Now that I’ve been reminded of this, I can’t believe the tabloids haven’t been making a bigger deal of it. Do you remember that Jessica Simpson’s baby-daddy/Yalie K-Fed is a vegan? She made him tofurky for Thanksgiving last year (“it was jiggly and weird,” Jessica reported) and she regularly takes Eric to steakhouses too. Anyway, according to the Enquirer, Jessica has now become a vegan. She’s a Texas girl, and I thought she would always love her steak, but maybe she has given up meat (and dairy?) for Eric. In any case, The Enquirer is reporting that Jessica is interested in raising the baby as a vegan. Oh, and she wants to have a home birth too.
Jessica Simpson wants to deliver her baby at home, and may even raise the child as a vegan, insiders say. Jessica decided on a home birth after watching Ricki Lake’s 2008 documentary, The Business of Being Born, sources say. And since Jessica and fiancé Eric Johnson are vegans now, they’re considering raising their child with the same healthy, no-meat diet, insiders say.
“Jessica is hell-bent on the idea of giving birth naturally at home after watching Ricki’s documentary… she’d love to deliver her baby in the comfortable surroundings of her LA mansion.”
As for the vegan diet, Eric introduced her to veganism in May 2010, when they began dating. Since then, she’s been swapping steaks for tofo, and she’s reaped the benefits of a healthier lifestyle, said the source.
“After becoming a vegan, Jessica lost a little weight, her cholesterol level dropped, her skin looked better and she felt more energized,” the source divulged. “Both she and Eric want the best for their baby, and they believe he or she will be healthier raised as a vegan.”
[From The Enquirer, print edition]
The home birth thing, I don’t even want to get into that. I’ve described my extreme and disturbingly all-consuming fear of childbirth, and if I’m ever pregnant, I will ask for an old-school, Mad-Men-style twilight-sleep birth, and failing that, I’ll ask that they just punch me in the face until I lose consciousness. So I’m in way qualified to speak about home births or any kind of births. As for the vegan thing – well, I have my doubts that Jessica is even a “vegan” right now, during her pregnancy. Considering she chose to got knocked up by a vegan, I think Jess is probably trying to eat healthier and avoid meat more than she used to, but I hope that like Natalie Portman before her, Jess just gives in to whatever she’s craving while pregnant, and deciding on what’s best for the baby when it comes.
Photos courtesy of WENN & Fame.
I get the home birth thing. I know hospitals are germy. But I refuse to ever give birth more than 1 elevator ride away from an anesthesiologist and qualified emergency medical care personnel, equipment and drugs. Just in case something goes wrong. I saw a picture on another website of a home birth that was a footling breach, and they just went ahead with it and this woman put a picture on the Internet of her on all fours with just the baby’s leg hanging out. I’m sorry, but yanking the kid out by his leg and hoping his arms & head don’t get caught – *shudder* – I’ll take the C-section.
I call BS. There is no way that girl is a vegan.
And I know that I will get some hate for this but home birthing is a crock.
How can you bring up a baby vegan? Will it be breast fed? Babies need a lot of nutrition, I get you can do meatless and organic, but vegan?
Also, why don’t vegans care that plans are living and breathing too?
There is no way I would have a home birth, especially with the problems I had with my first child. He got stuck because he had a big head and broad shoulders, when he came out, he wasn’t breathing, and then, to top it all off, my placenta wouldn’t detach. If I hadn’t had an epidural, I doubt I would have ever had another child. If I hadn’t been in a hospital, who knows? I just celebrated Emerson’s 4th Birthday, and that’s worth a hospital stay to me 🙂
So Jess is a vegan? Explains the weight issues. I was so hoping she wouldn’t crater to this main stream crap.
Can a baby really ever be vegan? Formula milk is definitely dairy, and I’d guess even human milk is too! 🙂
As for the home birth, she’ll undoubtedly have the best possible medical care and if anything goes awry she’ll be in hospital before she can blink.
