Anderson kicks “Barbie Mom” off his show
I like to cover stories about Anderson Cooper’s talkshow, because he has some real characters on. At some point you feel that it’s beneath him, though. It’s cute when he gets into giggle fits over pop culture absurdities, but it seems ridiculous when he has those same subjects on his show and asks them questions like they should be taken seriously. Cooper seems to feel the same way, and this latest story makes me wonder if he’s going to change the direction of his talk show and/or push back against producers’ plans for it.
That’s preface to this story about how Cooper got fed up with a British woman who calls herself a “Human Barbie” and is a candidate for worst mother of the year, even if her whole act is a put-on. If you’re not familiar with this creature, she’s given her little eight year-old daughter Botox and plastic surgery vouchers and has posed with her in provocative clothing. She’s like a pageant mom meets porn star on steroids. Barbie mom also admitted on Anderson to letting her 15 year-old daughter get Botox, but she said it was to reduce sweating on the girl’s forehead while she was performing as a professional dancer. “All my children are professional people,” she said.
Cooper was questioning the Barbie on why she’s such a terrible mom, and he finally just gave up and told her to get off the set, basically. It was only halfway through the interview. He said he had no more questions for her and she left. Later, in a video recorded backstage, he explained that he didn’t want to give her publicity and regretted having her on the show. Good for him.
On giving her 15 year-old daughter Botox
My daughter is a professional dancer, all my children are professional people and she perpetually sweated on her forehead, and so the best answer for that was a shot of Botox and I didn’t actually give it to her.On giving her eight year-old a plastic surgery voucher
I’ve given her a voucher for if she so wishes to use it at the age of eighteen she can but she actually wants to be a plastic surgeon and take herself off to become the person she wants to be because she can cash in those vouchers, they are like a bond. So it’s like a tax free gift.On putting her daughter on a stripper pole
Anderson: You know this is about publicity. You don’t put a seven-year-old on a poll and have her photographer and it just doesn’t happen to wind up in the paper. You contact the British tabloid. You contact the papers and let them know about this stuff.
Sarah: I let people know that it’s good, it’s good exercise and in fact, more people should actually try it than stuffing their faces with burgers. I don’t know, and it would be better for them and they’d be much more fit and healthier.Anderson kicks her off [written by Gawker]
Despicable plastic surge-oholic Sarah Burge, who infamously presented her seven-year-old daughter with a boob job voucher for her birthday and a liposuction voucher for Christmas, was a guest on Anderson Cooper’s daytime talk show — until the silver fox had just about enough, and told the “Human Barbie” to leave.“I honestly have nothing more to talk to you about,” Cooper said after a brooding pause. “I gotta be honest, I gotta just stop. I’m sorry.” He then called Burge “dreadful,” and the mother of four stormed off the set, repeating the words “that’s fine” several times.
Later, backstage, Anderson explained his actions, saying he didn’t feel Burge was “communicating honestly” and thought she was only appearing on his show “for the publicity.”
“I regret having her on in the first place,” he said, “and I regret that that’s how things ended.”
[From the Anderson Cooper show and Gawker]
I think this lady’s act is somewhat of a put-on. At least I hope it is. I think she heard the story last year about the mom who got paid to act like she was giving her daughter Botox and decided she wanted in on that racket. That still makes her an abhorrent person for doing this to her daughter. She did admit that she got her 15 year-old Botox to reduce forehead sweating – while she’s dancing! That’s ridiculous. So maybe I’m wrong that she’s faking it, and maybe she’s completely sincere about it, as much as she’s capable of being sincere. Look at her.
Again, maybe Anderson will put his foot down and get some more legitimate guests. He does “60 Minutes” for God’s sake, he doesn’t need to be interviewing the dregs of society. At least they had the foresight not to let Barbie bring her kids on with her. You know she would have tarted up her daughter and paraded her around if they’d let her.
Anderson explains why he kicked her off.
On putting her seven year-old on a stripper pole. “More people should try it instead of stuffing their face with burgers.”
