Some people are just inherently classy, and there’s nothing you can do about it. You’ll say to them, “Hey, why don’t you relax, be a little more casual, you’re getting borderline uptight with all of your sophistication. Come mingle with the commoners.” Porn star/former California gubernatorial candidate Mary Carey is just such a lady. Not content with organizing a bake sale, Carey has decided to auction off her recently-removed 36-D implants and donate part of the money to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. The rest of the funds will go towards paying her mother’s medical bills. She jumped off a four-story building in 2006, and obviously suffered major injuries. She’s had 11 surgeries since then.

So far the bidding is at $210 with 44 bids. There’s a little over eight days left. The eBay listing notes:

Have a very “Mary” Christmas and win the best stocking stuffer of all time. Mary Carey… is giving holiday shoppers an opportunity to take home what could be the seasons’ best stocking stuffer – her recently removed breast implants.

“Now that I’m sober, I wanted a new physical state to go along with my new mental state,” said Carey. “I thought the auction would be a great way to spread some holiday cheer and to make sure someone out there has a Mary Mary Christmas.”

[From eBay]

Mary is one of the participants on VH1’s upcoming “Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew. “ VH1 hasn’t said what addictions each of the participants is dealing with. But apparently the breast implants have to do with her sobriety… and her mother… Carey gives a rather convoluted reason that I could interpret several ways, if I wanted to sit around and try to get into her head.

“I’m actually overall very anti-plastic surgery,” Carey said. “I watched my mom go through 11 surgeries (for her injuries) and it’s like, for me to voluntarily put myself through that, the only right thing to do is make money and donate it to charity.” Carey said the size 36-D implants were taken out two weeks ago and replaced with larger 36-DDDs and while under anesthesia she realized they could be used to raise money for breast cancer research. “The doctors asked me what I wanted to do with them and I said, ‘You know what, I’m going to keep them and try to sell them. Because my grandmother had breast cancer,” Carey told Reuters in an interview. “Now that I’m sober, I wanted a new physical state to go along with my new mental state. I thought the auction would be a great way to spread some holiday cheer and to make sure someone out there has a Mary Mary Christmas.”

[From Gossip Boulevard]

Oh my. I don’t know what I can add to that. I guess it’s a good thing that maybe her heart is in the right place? Probably? Considering the whole situation with her mother, I really don’t feel like I should be making jokes. So I’m just trying to present the statements Mary has given, with as little commentary as possible. Wikipedia notes that Mary’s mother has Fetal alcohol syndrome, and IMDB says she’s also been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Mary’s father has s cerebral palsy. Her grandparents got custody of her when she was three months old and later adopted her. Eventually her mother came to live with them as well. I have no idea to what extent porn stars are honest about their pasts and what’s invented, but the general story on the internet is that Mary’s grandparents put her in dance classes, in which she excelled and performed with the Miami City Ballet when she was 12. She won several dance scholarships, and ended up at Florida State University’s dance team. Her grandparents both got sick and she started working as a stripper, and then a porn star, to support the family. Depending on its accuracy, it’s an interesting and sad story. Never thought I’d say this, but it makes me hope Mary Carey’s implants fetch a lot of money. Bid away, readers.

The guy who founded the Duty Free shops, Chuck Feeney, 76, wears a watch worth $15, flies coach, and doesn’t own a house or even a car. You might not have heard of him because he keeps a low profile and is pretty humble about not just his wealth but his extreme philanthropy.

Feeney is living a simple life not only so others can “simply live,” but so that he can make a huge difference in the world, all without taking much credit or wanting people to notice. He went to great lengths to keep his identity secret when he first started giving away his money, and was only revealed as one of the world’s greatest philatropists when it became inevitable. He has donated more than $4 billion through a charitable foundation he founded with shares of his own company to keep his name out of the press.

Feeney, an Irish-American with dual citizenship, earned his wealth through the old fashioned desire to work hard. He is giving it all away using the philosophy that he can’t take it with him:

Rather, his frugality — the plastic bag that served as a briefcase, the drugstore reading glasses, his $15 plastic watch — stemmed from an urgent desire to take the fortune that he sacrificed years of his life making and give it, nearly every cent, away. For nearly 15 years, this entrepreneur and silent benefactor wasn’t even working for himself anymore: He had secretly transferred his share of the company that he co-founded and ran to his offshore foundation. It would become one of the biggest and most unusual philanthropic feats in history. But it came with one ironclad caveat: that no one should ever know his name.

