Hollywood actresses Halle Berry and Jennifer Garner are pushing California lawmakers to enforce tougher penalties on paparazzi who harass the children of celebrities.
The A-list stars spoke out about how mobs of paparazzi have threatened the safety of their families during their testimony Tuesday before the Assembly Judiciary Committee. The bill, SB606, would change the definition of harassment to include photographing a child without the permission of a legal guardian, reports ABC News.
Garner gave an impassioned account of how paparazzi aggressively follow her and her three children on a daily basis.
"Paparazzi swarm, large aggressive men swarm us causing a mob scene yelling jockeying for position crowding around the kids while running over other parents and children unfortunate enough to be nearby, including one poor three year old who was knocked to the ground by one of our paparazzi cameras outside my kid's preschool," said the 41-year-old actress, according to Fox News. "My 17-month-old baby is terrified and cries, and my 4-year-old says why do they never smile and never go away, they are always with us."
Garner also compared paparazzi to stalkers.
"There are violent mentally ill stalkers who can now get close to my kids by simply following mobs of photographers and blending in. Like the very man who threatened to cut the babies out of my belly, who was arrested waiting behind our daughter's preschool standing among the throng of paparazzi," she said. "That man is still in prison but I have doubt there are others still out there like him and I don't want to make it any easier for them to find and reach my children."
Berry, who is currently pregnant with her second child, told lawmakers that the constant presence of photographers has made her scared for she and her daughter's safety.
"I fear and I feel in fear for my child who is in strapped into my car," she the Oscar winner. "I'm doing my part as a parent but at any moment I feel like a crash could happen and end her life my life and other innocent passengers driving in their vehicles. When I was pregnant with my daughter they forced me to crash my car, they forced me to fall down a flight of steps when I was trying to have a shopping day for my expected baby."
Media outlets argue that the bill will interfere with news gathering. SB606 was passed and now heads to the Appropriations Committee.
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