On giving her 15 year-old daughter Botox.
On giving her eight year-old plastic surgery vouchers.
he’s a bitch.
I wouldn’t go that far but i wonder why he’s a puppet. What’s the point of having a penis in this society if you can’t wield the power it brings with it? Time to raise the bar a bit, Anderson.
you don’t invite someone on your show then run them off in shame because you don’t agree with what they are saying or doing.
he is a journalist and should be able to be more objective.
then to say she is dreadful?!!!
he invited her to his show.
bitch.
What does his genitalia have to do with this?
“What’s the point of having a penis in this society if you can’t wield the power it brings with it? Time to raise the bar a bit, Anderson.” Oh this quote should be bottled and saved in a museum for years to come. Completely brilliant Laura!
so true so true…Anderson Cooper used to be someone you took seriously as a ‘real’ journalist…this show is doing him NO favours
That my first thought too! Geez, dont misunderstand me, I love Anderson Cooper and now that I have Direct tv I watch 360, but that was just sooo wrong and unprofessional. He KNEW what she was like and what she was about before he invited her there! And to invite her there and insult her and dismiss her during an interview is wrong. You know who does that to their guests? Tyra Banks. Anderson, you do NOT want to be Tyra Banks. Please dont ever do that to your guests again!
I absolutely agree. The woman clearly has issues so yeah, let’s start calling her names, right? This is like having a mentally challenged person on the show and saying to them “Excuse me but I think you are stupid!!” (and the crowd goes wild!…)
What is this guy’s problem and how old is he again? Eleven? because that’s his level of maturity. And don’t forget this is a produced show so he knew exactly who he was bringing in. Come on, he just made Jerry Springer look classy.
In television production, I’m certain that there are story producers whose job requires them to find the subjects for each story and bring them to the studio for interviews. I don’t think that Anderson, himself, went out and found this person and brought her on. It’s not a one-man show – no show is. He should fire his story producer if he doesn’t want interviews like this to happen on his show.
and a wuss
I love love LOVE me some Anderson. But you’re right. He was a real bitch here. It was uncalled for, he’s suppose to be objective. She’s still a guest on his show afterall. To shame her like that is just very unprofessional.
She seems more plastic than human.
She looks like a very, very poor drag queen impersonator of Kim Cattrall.
I love Anderson Cooper!!!! He is da man!!
She deserves to have her children taken away from her.
He knew what he was getting when he booked her on the show….so his has nothing to say is pure bullshyt to impress the audience….He is as much a fame bitch as she is….both putthing it on for all they are worth…Hipe pure Media Hipe !!!
I totally agree, but it still made me fall in love with him a little bit anyway.
For about 10 seconds that is, until I came to the same conclusion you did.
I love love LOVE me some Anderson. But you’re right. He was a real bitch here. It was uncalled for and unprofessional. She’s still a guest on his show afterall. To shame her like that is just mean.
Pllleeaaassse! As if him saying this to her and her leaving wasnt planned. He is not a good talk show host.
I was wondering if that was staged.
I would never give someone like that air time. I agree she should have her kids taken from her. what a way to ensure they’ll have esteem issues as they’re growing up.
This woman needs serious help. There are other forms of excercise to keep your daughter fit. Not a stripper pole. Unless you daughter is at appropriate age.
Good for you Anderson.
He may be a bitch but I love what he did. Good for him for his honest reaction. She does sound like a dreadful person and who really cares what she has to say anyway? Hate those pink lips too.
The saddest thing here is while she’s spending money on all of these procedures and ‘vouchers’.. you should see the squalor her youngest is living in. Cheap, dirty old mattresses without a bed frame or fitted sheet sitting on the floor. I mean if she was poor it was one thing, but we all know where her money is going. Nothing sickens me more than Moms who put themselves before their own children.
I agree. Put on or not, this woman sounds like an awful human being.
Plastic Surgery didnt make her attractive. It is a lost cause.
