Celebrity mothers set bar too high - author

Hollywood mothers who seem to effortlessly juggle stellar careers with children, husbands and travel - all while looking fabulous - pose a threat to other women's mental health, a New Zealand author says.

Marnie McDermott believes celebrated A-list mothers such as Beyonce and Angelina Jolie are setting the bar too high.

"When we are bombarded with Hollywood mums who seem to be able to do and have it all in their careers and personal lives without putting a hair out of place, that raises our expectations of ourselves to unreasonable and unrealistic heights," McDermott said.

Celebrities had teams of helpers assisting them in balancing career and motherhood.

"This is not the case for the everyday Kiwi mum, for whom the heavy workload to achieve and attain all the same things can take its toll and send her into a state of hopelessness and sometimes even depression."

The Hamilton author of Beyond Happiness: The 12 Principles of Enduring Bliss, said it was easy to get caught up in the drive towards consumerism for fulfilment and status.

"It's hard to avoid this 'manufactured' happiness trap, which has almost become a new epidemic in the Western World. Hollywood teaches us that luxury items, fancy homes and flash cars, will stop us from feeling empty. So we just become busier trying to attain these things, eventually exhausting ourselves."

Once a national corporate communications specialist, McDermott said she battled despair for almost a decade, relying on career success and the acquisition of luxury items to achieve it.

"I was earning six figures and I had a wardrobe full of shoes and clothes, but somehow I felt empty. I kept thinking if I could do and have more work out more, buy a bigger home and earn a higher wage - I would be happy."

But after enduring divorce and a house fire she realised she had been searching for fulfilment in the wrong places and quit her job to study health and mind-body principles.