Chris Pratt has shared why he believes people shouldn’t wait to start a family. The Guardians of the Galaxy star, 43, recently spoke to Men’s Journal about how becoming a father has made him a better actor. Pratt shares son Jack, 10, with ex-wife Anna Faris and daughters Lyla Maria, two, and Eloise Christina, one, with wife Katherine Schwarzenegger. Pratt explained that fatherhood has made him a more versatile actor because he sees being a parent as a “tool” to tap into his “emotional potential” during a scene. “That instinct you have to protect them – those are all things you can try to fake, but it doesn’t really come close to what you have access to when you’ve lived it,” he told the outlet on 8 June. “For me, having kids is what it’s all about, and how it’s benefitted me as an actor is a pleasant byproduct.” The Parks and Recreation alum went on to encourage others to have children as soon as possible because of the joy that it brought to his own life. “People say all the time, ‘Don’t rush to have kids,’” Pratt said. “I personally disagree. Rush. Have them. Of course, make sure you find a great partner, but don’t wait.” He then recalled a conversation he had with actor Adam Sandler, who told him: “Every day you wait is a day they don’t get to have you in their life.” “The younger you have kids, the more time they get to have with you,” Pratt continued. “It’s wild. Having kids is incredible. The things you normally take for granted in life are new.” Chris Pratt has often shared glimpses into his life as a father of three on social media. The Jurassic World star was married to Anna Faris in 2009. They welcomed their son Jack in 2012, but announced their split in August 2017. Pratt and Faris finalised their divorce in October 2018, four months after he began dating his current wife, Katherine Schwarzenegger. He proposed to the 33-year-old author in January 2019 and they were married in June that year. They went on to welcome daughter Lyla Maria in August 2020 and daughter Eloise Christina in May 2022. Chris Pratt previously sparked backlash on social media when he praised his wife for giving him a “gorgeous healthy daughter,” as many people noted that his son Jack was born prematurely. He shared an Instagram post of himself and Schwarzenegger in 2021, encouraging his followers to “find someone” who looks at them the way his wife does. “We met in church. She’s given me an amazing life, a gorgeous healthy daughter, she chews so loudly that sometimes I put in my earbuds to drown it out, but that’s love!” the actor wrote in the Instagram caption. “She helps me with everything. In return, periodically, I open a jar of pickles. That’s the trade. Her heart is pure and it belongs to me.” However, many fans accused the actor of being “passive aggressive” towards Faris, who has been open about their son’s health issues in the past. In June 2022, he addressed the backlash towards his social media post by calling out critics. “I said something like, ‘Find someone who looks at you the way my wife looks at me.’ And then I gave her some sh*t in the thing and said, ‘But I love you. I’m so thankful for my wife – she gave me a beautiful, healthy daughter,’” he told Men’s Health at the time. “And then a bunch of articles came out and said, ‘That’s so cringeworthy. I can’t believe Chris Pratt would thank her for a healthy daughter when his first child was born premature. That’s such a dig at his ex-wife,’” he recalled. “And I’m like, That is f**ked up. My son’s gonna read that one day. He’s nine. And it’s etched in digital stone. It really f**king bothered me, dude. I cried about it,” he said. “I was like, I hate that these blessings in my life are – to the people close to me – a real burden.” His wife – Katherine Schwarzenegger – has since revealed that she tries to ignore online criticism, though she’s aware of the negative comments often centred around her husband. “Growing up, hearing people say certain things about my parents, my siblings, my extended family was difficult,” Schwarzenegger told the New York Times, referencing her famous parents Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger. “I see what people say,” she said. “But I just know that it’s so far from the reality.” Most recently, Chris Pratt sparked a debate by posting a Mother’s Day tribute in May that didn’t include mention of his ex Anna Faris. Read More Chris Pratt posts Mother’s Day tribute with no mention of co-parent Anna Faris Katherine Schwarzenegger addresses public backlash to Chris Pratt relationship Anna Faris says she’s ‘getting closer’ to ex-husband Chris Pratt and his new wife Katherine Schwarzenegger Chris Pratt says people should ‘rush’ to have children: ‘Don’t wait’ Jamie Foxx’s rep addresses conspiracy Covid vaccine left actor ‘paralyzed and blind’ Mother sparks debate over parent who wouldn’t give daughter cake

