Nicole's Kids... Or Are They?

Seems like they are Tom & Katie’s now, and have been for over a year.

Some have called it unfair to judge Kidman’s involvement, or lack thereof, simply by the amount of pictures out there. They will tell you that just because you see very few pictures of the children with their mother, does not mean that they spend very little time together. Nicole is just being protective, trying her best to shield her children from the insensitivities of the paparazzi’s prying lenses.

Reasonable enough. I recall the picture taken a couple of years ago of Gwyneth practically forced into a wall carrying her newborn baby, Apple, while paps surrounded her, trying desperately to get a pic of the cute little kid. So, it appears that if the paps like anything more than a shot of a celebrity, it is a shot of the sacred children.

In the case of Nicole Kidman, however, some have claimed that pictures are evidence of a mother who appears, on the surface, to be lacking in her involvement with the upbringing of her children.

Kidman’s motherhood has been called into question since the days when she was still married to Cruise. In fact, some Hollywood insiders will tell you that Nicole’s incapability to put anything or anyone - including her children - before her beloved career was partly to blame for the decline of the marriage (among other things).

The problem with Kidman in regard to her children however, is that she talks the talk well enough, but never walks the walk. There are countless interviews where she goes on and on about mothers and their children, she says how much she misses them, wants to spend more time them, etc. So why doesn’t she?

This is a woman who has more money than she will ever be able to spend and a private jet at her disposal, so why not take a nice little break and have her kids for a few weeks in the summer, or on school vacations, holidays, etc? Why does she keep signing on to do film after film after film?

This is a woman who has “homes’ all over the world - except one in LA - where her kids reside full-time.

In an interview for Ladies Home Journal, she told a journalist that she wishes she could spend more time with her kids but she’s just so busy. And she was busy. She had just spent the latter half of 2005 and the beginning of 2006 touring with Urban; attending to towel racks, laundry, lunches, and recording sessions at Urban’s Nashville home; making appearances at a James Taylor tribute, the Grammys and the Oscars. She spent Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years’, February vacation, April vacation, and Mother’s Day with Urban as well. Yes, she was a very busy girl alright. One has to wonder how it is she even managed to fit in a single botox appointment or yoga class with all of that going on.

To those that will say that just because we do not see pics of Kidman with her kids, does not mean she isn’t with them, I will grant you this: it is possible that she does see them more than we see her seeing them.

But she does not see them as often as she claims or as often as her fans will have you believe. And while pics do not necessarily offer all of the proof, they do offer much of it. To think that Kidman keeps her kids locked away in a house or a hotel room for hours on end, never taking them places or doing things with them is ridiculous. While she is out and about are her kids at “home”? And if so, who are they with and why aren’t they with her? After such long absences away from each other - to be expected apparently given her career and the custody arrangement - one would think she would want to spend as much time as possible and possibly take them along on her errands or outings.

The thing is, there used to be pics of Kidman spending time with her children. At concerts, sporting events, on-set visits. In fact, in the summer of 2005, while filming in New York, Connor and Isabella spent several weeks with their mother. They spent Christmas with her and Stephen Bing a year or two before that as well. And there are pics to prove it to boot...so much for the protection theory. Because it is so rare, any pap anywhere will snap a shot. And they have. So my guess is, if Kidman spent as much time with her kids as she claims, we may not have a pic for every occasion, but surely we would have a lot more. I have seen more pics of Kidman with other people’s children in the last year or so than of her with her own.

In fact, I have seen more pics of Kidman doing just about everything else.

Why, those nasty paps even followed her to her private honeymoon destination...and not only did they snap her de-boarding the plane, they also got pics of her at her private bungalow!

And then there was the visit with her husband in rehab. At the very reputable, very private, very celeb-catered Betty Ford Center. Try as I might, I cannot find one single photograph of any other celeb on the grounds of this facility (or any other) but those kamikaze paps were able to swoop onto the grounds, undetected, and get clear, crisp, eye level shots of the troubled couple trying to have some private time on the center’s lake. Bastards!

Yep, every yoga class this woman has ever been to and no matter where she was, we got pics. So how is it that they only get one or two shots a year of the mother mothering her children?

Scientology you say? Distancing her from her children because she is no longer a part of the cult? Then how do you explain the many moments that were documented in years past since the divorce? Surely, if you were going to distance the children from their mother, you would start weaning them off after the divorce no?

And yet, it has only been in the last year or so that the reports and pics of Kidman with her children have dwindled down to almost none.

So, riddle me this:

How is it that every move she makes is documented in the tabs...walking the streets on Urban’s tour stops; shopping in Nashville; taking strolls in parks; buying coffee at Starbucks; buying Swiffers at Target; going to the gym on a holiday when it was closed (how on earth did they know?); playing pool in a roped-off section of a pool hall; going to or coming from a yoga or pilates class in NY, LA, Nashville; singing at soundboards; going to the movies; attending dinner parties; having breakfast...but no shots of her with her kids?

It would seem she can’t do a single thing without being hounded and harassed by the media, poor thing. Except spend time with her kids.

Boy, those paps must have grown a conscience. They must have decided to forego “the shot” and be respectful when it comes to celebs trying to have a little quality time with their kids.

Someone should tell that to Courtney, Gwyneth, Julia, Madonna, Kate, Katie, and Angelina.

I bet they’d love to hear it.