Jessica Simpson,the one-time pop star,had her first and last Top 10 hit more than a decade ago,with I Wanna Love You Forever. But that didnt stop Elle magazine from putting her on its April cover (naked and pregnant,in an echo of the often-imitated 1991 Vanity Fair cover photo of Demi Moore) nor People magazine from splashing pictures of her baby shower in its April 2 issue. Tori Spelling,Donna from Beverly Hills,90210,had a short career in made-for-TV movies before finding a home on reality TV,with her marriage and quickly growing brood as the focus: Tori & Dean: Inn Love,Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood and soon Craft Wars. Bethenny Frankel was a former contestant on The Apprentice: Martha Stewart ,and a polarising character on The Real Housewives of New York City,before getting two subsequent shows of her own (Bethenny Getting Married? and Bethenny Ever After ) and becoming one of the biggest stars on that cable network. They have found that motherhood pays. For a growing number of under employed actresses,singers and would-be entrepreneurs,parenthood has become a viable Plan B. Being a celebrity mom has more business opportunities than ever before, said Peter Grossman,the photo editor of Us Weekly . Now,its not just about selling your baby pics. Its starting a clothing line or endorsing a stroller. The value of a celebrity mom has never been higher. Four years ago,Kendra Wilkinson was a star on The Girls Next Door ,an E! reality series about Hugh Hefners harem. Then she became engaged to a pro-football player,announced her pregnancy and got a spinoff series in which her impending motherhood was a central story line. Its ratings were among E!s highest. If I would have stayed that party girl,I dont think I would have had the success I had. I think it all had to do with me taking the craziest turn any party girl could have taken. And thats having a family, she said. When did the spawn of Hollywood become a cultural obsession? For a very long time,pregnancy was considered a private matter,and as recently as 2000,a magazines decision to run a paparazzi shot of someone like Madonna in the late stages of pregnancy was considered bad form. That changed in 2002 when Bonnie Fuller took over at Us Weekly,an event that is to celebrity babies what the big bang was to the rest of humanity. Within weeks,Fuller redesigned the magazine,centering it around candid shots of newly engaged stars with circles around their baby bumps underneath the heading of Stars,Theyre Just Like Us. At the top of the tabloid food chain were Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. For the first shot of them together,back when Pitt had just split from Jennifer Aniston,Us Weekly paid for the picture $500,000. Even fathers got into the act. Matthew McConaughey received what two sources then working at OK! said was from $500,000 to $1 million to pose with his baby,only to have things go awry when he refused to go shirtless and without the childs mother,Camila Alves. I wanted it to be like an Athena poster, Sarah Ivens Moffett,the founding editor of the magazine said. He didnt. For the demi-celebrities in front of the camera,the shows also are global billboards that lead to paid gigs,like lucrative appearances at introductions for baby products and tweeting on behalf of companies that are focusing on women with children,sometimes for $5,000 or more a tweet for the bigger reality stars. Take,for example,Kourtney Kardashian,who regularly tweets about her son,Mason,and the brands hes decked out in. Running around New York City! she tweeted on April 24. Captain Mason is ready for the rain.
