one confirmed posthumous miracle away from sainthood!

[Gim]

JENNIFER GARNER'S good looks?!?! Brendan, please, do not wish that beady-eyed horseface's looks on your cute daughter.

[Brendan Loy]

Heh. And here I picked Jennifer Garner because I thought she was a safe, uncontroversial choice as an icon for "beauty." (I thought the same thing about Mother Teresa...)

Who would you suggest? When I think of beautiful female celebrities, the first person who comes to mind is Halle Berry, but, um, I'm pretty sure Loyette isn't going to grow up to look like her. :) The next person who comes to mind is Megan Fox, but: a) I don't particularly want to compare my daughter with someone I'm on record lusting after on my blog; and b) um, those tattoos.

Jessica Alba? Scarlett Johansson? Reese Witherspoon?

Becky suggested Anne Hathaway, her personal choice for most beautiful Hollywood celeb, but I didn't think she was generally considered to be as iconically beautiful as Jennfier Garner, who always comes out near the top of those "most beautiful women in Hollywood" sort of lists.

[Brendan Loy]

All that said, just to reiterate, I'm not actually "wishing" anyone else's looks, personality or anything else "on my daughter." My daughter will be her own person, not a clone of anyone else, and I'll love her no matter what. Moreover, if she'll have anyone else's good looks, it'll most likely be Rebecca Loy's, and if that happens she'll be absolutely gorgeous. :)

I was just looking for some obvious fill-in-the-blank celebrity choices to complete the above-quoted sentence, in order to make a broader point about the pitfalls of comparing your baby to the baby down the street, etc. I'm definitely not planning to show this blog post to Loyette someday and say, "These are all the rolemodels I want you to emulate!!" LOL.

[Gim]

Well, since you came up with someone so iconic and historically important as Mother Theresa for a MORAL example, why not someone as timeless Audrey Hepburn? or Elizabeth Taylor? or Rita Hayworth?

Didn't Julia Roberts marry someone else's husband? I like her in movies and all, but I don't know about her being a role model ...

[Mike]

Well, I know next to nothing about the personal life of celebrities. Regardless, I'll nominate the one female celebrity of any renown who I've actually met: America Ferrera. I lived in a dorm with one of her sisters at USC, and America came to visit a couple of times. She really did seem to be the friendly, wholesome sort of person she's made out to be. Added to the fact that all her fame is from acting in roles where her intelligence and personality bring her happiness despite people being critical of her looks (both in the indie film Real Women Have Curves and in her primetime mock soap opera Ugly Betty), it seems like a good choice.

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