The Top 10 Best and Worst Celebrity Role Models
We conducted a survey to find out who parents think are the best and worst celebrity role models for our children today. The toughest part about being in Hollywood is that you are judged by your actions in front of a camera, not always what you do in your free time. Although choosing our favorite celebrity role models may sound like parents are making judgments when they don’t know a person’s true character, that is exactly what we intended to do for this survey. The reason being … your children will not take the time to research and find out that Celebrity X spent weeks feeding people at a homeless shelter. They will only see Celebrity X’s video where they cursed every other word in a song and wore revealing clothing.
Celebrities are judged by the public on how they portray themselves to us. Therefore, our children see them in the same light. It is our job to teach them what actions we feel are appropriate or inappropriate within our own families and why. These opinions will obviously vary from family to family, but we all do our best to teach our children what we feel is right.
Below are the top choices for best & worst, along with a combination of some comments made by our readers telling us why they felt the way they did about these celebrities.
Parents Choices of The Best Celebrity Role Models for Our Children of 2014
1. Jennifer Lawrence
“Promotes healthy body image, very talented and private, intelligent, down to earth, mannerly.”
“She is kind and humble and sets a good example for girls about body acceptance, self respect, a strong work ethic, and not taking yourself too seriously.”
2. Taylor Swift
“She is completely herself, gives back so much to the community. She cares a lot about her influence on young girls, and takes this seriously.”
“She’s got class and has worked very hard to get where she is in life. Classy, always displays good judgment in public and at events, in control of her actions and image. She seems to have weathered the pressures of fame without cracking.”
“She seems humble and genuine. Encourages children to pursue music or any artistic passion.”
“Doesn’t dress inappropriately for exploit herself sexually.”
3. Justin Timberlake
“Seems to have good family values, very personable in his interviews.”
” Fairly clean cut. Good marriage. Well spoken. Hard work reaps benefits.”
4. Kate Middleton
“Kate always seems gracious and does not flaunt her physical being for fame. She is so incredibly real and such a wonderful icon for our children to strive to be like – yes, she is royalty but doesn’t act entitled!”
“She is a young, yet very reserved young lady. She is showing that you can be graceful and proper, yet still rule the world (or England!).”
5. Lebron James
“Amazing work ethic, talented and charitable.”
“Shows love to all of those who helped him along the way.”
“Consistently trying to better himself. Check out his website for all of the wonderful, philanthropic things he does, tweets about and promotes!”
6. Katy Perry
“She encourages girls to love themselves. She is funny and kind without being crude (most of the time!) Her autobiographical movie was so inspiring for kids.”
7. Malala Yousufzai
“Activism can start at any age. Her pursuit for education equality is a great example for people of all ages. It’s easy to take access to school for granted. She fought to go to school and get an education, despite being shot.”
“She is eloquent and wants only the best for women all over the world. Her book “I am Malala” is amazing!”
8. Pope Francis
“He lives his faith – and is open to the goodness of all people, not just those who share his beliefs.”
“So many religious leaders give religion a bad name by being exclusionary and judgmental – the exact opposite of what their religion tells them to do! I admire the current Pope most because he recognizes and admits these faults, and seeks change. I know that the Pope seems a very predictable response but he seems to practice what he preaches – like Mother Theresa before him he frequently goes to live and walk among the poor and downtrodden.”
9. Ellen DeGeneres
“Very, very generous.”
“She is so funny and seems to enjoy life and inspires others to do so too.”
“The majority of her show can be watched by kids of any age. She encourages kindness and thoughtfulness. She doesn’t use foul language, even in her comedy.”
“She spreads JOY!”
10. Michelle Obama
“Always presents herself well.”
” Total package: smart, hard worker, beautiful, classy & a tough cookie who fights for what she believes in.”
“Amazing mother to her children.”
Parents Choices of The Worst Celebrity Role Models for Our Children of 2014
1. Miley Cyrus
“She disrespects everything and everyone for the sake of making a (rude) statement and getting attention. Uses sex as power.”
“Does not show any self respect. Inappropriate clothing, behavior, lyrics, performances, and lack of character. Glorifies drug use. Not because of anything to do with sex or sexuality, but because she promotes a ‘I can do what I want because I CAN’ mentality that disregards the impact your actions have on others.”
” She started out being a great role model, lured our kids in, and then changed personalities completely leading our kids thinking that was okay. She is everything that I do not want my daughter to be. I am appalled that she believes the only way to gain credibility is by “twerking” half naked on stage, smoking pot on stage, and just overall projecting the appearance that her self worth is tied up in seeing how far over the top she can go.”