The surgery has not improved anything. More surgery will make it even worse. She has the telltale nerve damage on her lower lip, people get that from chin implants (see the other Barbie wanna-be lady from the US, who has lost muscle control on one side of her lower lip, sort of akin to stroke damage). Is this worth it?? I say NO.
Not for nothin, but the “crime scene tape” photo of her showing her (left groin area, is it?) is frighteningly not attractive nor is it sexy. Just scary. And she looks older than 51, so there, crazybarbie.
Anderson is fake bitch. He is an ass and not talk show host. He could be his own guest in episode called – The Glass Closet Files.
Anderson’s talk show is one step above Maury Povich and Jerry Springer. He threw her off to get some publicity and give the appearance of journalistic integrity.
You can pay to suck fat out, blow up your lips, reduce your wrinkles, and get implants (butt, cheeks, chin, breasts) but you can’t pay for a new personality. That takes introspection and hard work. When you’re as deep as a puddle there isn’t much hope you’ll see you’re more than what is on the outside.
Why have her there Anderson in the first place? But on another note what you paid this woman for an interview, that just went towards more plastic surgery.
This reeks of publicity stunt to me. He knew who she was and what kind of interview this was going to be. His assumption that she would at all be honest about anything is ridiculous.
Seems like a stunt to drum up publicity for his show.
If that’s true then it worked, I guess.
True, but that doesn’t make her less disgusting. Stunt or not, he said what we are all thinking.
She does seem like not a very nice person, however she also appears to be a mentally unstable person who was exploited by this show.
Anderson knew full well what he was doing, he did the whole thing for the dramz, like Tyra Banks does, and like Idol does with the token 400lb tone deaf person they seem to have each season. “Bad Mommy” witch burning is all the rage these days and Cooper knows it.
I don’t even get why Anderson’s show is going in this tawdry direction? Does he not have creative control?
At first I gave him props for doing the show as a much-needed break from all the hard-hitting news he’s done for so long, but this seems so far beneath him. And so unnecessary. He needs to get his s%&# together and set some standards or walk away from this trash completely.
Seems all media is set up these days to keep people occupied with their own moral indignation.
word up.
I think he had her on so he could call her out, basically, which I don’t think is very professional. But I still like him lots.
And thanks to this interview, I now know I need to stop stuffing my face with burgers, get my cellulite riddled ass on that stripper poll, and not to get botox from voodoo witch doctors.
Ironically, there is a “med spa” next to my gym. They are having a Botox sale because I really want CHEAP botox.
Check first to see if they are witch doctors. If not, you’d better jump on it or you’ll SWEAT and who wants that?
God you people are brutal. He seems to have had her on his show to desperately try to understand how someone could be this awful. How she could justify all this but like he said she wasn’t giving him honest answers so it was pointless and he had nothing more to ask. At least he admitted he regretted it. Ease up on him and save the nastiness for the people who deserve it like the Kardashians.
I used to be an idealist like you, too.
I agree. This seems more like a collection of people who hate him in general than those really angry at his ‘professionalism’.
I think like most people he just wanted to understand why, really get why people do this crazy shhh. I don’t consider ANY talk show to be a form of journalism, that’s laughable, but I think like he admitted – when he realized she was going to keep to th BS – he was done.
I just don’t get the ‘he’s a bit h’ comments.
Anderson is a great journalist that people trust but ever since he got this talk show I can’t take him seriously anymore. Why would he do this??
I refuse to watch his talk show. If I pretend it doesn’t exist I can still respect him at night.
I haven’t a clue who this guy is, I don’t think we have him on tv in England, but personally I think he’s right on the money.
Look up famewhore in the dictionary and you’ll find a picture of this woman. Seriously, she’s disgusting and her little girl seems to be heading that way too, there was a documentary on BBC3 ages ago, and she gave her daughter a huge party bus and a ‘grown up’ (read ‘stripper’) party with beauty treatments. The little girl treated her guests and the manicurists like dirt.
The apple certainly doesn’t seem to fall far from the tree.
