When you scroll through Phoebe Burgess’ Instagram, you’ll be met with a beautifully curated page of glamorous photos of the writer and TV presenter living what very much looks like a charmed life.
But amongst the photos of her fabulous outfits in fabulous locales (she loves fashion, she always has) are the pictures of the people she loves most in the world, her two children with rugby league star Sam Burgess – Poppy, two and a half, and Billy, whom she welcomed in December last year.
And if you take the time to read her captions, you’ll see that despite the outward appearance that the mum-of-two has this parenting thing all figured out, she won’t shy away from sharing the truth of what life is really like as a mum of children under three.
Behind the photos of her two “cleanish kids”, she’ll let her 80K followers know that it took “hours of preparation” just to get out the door with her children in tow. Or that in reality, she and the kids are looking a “lot less glam at home”. Or that just after a lovely family photo was taken, Poppy “painted the back of the car, her new clothes and everything within a one metre radius with her lunch”.
Top Comments
Do what you want with your social media accounts, knock yourself out - just keep your kids out of it as some sort of marketing exercise designed to enhance your profile.
Totally agree. Any celebrity or social media "influencer" who sells their kid's privacy for publicity and likes should rightfully be criticised and condemned.
Do you find living and parenting in the spotlight to be "an impossible challenge"? There is an easy solution to that - DON'T LIVE AND PARENT IN THE SPOTLIGHT. I am so sick of people who actively court attention and then cry about how stressful it is to be judged.
Seriously? Some people will use any excuse to spread negativity.
I wouldn't call disappearing from social media for 2.5 months while the media circus was in full swing over the Rabbitohs sexting scandal as "courting attention". Phoebe's Instagram page is full of photos of her family and fashion, a common theme among many women (and men) not married to a famous footballer.
Maintaining an online presence and sharing details of your life and parenting IS COURTING ATTENTION. Disappearing - for whatever reason - is exactly the opposite. You're missing the point entirely. If someone doesn't want to be scrutinised and commented upon, one should not share their life on social media. End of.