Hampton Style - August 29, 2008 - Movie Star Moms of the Hamptons

On a recent Saturday morning in Amagansett Square, the performers at Goat On A Boat puppet theater couldn't help but notice that there was more than the usual titter coming from the audience. It wasn't just childish excitement, however; it seemed to be hushed, and furtive, and coming from the parents. It left those behind the stage wondering, until they came out to take a bow and noticed that among the feathers and the glitter and paper puppets were two of Hollywood's biggest leading ladies, Gwyneth Paltrow and Naomi Watts, playing the roles of applauding mothers. Yep, just another day at the quaint open-air kids' theater-in the Hamptons, that is.

As blasé as we like to be about celebrities living among us on the East End, this recent convergence of movie-star moms seems to have some locals as feverish as... well, children at a puppet show. A longtime favored playground for the rich and successful, the Hamptons is certainly no stranger to famous sightings-"Guess who brushed by me at Nick and Toni's; Quick, Robert De Niro at three o'clock; Donna Karan just ordered 5 pounds of lobster salad, Barbra must be staying with her!"-but this new breed involves more than rubbing shoulders with a vacationing media honcho or spotting a starlet here to peddle her latest film. This resident coterie involves some of the industry's most glamorous, highest-earning actresses-Naomi Watts, Gwyneth Paltrow, Julianne Moore and Sarah Jessica Parker-women whose faces adorn magazine covers and whose perfunctory activities are photographed and reported. And they are quietly carrying out their lives and raising their children among us.

The Hamptons reserves the right to hallmark eras past based on the assembled inhabitants. Just as the '50s and '60s belonged to Pollock, de Kooning and their Expressionist companions, and Andy Warhol and his Montauk houseguests-the Stones, Elizabeth Taylor and Jackie Onassis-make for legendary '70s tales, one day people will say, "Remember when all those movie-star moms made homes in the Hamptons..."

The thing about sharing a natural habitat with a celebrity is that you are going to see them performing regular activities-running errands, buying ice-cream cones, playing with their kids on the beach, squeezing tomatoes at farmstands. That's what the already-famous are here: for the "every day." Trailed by speculation throughout their careers, from the state of their relationships (all of our four leading ladies' partners are also in the biz), to their bodies (devotees of yoga, the ladies have maintained their slim figures even after having children) to their mothering abilities, the Hamptons behind the hedges is just the haven these actresses would desire. And it is on the far eastern end of the island, in Amagansett and onward to Montauk, that they have settled, to make a home and raise their babies.

Despite her low-key local activities, when Gwyneth Paltrow does leave her Amagansett house to socialize, it's usually in the company of fellow high-profilers. Late last month, while Madonna was hiding out with Gwyneth in the wake of the Alex Rodriguez cheating allegations and the release of her brother's tell-all biography, the two women were snapped by a paparazzo while walking with their kids in the leafy back lanes of Amagansett. A few weeks later, Gwyneth appeared at a Bridgehampton benefit to aid Amaryllis Farm Equine Rescue at the request of Madonna and their mutual friend, photographer Steven Klein. Later that night she dropped by a party thrown by Def Jam chairman L.A. Reid at his Sagaponack home, celebrating newlyweds Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon, on her way home. The earlier event held at Klein's horse farm was a gracious undertaking by co-chair Paltrow, not only toward the charity but also her best pal Madonna, the honorary chair and marquee name on invitations asking $2,500 to attend. Sadly, the night coincided with rumors of her marriage breakdown and recent plastic surgery, so, despite public expectation, the Material Girl didn't materialize. Instead she chose to keep to the confines of the house, and a closely guarded one at that-even trophy wife Katie Lee Joel was shooed away lest she get too close to the real celebrities.

Gwyneth did show, however, and she tottered elegantly across a damp horse field in the dark-no easy feat in 5-inch Sergio Rossi heels and a black Balenciaga babydoll dress-to read aloud an emotional rescue tale, thereby helping to save horses and her friend's reputation in one night.