Arent a lot of formula milks soy? And if she breast fed, no issue tho I get the joke 😉
I think a home birth would be better for the conact, proximity and gentleness of mother-baby-midwife compared to the cold machines and whippy-snappy fast pace of a hospital. I dont like how they take the baby away from you and lay it on a metal pan- just so… inhumane.
It may be an exaggerated perspective but maybe its a motherly instinct that makes me want to punch a doc in the face for treating any potential kid of mine in that way 🙁
What happened to real women eat meat Jess? Bet that shirts in the back of her wardrobe now 🙂
Oh my god. Seriously, I’m not a vegan, but the concept is no ANIMAL products-not no breast milk! The vegans I know are all very into breastfeeding because it is natural and does not harm or exploit animals. Breastfeeding in no way violates veganism. HUGE pet peeve, sorry.
/stepping off soapbox
Natalie Portman didn’t stop being vegan for the sake of the baby. She stopped being vegan because she was having cravings while pregnant and those are hard to ignore!
Breast milk from a woman is intended for her baby, it hardly contradicts ethical veganism. Milk from a cow is intended for a calf (her baby!)not for humans, adult or infant.
“Also, why don’t vegans care that plans are living and breathing too?”
Tell me you’re being facetious. Plants are NOT the same as animals. I’m pretty sure I don’t come home from work, pick up my dracena, scratch it behind the ears, play with it and cuddle it.
And plants are crammed into factories and tortured for human consumption.
Also, please don’t think this is typical vegan preaching. I don’t mount my soapbox about veganism and attack non-vegans until veganism is attacked.
I know 3 (unrelated) adults who were raised vegan, since birth. They are all very healthy (one is an athlete) and had many less colds/infections than most kids when they were at school. I assume she’d have access to very good doctors/nutritionists who would make sure that the baby is properly fed.
I completely believe that every family should choose the birthing plan & location that they are comfortable with. And that most home births are safe and there is no guarantee that a hospital birth will go smoothly. That said, I almost lost my sister after a very scary home birth and swore to my mom that I’d have any/all of my babies in a hospital. And after receiving my epidural, I know it was the right choice for me. 🙂
I doubt Jessica is a vegan, but if so, good for her. I have several vegan friends who raised their children vegan from birth, and they are all healthy, active kids. You just have to have an educated vegan doing the raising, so that’s why I’m hoping Jessica is making this up.
Oh, and as another poster upthread said: breastmilk is vegan, and many formulas are NOT dairy.
Haha, so JSimp can stuff herself with all sorts of crap but her baby must be a healthy vegan? Hypocrite. She better walk the walk too because if she is going to eat crap there’s no way her baby/child won’t see that and call her out on it. You can’t deny a child something that you are eating yourself. Anyway, not to be too negative: I hope she succeeds because being vegan is hard work if you love meat and dairy =).
Bless her heart. Jessica is so easily influenced. She will be all rah-rah about that home birth till the first true contraction hits her.
I am also calling BS on the vegan thing too. Had she really went vegan she would not had the issue with her weight for the last year.
Or maybe she did vegan around the boyfriend. And then hid in her closer eating Little Debbie’s every chance she got. 🙂
I love Jessica. And its not just a name thing.. lol
I have been vegan for many years, I’m a marathon runner, and am extremely healthy. If I were to have a baby I would raise the baby vegan.
The people saying “how can a baby be vegan?” really blow my mind. Look around people. Childhood obesity is out of control and lots of kids eat processed, sugar and sodium laden junk food. Some parents clearly don’t teach their child anything about nutrition and they don’t monitor what their child eats. I think a vegan child would be better off than any of these children.
That being said though, I highly doubt that Jessica is vegan. I no longer find it difficult to be vegan, but for someone starting out, especially someone who once wore the idiotic tshirt “Real girls eat meat”, it would be really hard unless you were committed to the cause. There are many reasons why someone would go vegan (they are against animal cruelty, they are doing it for the environment, they are doing it for their health, etc.) but regardless of the specific reason you must be committed. I honestly see Jessica as too dumb to have that level of commitment. Being vegan b/c your boyfriend is one is not a good enough reason and I don’t see how you would be able to be committed.
