Pierre posted about Steve Irwin's daughter Bindi carrying on his legacy. I think Mr. Croc Hunter was a perfect example of how celebs often get pilloried for their parenting. You might also remember that Irwin caught some serious flack for holding his infant while feeding a crocodile. But I wonder, does a public display of parenting affect how you view that famous person and/or their work? Does Alec Baldwin's horrific phone message to his daughter change how you feel about his performance on 30 Rock? It's not like we know much about celebrities past their public image, so the issue of whether you like or don't like someone as a person feels odd anyway.
For me, it usually goes like this: if I think a celebrity is talented or funny or charismatic, public parenting mistakes don't influence my feeling about them that much. But if I already wasn't such a fan, I'll usually be the first in line to express outrage and horror for what they have done to their children (Britney! No seat belt, shame shame.) and take it as representative of everything that is awful about them. Its not really fair, but it's the truth.
In the case of Irwin, I just liked the guy. Here's a little video of him with Ross the Intern that shows everything good about him: light-hearted sense of humor and enthusiasm for what he did. I even miss him. Sniff.