“Thinks she can do anything with no consequences.” (These comments went on and on, folks! I could never list them all. I think you got the idea!)
2. The Kardashians
“I have not witnessed any reason for them to be so admired other than wealth. Kim does not seem humble or display any kind of compassion. Too much emphasis on looks, pressure about weight, and lack of hard work. I think they send the wrong message to young girls.”
“They portray the worst of our society: vapid, egotistical and just downright ugly. Terrible, horrible role models.”
“Money hungry.”
3. Kanye West
“Seems to be very ignorant.”
“Has made many racist comments. Has the “I can do whatever I want” attitude.”
4. Rihanna
“Majority of her songs have highly inappropriate lyrics for any age!”
“Her physical abuse became public and she proceeded to continue a relationship with that abuser and write songs about “liking it’, showing young girls that it is OK.”
“Sexualizes herself way too much.”
5. Justin Bieber
“Has made poor choices in his actions and his behavior. Seems to portray sexual promiscuity a little too much for my liking!”
“Letting fame go way too quickly to his head. Seems very cocky.”
6. Lance Armstrong
“His determination and his healthy body image were once highly admired. Once he lied and cheated, it was all thrown out the window. At least kids can learn from him by seeing that poor choices DO affect you in the end!”
7. Disney Channel Characters
“They have attitudes and are way too sassy. Many of these characters do commercials, etc away from the shows and are still completely rude and disrespectful to authority!”
“The characters are awful to their parents.”
8. Reality TV Stars
“They promote an unrealistic example of ‘real life’. We now think that living life is reason enough to be famous, and that anyone could be famous. It devalues living a simple, good life.”
“Most are very money hungry. Very few reality stars are portrayed doing anything good for others.”
“Children need to be inspired and encouraged to make a difference. Most of these people do not do that.”
9. Athletes
“Not all, but there are MANY athletes that our boys look up to and want to “be like” and they are not college educated, have children out of wedlock, beat up their girlfriends and make millions for incredibly bad behavior – just because they are athletic! Seems like someone is always in trouble for drugs or abusing their significant other.”
10. Beyonce
“She sexualizes herself too much. She seems to have a stable and healthy relationship, but her focus on sexuality is too much for me and my children.”
So what do you think, readers? Do you agree with the results of the survey? Is there anyone else you would add or omit? Share your thoughts by commenting below.
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Pope Francis is an amazing role model…he promotes compassion through his faith as well as caring for the environment.
I believe that Steve Jobs should be on the role model list. He is an inspiration for kids who want to become successful in the technological world.
Half of these “worst role models” just sexualize themselves? What’s so bad about being confident in your own skin?
Rihanna is not A BAD ROLE MODEL she is great
Agreed here!
Actually justin bieber is a GREAT ROLE MODEL I know he hasn’t made the best choices so far but right now he’s saying it okay if people make mistakes and that he’s trying to change and don’t blame him for all of his actions cause sometimes some people judge him for no reason and treat him badly I know you might not BILIEVE me but it’s true and he also hasn’t had the best life because his parents got divorced while he was young and people used to mock him SEE WHAT LIFE DOES THERE anyway he’s trying to change and turning on a new leaf so give him a chance and I won’t metion that he is soo freakin talented and has a special voice
Some years ago I wrote to Justin Beiber on Twitter hoping he would read it somehow. I remember hearing him specifically asking the adults in his life to PLEASE not let what happens to other child stars happen to him. How in the world is a child in the industry expected to be their own parent and to “know what is best for them” and to make “adult” decisions and choices when they are a CHILD as Justin pointed out at the beginning of his career. I give him an enormous amount of credit to have the wisdom to ask for protection from the adults around him which simmply didn’t seem to happen. However, he is talented and continues to work in his career. A huge advocate for a child asking for help and I certainly will not put that adult-child down in any way for struggling throughout his life because of the adults around him. Now that he is older he can learn from the past and take it from here taking responsibility for himself and being exactly who he wants to be. He is a steller human being, in my opinion.
Kate middleton is not a good role model in my opinion.
Agree Justin Bieber is the WORST role model ever. Always worrying about every girl he sees on the street????
Beyonce is a queen
Miley Cyrus and Beyonce are both great role models. Both women have made a living for themselves and promote the idea that women should be able to do whatever they want with their bodies.
Beyoncé is a fantastic role model in my opinion.
i know right and also zendaya
I would have placed Fred Rogers as number 1 if you know who Mr. Rogers is… Can you blame me
I think that Beyonce is actually positive because of how she enforces the message about gender equality. (sings about hoe grat women are)
Agree taylor is the best role model ever