Wendy Wilson of Wilson Phillips
On Supernanny, breastfeeding and her Beach Boy father.
by Ada Calhoun
February 20, 2008
Wendy Wilson is known by some of us as Gen-Xers as the foxy one in early-'90s (and still extant) pop band Wilson Phillips. "Hold On," anyone? Now, she's bravely become (in the company of her husband, Dan Knutson, and her bandmate/sister Carnie) the first celebrity to appear on ABC's Supernanny. The show airs tonight, Wednesday, February 20th, at 9 p.m. EST.
We've long had an obsession with the show, on which Jo Frost comes into the home of a family in trouble and teaches them techniques for improving sleep, discipline and togetherness. Wilson's family is remarkably neurosis-free compared to most of those who appear on the show, and the couple's relative sanity in the face of their full house (two toddlers and newborn twins!) allows for fine-tuning: getting the toddlers to sleep in their own beds, dine out peacefully and surrender the pacifier; examining how being raised in the way Wendy was made her the parent she is today.
Wilson's father is Beach Boy Brian Wilson, and as fascinating as it is to hear about her experience growing up in a celebrity home, it's even more notable to see how Wendy's rebelled against her distant father by becoming a loving, attentive mother and marrying an affectionate, involved, down-to-earth guy. She spoke with Babble about what Brian Wilson is like as a grandfather, what she thinks about Britney, and why she stopped breastfeeding. — Ada Calhoun
What's it like being on Supernanny?
It was actually pleasant. Jo knows what she's doing. She's extremely creative in the way she goes about those techniques and she's very perceptive. She knows how to — I don't want to say assess — but kind of look into people and just know what they're all about right away.
"Poor little Beau! He had no choice but to put that pacifier in the envelope."
I've just never seen anything like it.
The "paci-fairy" stunt Jo pulled to get your son Beau to give up his pacfiers was pretty fantastic.
That was a cute moment. Poor little Beau! I felt so bad. He had no choice but to put that pacifier in the envelope. He was on the spot. And that was it. He never looked back.
Has he missed it?
Well, he asked for it for the next couple of weeks, but he would just say, "paci," and we would look at him and go, "Beau, you gave it to the paci-fairy." And he'd go, "Ohhh" and he'd move on, and that was it. He hasn't talked about it for a long time.
©2008 Ada Calhoun and Nerve Media
About the Author
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Ada Calhoun is Babble's founding editor-in-chief. She has worked at New York magazine, Nerve.com and Vogue, and written for The New York Times, Salon.com, AOL News, TIME and the anthology One of the Guys. She is also a frequent contributor to the New York Times Book Review. In past lives, she has been a Sanskrit translator, a theater critic, a farmhand and a softball scorekeeper. She lives in New York City with her husband and their young son. |
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