There’s social distancing scenario A at a normal home with pantry meals, board games and Netflix, and then there’s Hollywood-style scenario B in big sprawling houses with rooms chock full of entertainment and gourmet kitchens spilling over with fancy food and gadgets.
Guess which situation superstar Justin Timberlake and his glamourous wife, Jessica Biel, live in.
I’ll just tell you–it’s fancy-dancy quarantine scenario B.
Except they’re not in Hollywood. They are on their Montana ranch.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B-KhhVNB98q/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
A few weeks ago, Timberlake got on a Zoom interview with SiriusXM’s Hits 1 to talk about the streaming release of Trolls World Tour and how he and the family were coping in self-isolation. “We’re doing good. We’re mostly commiserating over the fact that we… just, 24-hour parenting is just not human,” he said.
Well, JT, regular people, who are human, do have to parent 24-hours a day. They just don’t get to do it on a ginormous ranch nestled in the Rocky Mountains. Many of them parent 24-hours a day in cramped apartments without backyards or access to parks. And, gasp, they don’t have more than one home. Their apartment, or two or three-bedroom home, is it.
But, don’t take my word for it. Twitter spoke too.
Loving these celebrities being tone deaf af. Justin Timberlake said “24-hour parenting is just not human” and my eyes have rolled into the back of my head
— Taylor (@taylor_kalona) April 10, 2020
There are families who are separated.
Moms who have to rely on public transportation for themselves and their children.
https://twitter.com/DarlenewWebster/status/1248724743949176833?s=20
Pardon us if we sound a little crabby.
We’ve been parenting too much.
Justin Timberlake and other celebrities complaining about 24 hour parenting isn’t “normal.” 😒 pic.twitter.com/ELdeGddHJx
— anna wintours sunglasses (@raquel2e) April 10, 2020
And, while what he said may have been a tasteless joke or poor choice of words, we’re not having it.
Some parents are working. Some are out of work. But whatever the circumstances, parents are always parenting.
I’m parenting a toddler by myself, trying to simultaneously do that and work from home, and somehow expected to hold it together while my income was cut by 75%. I sincerely want them both punched in the face immediately.
— krp (@KayArePea) April 9, 2020
His comment was especially infuriating because while everyone else follows the advice of health experts to stay home, stars like Timberlake act like they are doing the world a favor by lifting our spirits with photos of their #quarantinelife on yachts, ranches and island getaways.
Yeah, no thanks.
https://twitter.com/colettefahy_/status/1248502068500815874?s=20
Was Timberlake’s complaints about having to parent his one child meant as a joke? Probably. He’s not a bad person for being wealthy. We, the human public, would just prefer celebs keep their grumbles to themselves and just tell us what cool projects they’re working on or what cute things their kiddos do and say.
That’s what keeps our spirits up.