New Trend for Sex Symbols: Motherhood

Dec. 13, 2007 — -- Audition. Finally get role. Get more roles. Become international sex symbol. Have baby?

That seems to be the path of Jessica Alba, the 26-year-old actress regarded by both men's magazines and men on the street as one of the sexiest women in the world. She announced yesterday that she and her long-time boyfriend, Cash Warren, are expecting. Bye-bye taut belly, hello baby bump.

Alba's the latest 20-something star to make the move toward motherhood. Christina Aguilera, also 26, showed off her enormous orange stomach on the January 2008 cover of Marie Claire. Britney Spears went from pop princess to perturbed parent at age 23. Reese Witherspoon also gave birth to her daughter, Ava, at 23.

These are women who, after years of auditions, months of shooting and hours on the treadmill, finally established themselves as rising stars. A generation of actresses and singers before them -- including Madonna, Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis -- waited until they were pushing or past 40 and cemented in their careers before becoming mothers.

So why is young Hollywood jumping on the baby bandwagon when they're all so ... young?

To be fair, Hollywood's young moms aren't young when compared with their nonfamous counterparts. In 2004, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated the average age of new mothers in the United States is 25.2 years old. But these tabloid darlings are bucking the old industry standard of waiting until the absolute last minute to bear children (the better to preserve a sexy figure and image) by embracing motherhood while their peers are club hopping and getting busted for DUIs. Some argue it's for all the right reasons.

"I think it's pro feminist," said E! online gossip columnist Ted Casablanca. "It's all about choice. It's taking the old mold and breaking it. It's saying, 'I will not be defined by my womb.' It's saying, 'I can have a dynamic career and be a dynamic mom at the same time,' rather than saying, 'I have to choose between the two.'"