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 22, 2023--

A school district and school board in Florida’s Escambia County were sued in federal court by free expression group PEN America and Penguin Random House, one of the largest book publishers in the world, and several prominent authors and families following dozens of challenges to books and materials discussing race, racism and LGBT+ people. The lawsuit filed in US District Court on 17 May argues that school officials have joined an “ideologically driven campaign to push certain ideas out of schools” and against the recommendation of experts. “This disregard for professional guidance underscores that the agendas underlying the removals are ideological and political, not pedagogical,” the lawsuit states. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has ushered through sweeping laws to control public school education and lessons and speech he deems to be objectionable while characterising reporting on the impacts of such policies as a “hoax” and a “fake narrative” manufactured by the press. In Escambia County alone, nearly 200 books have been challenged, at least 10 books have been removed by the school board, five books were removed by district committees, and 139 books require parental permission, according to PEN America. Challenging such materials is “depriving students of access to a wide range of viewpoints, and depriving the authors of the removed and restricted books of the opportunity to engage with readers and disseminate their ideas to their intended audiences” in violation of the First Amendment, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit also argues that singling out materials by and about nonwhite and LGBT+ people is an intentional violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment “This is no accident,” according to the lawsuit. “The clear agenda behind the campaign to remove the books is to categorically remove all discussion of racial discrimination or [LGBT+] issues from public school libraries. Government action may not be premised on such discriminatory motivations.” Two Penguin Random House Titles – Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and Push by Sapphire – have been removed. And several other Penguin titles – including Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner and Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five – are currently under review. “Books have the capacity to change lives for the better, and students in particular deserve equitable access to a wide range of perspectives,” Penguin Random House CEO Nihar Malaviya said in a statement. “Censorship, in the form of book bans like those enacted by Escambia County, are a direct threat to democracy and our Constitutional rights.” Suzanne Nossel, CEO of PEN America, added that “children in a democracy must not be taught that books are dangerous.” “In Escambia County, state censors are spiriting books off shelves in a deliberate attempt to suppress diverse voices,” she added. “In a nation built on free speech, this cannot stand. The law demands that the Escambia County School District put removed or restricted books back on library shelves where they belong.” Titles from authors who joined the suit – including Sarah Brannen, David Levithan, George M Johnson, Ashley Hope Perez and Kyle Lukoff – have either been removed or faced restrictions for students to access them. “As a former public high school English teacher, I know firsthand how important libraries are,” Ashley Hope Perez, author of Out of Darkness, one of the books targeted by the school district, said in a statement. “For many young people, if a book isn’t in their school library, it might as well not exist.” The book removals followed objections from one language arts teacher in the county, and in each case the school board voted to remove the books despite recommendations from a district review committee that approved them. The teacher’s objections appear to be lifted from a website called Book Looks, founded by a member of Moms for Liberty, a right-wing group aligned with Governor DeSantis to pressure school boards and libraries to remove content it deems objectionable, largely around LGBT+ rights, race and discrimination. The basis for that teacher’s challenges “are nakedly ideological,” according to the lawsuit. In one instance, she admitted that she had never heard of the book The Perks of Being a Wallflower but included the title and a “parental book rating” and excerpts that appear to have been lifted from Book Looks. Her challenge to Race and Policing in Modern America, a nonfiction book for middle school readers, claims that the book promotes “the idea that all police are bad” and that “non-blacks are racist” and its purpose is to “race bait”. She did not include any specific examples of objectionable content, and “her sole objection was that the book addresses a topic – the intersection of race and policing – that she did not consider suitable for discussion in schools.” The Independent has requested comment from Escambia County school board members. The district is unable to comment on pending litigation. There have been at least 1,477 attempts to ban 874 individual book titles within the first half of the 2022-2023 school year, according to PEN America. The figures mark a nearly 30 per cent spike from book challenges over the previous year. Last year, a record high of more than 1,200 attempts to remove books from schools and libraries were reported to the American Library Association. More than 100 bills in state legislatures across the country this year threaten to cut library budgets, implement book rating systems, regulate the kinds of books and materials in their collections, and amend obscenity definitions that preempt First Amendment protections, according to a database from EveryLibrary. Read More The book ban surge gripping America’s schools and libraries The school librarian in the middle of Louisiana’s war on libraries ‘They were trying to erase us’: Inside a Texas town’s chilling effort to ban LGBT+ books John Green on book bans, bad faith, and the ‘history of folks trying to control what other folks can read’

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