Huckabee says the expecting star is helping to glamorize single motherhood. Huck rips Portman's pregnancy

Mike Huckabee laced into Oscar winner Natalie Portman for her "out-of-wedlock" pregnancy, saying the expecting star is helping to "glamorize" single motherhood.

Huckabee made the comments on conservative commentator Michael Medved's radio show this week, after Portman accepted her golden trophy and in her speech thanked her fiance, Benjamin Millepied, for giving her "my most important role of my life."


Medved led the way on the question, saying the "most wonderful gift" Millepied could have given the diminutive Black Swan star "would be a wedding ring! And it just seems to me that sending that kind of message is problematic."

Huckabee said he hadn't seen the Oscars telecast, but added, "What's troubling is that people see a Natalie Portman or some other Hollywood starlet who boasts of, 'Hey look, you know, we're having children, we're not married, but we're having these children, and they're doing just fine,' Media Matters reported on its website

"But there aren't really a lot of single moms out there who are making millions of dollars every year for being in a movie," he added.

"And I think it gives a distorted image that yes, not everybody hires nannies, and caretakers, and nurses. Most single moms are very poor, uneducated, can't get a job, and if it weren't for government assistance, their kids would be starving to death and never have health care. And that's the story that we're not seeing, and it's unfortunate that we glorify and glamorize the idea of out-of-wedlock children."

He added, "You know, right now, 75 percent of black kids in this country are born out of wedlock. 61 percent of Hispanic kids — across the board, 41 percent of all live births in America are out-of-wedlock births. And the cost of that is simply staggering."

Huckabee's comments came at a time when much of the 2012 field appears to be following the lead of Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who called for a "truce" on social issues last year. Instead, the economy is dominating as an issue this cycle.

The comments came on the Feb. 28 "Michael Medved Show," but weren't reported until Thursday.

This article tagged under: Mike Huckabee

2010 Election