I think he’s right on the money.
You got that right. He’s a Vanderbilt, after all.
I’m pretty sure last time I looked up famewhore in the dictionary they had a picture of Lady Gaga.
The guy is an embarrassment to journalism. I still can’t believe he went from CNN anchor covering important issues and events, to a sensationalist talk show host. Have you seen the guests he has?! At the risk of sounding like Charlie Sheen, Anderson is a troll.
And this fake outburst/kicking off of his stage was totally planned and rehearsed to boost ratings.
Can people please stop calling him a “bitch”? It’s so ugly and comes across as homophobic. Also, it makes you sound like a moron.
okay bitch is harsh, but I am gay…not homophobic..he showed really harsh judgement of her knowing her story and insulted her in a catty way to dismiss her from the show.
Gay, straight… it’s still ugly.
I agree, the first thing I thought when I saw all the bitch comments was that they were related to insulting his sexuality. You rarely hear a guy called a bitch unless a point is trying to be made.
You’re right, they are so plenty of other words we could use instead of bitch: douchey, jackass, moron (also)…
I agree, the highest form of insult is to be compared to *gasp* a woman.
And for a woman to call him a “bitch” is just degrading yourself by linking your gender to something negative – it’s absurd.
I’m sick of women being called “bitch” constantly.
Even calling a guy a douche is still negative towards women, lol.
you know what irritates me about him?…any time there is a food segment, he always has to bring attention to his weird eating behaviours…with any food item,”I don’t see the point of it’..about almost anything…well then just hook a feeding tube up and don’t chew any thing for goodness sakes….he constantly does this when i tune in..and i don’t tune in often since his guests are usually dull and he just isn’t a good interviewer. I can’t understand how this show is going to continue if people tune in and tune out out of boredom.
How old is this bitch? She has jowls. Jowls do no encourage me to get stuff done to my face.
I only believed him to be a good journalist because of his work on 60 minutes. Maybe I’ve misjudged him? He knew full well what he was inviting to his show. It would be like inviting Octomom and then getting angry when she’s blatantly lies about something.
I feel bad that I missed my chance to have kids, and women like this are allowed to breed. I went to two tapings of his show (tickets always seem to be available) but realized that he was getting too tabloidy/sensationalist. Haven’t watched it in a while.
“Later, in a video recorded backstage, he explained that he didn’t want to give her publicity and regretted having her on the show. Good for him.”
Seriously ? Srsly ? Srsly ? Srsly ? Seriously ?
One stunt queen meeting another.
yes anderson is loosing credibility. he’s just trying to look like a big shot
Samantha Burge. Samantha Brick. Is there something about being female, British and having the initials SB that causes brain damage?
I think it stands for shit brain!
good find.
Thank god someone in the media recognizes these people for what they are. Freaks, famewhores and needy for attention. I salute you Mr. Cooper.
That’s the reason why HE invites her! To give her less attention…
Good move Cooper! (^_~) b
I think my blood pressure went through the roof watching her. “Or weren’t you listening?” What a smarmy bitch. I hope her boobs explode.
Great thanks, now I have a vision of exploding boobs in my head lol 😀
I have to agree with MK from dlisted, Anderson is a real journalist so he knew what he was getting. It was a STUNT QUEEN move, but I still love Anderson anyway. Plus, he gave her more publicity by throwing her off the show than if he just finished it.
@Tina
Cooper wasnt “trying to desperately understand” anyone.
His job is to make FUN of ALL of you just like the rest of them do – Jerry Springer, Ricki Lake, Howard Stern. (did I miss anyone?)
I will predict he will turn the fake “compassion button” on next and cry some tears and pretend to care, while all the time they all LAUGH at US being humiliated on their shows.
Then more grotesque reality tv mocking Italians, southerners, black americans, etc.
Throw in a few shows where they laugh with GLEE while you eat bugs and cow poo for a measly $50,0000…………..
Its not just some people on a show being humiliated, trust me. It is a direct attack on all the everyday Americans watching in their living rooms.