But for some, this public gesture wasn't enough, with some partygoers acting like they were at a petting zoo, snaking behind her as she returned to the house, only to look gypped when she disappeared inside. After forking out big dollars, they couldn't understand why they now didn't get to touch the pretty lady. The next day articles reported that a "glum" Gwyneth had "snubbed crestfallen guests" and "refused to mingle." Saving ponies from the slaughterhouse is one thing, but who was going to rescue Gwyneth from the gawking masses?

Even after erecting an imposing fence for additional privacy around her 7,000-foot house, which she purchased in 2006 with her husband, of Coldplay's Chris Martin, 31, Paltrow must find that outsiders always manage to peek in.

Earlier this year, Paltrow, 35, was forced to publicly defend her four-year marriage amid rumors that the couple had in fact separated. "It's ridiculous...You will never see us out publicly," the mother of Apple, 4, and Moses, 2, told Glamour magazine. "We just don't want to be one of those couples." The pair has recently been spotted on rare local outings together, cozy while dining at Cherrystones Crab and Lobster Shack, and entertaining Madonna's husband Guy Ritchie and Robert Downey Jr. at Fresno restaurant in East Hampton. But whether Paltrow and Martin are rocking their kids to sleep singing Coldplay lullabies behind those high perimeter walls or nursing a troubled marriage, should it really matter to us either way?

After dating such under-the-radar types as Robert Downey Jr. and the late John F. Kennedy Jr., it's apparent that Sarah Jessica Parker has never sought the company of those who crave the spotlight. This fact alone makes her and the Hamptons a suitable match. Parker has been holidaying out here since she relocated to Manhattan from the West Coast in the early '90s, but purchased a Hamptons residence only after the phenomenal success of her Sex and the City TV show, which began in 1998 and enjoyed a six-year run, propelling her into the public eye as more than the mildly famous girlfriend. Parker and her husband, actor Matthew Broderick, sold their Bridgehampton farmhouse in 2005, and moved to other residences they'd purchased in the sleepy but prestigious village of Amagansett. Their beach houses in the high-end hamlet are situated on the same road, with the couple and their 5-year-old son, James Wilke, occupying the oceanfront property, while the 2-bedroom dwelling positioned opposite is for their guests.

Like most moms, Parker takes pleasure from private family activities when living out here; a public sighting is rare and will most likely consist of a very dressed-down, bare-faced actress playing Legos on the beach with her son and husband, accompanied by their Jack Russell terrier. Most of her Hamptons socializing involves hanging out at their good friends' the Seinfelds for a kids pool party or having some not-so-famous friends over for dinner. A vigilant mother and highly desirable dinner guest, Parker has been known to take their personal chef with them to prepare the meal when the family visit friends' houses.

It was only this month, however, that Parker sought refuge near the waters of Amagansett for a different reason. In the midst of a tabloid scandal that involved rumors of Broderick cheating on Parker, 43, with a 25-year-old woman, the family left their West Village brownstone and decamped to the beach. Broderick recently told OK! magazine, "We're good friends, and we stick it out."

Early on in their 11-year union Parker was quoted as saying, "I tell my friends married life is boring, but that's just a fun thing to say to make single people feel better." But earlier this year the actress admitted, "I'm really lucky that he is the father of my son, but that doesn't mean we always agree on everything."

So familiar is Parker's public with following the romantic missteps of her Carrie Bradshaw TV character, it may be hard for them to disconnect from watching now. But in the meantime, Sarah Jessica Parker is a smart woman simply enjoying the summer with her child in the country-for the time being, she may not need sex or the city...

The latest glamour girl to join the village people of Amagansett is Australian actress Naomi Watts. A devoted mother of one and one-on-the-way (she is due in December), Watts and her partner of three years, actor Liev Schreiber, are relishing their summer days spent by the ocean, when away from their Nolita digs. Enjoying the luxury of a well-earned sabbatical-"It's been really nice. I did one movie three months after Sasha was born, and it was very hard. I was breast-feeding through the day and pumping at night..."-Watts can be seen poking through the boutiques in Montauk and walking with her son along the shores of Indian Wells. With Schreiber filming the X-Men Origins movie in Sydney earlier this summer, and the couple staying at Watts's old stomping ground of Bondi Beach, the actress and Alexander "Sasha" Pete, 1, have certainly spent a lot of time on the sand this season.