Wityh a midwife, 99% of the time she will know well before the birth if there is an issue and will make plans to accomodate the woman at the hospital. Very rarely does something totally unplanned and dangerous happen during bith – that’s just TV. I had three babies with a midwife and the last one at home – I wish I could have had all three of them at home.
My mother had a home birth for my brother, and this was way back in the 70s. She did this because she felt like her earlier birth (mine) in a hospital was a cold, impersonal experience. she had a nurse-midwife, and a doula attending, and lived about a block from the hospital.
Also, my mom was a vegetarian (but not vegan) throughout her pregnancies and while breastfeeding. No issues what so ever. Making the assumption that vegans won’t breastfeed their infants is ignorant and insulting. These are people who choose not to consume animal products for health and/or ethical reasons — not freaky cult members who endanger their children.
BC – Humans ARE animals.
Stephanie Marie – Plants feel, they lean towards the sun, they need nutrients, they breathe.. it’s not a crock to say we should respect our enviornment as a whole, not just the parts that make noise. Some vegans (not all) have seriously flawed logic. I don’t have a problem with vegans, but I do think it’s silly to pretend like they’re doing it to respect or save our world or whatever bs they pipe out.
Also, http://i.imgur.com/X98XS.jpg
I love cats and hope that that bag is not real fur. Great post Gee 🙂 My sister and hubby are totally vegan and the kids gobble up meat if they can have access to it so I wonder if kids get cravings for meat.
PLANTS HAVE FEELINGS TOO! It’s at the point of being scientifically proven.@gee thanks for pointing that out
I respect vegans right to eat whatever they want and yes you can raise a healthy vegan baby I’ve known a couple who are now healthy vegan/vegetarian adults.
Plants don’t have a nervous system or a brain to process pain and agony with, like animals do. Yes, they respond to external stimuli, but it’s not the same.
She’s NOT a vegan and dollars to good down home southern fried foods, she’ll be in a hospital with a big ole epideral. The Enqirer is making this shit up as it goes along.
I really have nothing to add here as I’m not vegan. (I can’t give up the cheese man!) However, I will say that either way with her breasts, that will be one well fed kid.
Yes! Obnoxious joke of the day. I’m off.
@MitchBuchananRocks:
I’m 99% meat-free and eat few eggs and little dairy, but I have moments of (fried calamari & sardine on toast) weakness! I think overall it’s better for 80% of the population to adopt a more veggie-based diet and think of animal products as a “treat”, than it is to have 2-3% being “100% Vegan or else!”.
I started by having nut milks on my cereal and adding loads of veggies to things like lasagna & chilli, then replacing the meat with soy or quorn mince or added pulses. If you know your herbs & spices you’ll never be short of flavour. Baby steps!
If deep fried Oreos, Hershey bars and Ho-Hos are vegan, then my guess is Jess is vegan, ’cause that’s what she lives for 😉
Also, I own a pair of J Simp shoes and they’re leather. So my guess is, she isn’t vegan or she would try to eliminate the animal products in her fashion line.
Veganism definitely explains the prepregnancy weight gain. Poor girl (like most vegans and vegetarians) doesn’t know how to properly supplement her diet after omitting a major food group.
I see it happen a lot. People balloon after giving up meat and dairy. Hollywood people who make this lifestyle choice have the money to afford the type of food and nutritionists to feed them a proper diet. Everyday people on the other hand normally can’t afford the switch, or the guidance to continue to eat a truly balanced, healthy diet. I know a lot of vegans/vegetarians who eat processed foods – what do you think fake meat is?
Home birth- whatever she’s trying to sound edgy. I hope she has a happy and healthy pregnancy and has a very good doctor to help her with the baby – especially if she does decide to raise it vegan. I doubt it lasts though, because steak is delicious – and can be part of a healthy, balanced diet.