You, me, your neighbors,your families are all their private, secret little JOKE.
Totally agree. Couldn’t have said it better.
Now to further my point, if you see articles about the media elite’s relatives and friends (even if they are completely out of their minds,
creepy, mean-spirited, devoid of ANY talent….)
They will con you into thinking they are “unique”,”brilliant”,”eccentric”,
“just nervous” “just had a bad day”.
Such obvious manipulation.
How many of Andersons hollywood friends suffer from botox addiction? Can I get a list from someone?
…what?
That was very unprofessional to kick her off like that. You’re the one that invited her in the first place…maybe he should of done more research on her. After all, isnt that what journalism is?
A bit scary how quickly people resort to “she should have her kids taken away.” You can’t have the state interfering with parental rights because someone is raising their children in a way that you would not. Bet your last dime that someone, somewhere thinks you and I are raising our children wrong. Does anyone seriously want the state–or folks on Celebitchy for that metter–deciding what is acceptable parenting? Abusive situations of course must be dealt with swiftly and definitively but the presumption must always be that a child belongs with their parents.
Did you click on the link to the inappropriate photos? This woman posed topless with her child – the pics veer into child pornography territory. The equivalent of DCF in England (don’t know what the agency is there) should get involved if only because of those pics.
Does she put on her make-up in the dark? She looks like a clown!
I too think it was unprofessional of him.
WHY is he doing these kinds of interviews anyway?
And yes, she is wrong and gross, but I’ve heard of people getting botox in their feet (I think) to prevent sweating…
Anderson Cooper rocks! He can do whatever he wants on his show…cuz it’s his show. All the power to him. I probably would of done the same thing. She was and is an idiot and there is no point wasting everyone’s time with her.
I admired that ballsy move on his part. I found her justifications insane!
I saw the interview, and I do have to say that Anderson was being rather critical with his questions, which automatically put her on the defensive. I think if he had come across in a ‘I really want to know where you’re coming from’ kind of way and was less judgey, she might’ve opened up a bit. I don’t agree with her of course, but he was super judgemental right from the get-go, and he should know that your interviewee is just going to be defensive and you’re not going to get anything real. No one likes her or agrees with her, including me, but still, Anderson was wrong when he said he wanted a real and honest discussion with her, because you can’t get that when you start judging someone right at the beginning of the discussion.
I shouldn’t presume to speak on behalf of the whole thread, but here are my problems with them, which I don’t think are unique.
I haven’t seen a single person on this thread who would call Burges’ actions parentally sound, but we’re not talking about personal morality, we’re talking about professional ethics. It’s hugely disappointing (from an ethical standpoint) to see a respected newsman insert himself into the narrative and attempt to play the white (haired) knight because this isn’t about him. I just can’t respect these kinds of playing to the cheap seats theatrics because they’re cynical, transparent and driven by ego.
Between that time when her interview was booked and the interview, there had to have been a period of time during which he and his research assistants got the whole back story–read the articles, heard the interviews, see her position, etc. That’s not just in order to keep the segment running smoothly with a cache of information, but also to prepare himself with eye to the task at hand, to let him collect himself enough to be able to detach himself enough to be prepared for her game and to prevent him from wasting everyone’s time with his personal freakouts. When an interviewee sees that his or her interrogator has an axe to grind, that person is put on the defensive and will not feel comfortable enough to be genuine and that hurts the interview.
The stage would not be the first time they engaged with each other, there had to been a pre-interview, at least because the element of surprise is overrated.
Since they would have met before–soon before, it’s dishonest for him to pretend that this is all new information, so it looks to all the world like a deliberate trap, so of course the subject being interviewed is going to become defensive. The entire tenor of the conversation changes in a nanosecond and it’s clear that the only one (in his estimation) allowed to be prepared is him, not to mention his home team advantage confidence.
The entire direction of the interview is changed and it’s obvious that the person’s very attendance is just a means to an end of appearing to be a valiant bigshot. It’s gross when you stumble across someone, anyone after you begin to see that something not very admirable is becoming his or her only master.