It wasn't an easy climb to the top of the heap for the A-list actress, and she insisted on doing it the hard way; despite famous friends (Nicole Kidman, her best friend since they met at an audition when they were 14, was married to a very powerful actor at the time) she waited tables and attended auditions for more than 10 years in LA before she got her break, with director David Lynch casting the petite blonde in the lead role of Mulholland Drive. (The film was originally shot as a pilot TV series, and then canned. Watts was devastated that she'd missed her chance again, until Lynch cobbled together what he'd shot and made a hit film of it, with her racy performance the standout.) Her days of being Kidman's plus-one were over. Watts often contemplated giving up, and packed her bags to return home many times, "but something always came in the nick of time," the Oscar-nominated actress has said.

Watts has hit her stride with her newest role as a mother, but the actress, turning 40 next month, arrived there a little later than she'd first intended. "I wish it could have happened a little bit sooner. I have wanted a family since I was 19," she's said. After a series of underwhelming partners, Watts had had an on-and-off relationship with the late Heath Ledger since 2002, but with the fellow Australian nearly 11 years her junior and at a different stage of career and commitment, the couple eventually split, vowing to remain close friends. Last month the actress commented on his death for the first time: "It's all so tragic, just deeply, deeply tragic. He was a wonderful, wonderful person. Words can't describe it really."

The actress has earned a reputation for her stripped-back, honest portrayals (Mulholland Drive's masturbation scene is one such lights-on moment that springs to mind), and her genuineness translates off the screen. Watts and Schreiber pride themselves on living an unglamorous fuss-free life, one devoid of fanfare and scandal: "I don't operate in the world of schmoozing and cruising," she says.

Watts has been visiting the Hamptons for years to stay with her photographer brother in Montauk, and she filmed the thriller Funny Games on Shelter Island in 2007. But now she is finally able to raise her own family here, and until she returns to work next year, they will be awaiting the new arrival and catching the odd puppet show.

If you leave the leafy byways behind and continue eastward you'll reach Montauk, or "The End," where the windswept cliff tops set a fittingly dramatic scene for the striking Julianne Moore. The flame-haired actress has been a regular in the Hamptons since the '90s, but earlier this year she purchased a beach house in the easternmost seaside town. From an early role in Short Cuts where her character delivered a searing monologue to her husband while naked from the waist down, to playing a seasoned porn star in Boogie Nights, Moore got our attention with her risk-taking turns and fragile looks. Yet despite being the master of on-screen unraveling and seduction, her real-life complexities are well-contained. The articulate Moore shares a regular downtown existence with her writer-director husband of five years, Bart Freundlich (her third husband and, at 38, nine years Moore's junior), and their two children, Caleb, 10, and Liv, 6. When spotted out with her family, you'll find her porcelain skin without a trace of make-up as they share ice-cream cones at the beach or dinner in some non-sceney restaurant in the Hamptons.

And the vixenish manner comes off with the make-up; Moore has been quoted as saying, "You never have sex the way people do in the movies...You don't do it on the floor, you don't happen to have on all the sexy lingerie. You know, if anybody ever ripped my clothes, I'd kill them."

A recent tabloid report of an incident on the Hamptons Jitney served only to illustrate what a regular character she is off-camera. Before anything else, there's the fact that she takes the bus to the Hamptons when many of her comrades, best friend Ellen Barkin included, arrive here by helicopter. After being refused entry onto the bus and told they didn't have her reservation, the actress, in a floppy hat and large sunglasses, patiently spelt out her name to the driver: "M for Mary, O, O, R for Roger..." while the more-knowing passengers either removed iPod earphones or inclined just-so into the aisle for a better look. After failing to board the bus, always the risk-taker, Moore coolly spotted an oncoming Luxury Liner and ran to flag it down instead.

Okay, so even though spotting celebrities is rather gauche, there are interesting, glamorous women raising their families among us, and looking good doing it. So if you decide you're not too cool to look, you may just get to see these famous mothers in the most important roles of their lives.