Since humans are omnivores, we are unable to be completely vegan without supplementing from animal source derived B12. To me, that is enough to tell me it is not a healthy diet for a human being, all antidotes aside. And yes, Red Star yeast has B12 added to it. The yeast itself does not produce B12.
I agree with those who disbelieve she has gone truly vegan.
I have had 2 homebirths, no biggie. My second is 2 months old today, yay! Just felt like saying this for some reason…
I had my baby at home, he was a breach. The midwife stuck her hand in me and he flipped and popped out. If I had been in the hospital I would have been sliced open and that would have taken precious minutes and since he was already in the birth canal, who know what would have happened to his lungs. He was born a vegan, and of course someone that cares about health is going to breast feed, duh. So I say to each his own. I don’t think other mothers have the right to criticize anyone on how they want to empty their own uterus or feed their own baby.
Eh. I like plants. No, I love plants. I grow basil a lot and every time I snip for its leaves I feel guilty, as I care for these plants, they react to the sunlight, they wither when they go waterless, yet I can see with my own eye how they rise up again after being watered. They’re living things, they REACT to their surroundings, and while I don’t think plants feel pain like we do, they certainly react to damage, it heals like we do, it withers until it’s healed, sometimes it dies from damage, if you damage the stem or roots or any integral non-regenerative parts of it.
So in order to not feel guilty about my plants, I eat everything that’s edible, animal or plant. After all, it’s all part of a cycle – everybody eats everybody. And human, as it just so happens, has a perfect digestive system to eat anything – too short for a vegan diet, as to get enough nutrients from a plant-based diet, the plant mass has to stay in the digestive system a lot longer than our medium-length tract allows, yet it’s too long to support a carnivorous diet, as it’s true that if the meat stays in the vegan-long digestive tract for too long it emits toxins. Hence, a medium-length intestines.
As for birthing at home, bullcrap. But hey, I hope the baby won’t be born with the umbilical cord around its neck, you know the condition that would be best solved quickly, in a HOSPITAL.
I doubt she’ll have a home birth, but thats just because she seems to prissy to do it. I had my son in a tub at a birth center & it was the most amazing experience I’ve ever had. If/when we have another baby, I hope that we’ll be able to have a similar experience. I HATE hospitals & would never want to bring a child in the world in one. Home births & other non-hospital births should only happen for women who have complication free pregnancies. High-risk women should be in a hospital & any practitioner who says that its fine for a high risk woman to have a home birth should strongly reconsider. Also, any practitioner who attend home births should be able to tell if there are problems before they get serious.
All that being said, how & when to give birth is a VERY personal matter & no-one should be judged on their choice.
Also, I care deeply about my own health & that of my son, but I was only able to nurse him for 6 weeks. Feeding him formula was never my 1st choice, but it just turned out that it had to be that way.
Vegan???? She was just pictured eating cheese? Maybe lacto vegetarian but she is not vegan.
Redslip is right. I have been vegetarian for 30 years and many who turn to vegetarianism start eating carbs and other fattening foods & gain alot of weight because meat isnt the only unhealthy food out there thats for sure. Vegetarians have to watch their intake of carbs & starches.
Danziger – its more about the drugs and treatment of farm animals produced into meat. If you live on a farm and treat your animals humane and dont pump them up with drugs then the meat is healthy and in my opinion (as a vegetarian because i dont have the space to raise my own animals) ok to eat. Factory farmed meat in America is NOT healty. Its so bad for you! And now unfortunately they are using chemicals in and on produce so its starting to be as unhealthy as meat =( Most of us dont have the space to raise animals to eat but you can plant vegetables in a pot in your windowsill. If you can grow your own – Its the only way to guarantee healthy food these days.
Please, I’m sure she could afford hormone free, grass fed meat.
I had my twins at home at 42 weeks pregnant. I think it’s cool that she wants a home birth. Birth isn’t a sickness.
A kid eating cabbage and beans will be ever fartier than the mother.