Guests and viewers alike are being fed untruths and the guys in charge think we’re too stupid to see it. It’s not exactly spontaneous human combustion-level surprise to learn that someone opposes child abuse, so if you’re going to fly someone out from across the Atlantic there has to be more to say than just the patently obvious. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were revealed to be in cahoots the whole time, but I’m not suggesting that that is what happened.
He cuts it off part of the way through–what journalist does that? That’s just lazy and dumb parading as a gallant disposition. He’s no actor.
So what do you do with the time you just wasted, why wouldn’t you go after as much information as is possible? I agree with him with his hatred of spinach–the green, slimy messenger housed under the ribs of death–and coffee (Ugh, I could menstruate something that tastes better than coffee), but that’s just busy work if you just sent your ‘get’ off to some distant galaxy.
It just has the mark of network producers all over it and everyone is jumping through hoops in order to gain the loyalty of their demographic, for whom they’re proving they see precious else but the most coarse and incurious things in the universe. I imagine that this is how they intend to broaden their appeal, which worked because this all comes off as pretty broad.
Finally: He knows better. He knows better, just like that shrieking harridan Nancy Grace knows better, just like Hoda Kotb and Meredith Viera and even Maury Povich (once upon a century) used to know better. How many of them do you find unassailably credible, now?
I just hate seeing every anchor and host morph into Geraldo Rivera. Let’s just hope he gets his head back and leaves no corpses in his wake. Did you hear that one, Dame Chthulu–erm–Nancy? Bullying a mother to suicide confesses nothing, just like you, even when the sweat, extensions and flatulence trail points directly to you and your eyeliner.
I think he wasn’t fully prepared for her being as bitchy and unyielding as she was. Let’s face it, she provoked him with her attitude – professionalism works both ways.
People will do anything to create controversy. There have been many times where I’ve read an article and thought, this person cannot be for real. I wonder what they’d be like one-on-one. I did that when I read about this woman; there are also a lot of sensationalist journalists out there who will mangle a story just to get the headlines. All papers, particularly the British paper I read about her in, do that.
I read his demeanor change as a real reaction, because she got snippy and started saying he was just like everyone else. Until that point, he’d been respectful and seemingly genuinely interested in getting her side of the story. For me, as soon as she went, “Or weren’t you listening?” I thought, HELL NAW. I would’ve lost my cool, too.
Personally, I still like him. Instead of pussyfooting around things, he just gets to it. You see it all the time. The View, eg: They slammed Kate Gosselin, then kissed her ass and defended her when she was guest host. Not that hosts should verbally bash their guests, but if you have someone like that on, ask them tough questions. If they’re going to be outrageous, make them answer for it. It’s no fun to watch people like that get away with being ridiculous, especially when the interviewer talks out of both sides of their mouth.
I’m so glad we both wrote novels! 😉
I dunno. He might really have had a sudden moment of realization that he was giving a platform to a diehard child abuser and honestly felt the best thing to do was to cut it short rathergthan continue to cooperate with evil. May have been a visceral reaction to her in person that wasn’t obvious to him from any prior reading. I wouldn’t fault him for this, although he needs to figure out more graceful ways to handle such situations. But maybe he just never felt this way before, at such a personal level, when interviewing the usual assortment of liars.
@jwoolman
These talk show hosts see everyone as “evil”
Unless of course your’re related to them.
So please I am still waiting for all of Coopers friends and relatives on a list that have a botox addiction……..
Let me address “the unusual assortment of liars” conment………..are you INSANE?? If a person is on his show he/she is and auto-liar????
He is an American so-called journalist. It isnt his right or FUNCTION to judge ANYONE. That is not his PLACE. OMG you got me fired up on that one. You also said he should have cut it short rather than “cooperate with evil’.
Look, you need medication. Really really badly. Seek help.
So please I am still waiting for all of Coopers friends and relatives on a list that have a botox addiction…..