To keep his identity secret, he went to obsessive lengths, incorporating his charitable foundation in Bermuda and attaching highly lawyered confidentiality agreements and cabal-like vows of secrecy to his foundation’s grants. After the cashier’s checks cleared, there were no black-tie galas, no self-effacing speeches.

It seemed like something out of Charles Dickens. Yet for more than a decade, New Jersey-born airport-gift-shop magnate Charles F. Feeney pulled it off, even concealing the fact of his giving from his longtime business partner. It was only when his Duty Free Shoppers was sold, in 1997, that the full extent of his largesse became clear. The shares that he had transferred 13 years earlier fetched $1.6 billion when the company was sold. Because Feeney, now 72, donated his stake in the company nearly 20 years ago, he doesn’t qualify for inclusion in our ranking, although a gift of $1.6 billion today would land him at No. 4 on this year’s list of the most generous philanthropists.

Chuck Feeney may be an extreme case, but he’s far from alone in wanting to shield himself from the public’s view. Operating alongside philanthropic superstars such as William H. Gates III and George Soros is a seldom-glimpsed group of contributors — people who prefer to remain in the shadows rather than having their names carved in stone.

[From Businessweek.com via Mercola.com]

While celebrities wear $700 shoes and carry purses worth more than some people in third world countries make in several years, Chuck Feeney realizes that those things are meaningless and that in the end we’ll all be equal anyway. He carries his papers in a plastic bag, and uses the subway. As for why he eschews material goods and gives all his money away he uses an old Gaelic proverb: “There are no pockets on a shroud.”

There’s nothing wrong with wanting nice things, or with announcing it when you do something good for others, but there’s something so admirable about people that don’t want attention or recognition for the wonderful things they do.

Feeney’s foundation is called The Atlantic Philantropies, and strives to make a difference through funding programs for disadvatanged children and for public health throughout the world.

Header image from Time.com

I’ve only been doing this “Good Celebrity” thing for a week or two now, and there were a few days I forgot about it and all, but Shakira is already being nominated for the “Good Celebrity” hall of fame. I freaking love her now. Why? Because she started charitable foundation, Latin America in Solidarity Action, that has donated $40 million to aid victims of a hurricane in Nicaragua and an earthquake in Peru. And she created the foundation with the amazing writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

“A charitable foundation set up by Colombian pop star Shakira has donated $40 million (£19.6 million) to help victims of natural disasters. The money will go towards repairing damage caused by an earthquake in Peru and a hurricane in Nicaragua.

“A further $5 million (£2.46 million) will be spent on health and education in four Latin American countries. The singer made the announcement at a New York summit on climate change organised by ex-President Bill Clinton.

“Shakira, who has sold more than 50 million albums worldwide, will also host a discussion on youth activism at the Clinton Global Initiative on Saturday. Her foundation, Latin America in Solidarity Action, was set up with fellow Colombian and Nobel Prize laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez, in a bid to combat the deaths of children.

“Shakira also fronts a charity to help children who are victims of violence.”

[From the BBC]

Um, what doesn’t Shakira do that’s not awesome? I can’t think of anything. I used to be kind of so-so on her music, but now I’ve decided that everything she touches turns to gold, and thus her music is perfection too. Plus she’s smart, spunky, and takes college courses in her spare time. And the other day, I was walking by this cliff, and there was a bus full of school children teetering precariously, about to fall off, and Shakira came along with her magic lasso of awesomeness, tied it around the bus, and whisked them off to safety. Then she delivered three babies and planted some trees in the just-demolished forest. This is all completely true; I saw it with my own, non-exaggerating eyes. Shakira = Wonder Woman.

Despite all the events she attends for the sake of saving the world, Angelina Jolie just wasn’t the right person to represent the serious St. John clothing brand and they have replaced her as their spokesperson. OK! Magazine quotes an insider as saying the conservative rich old ladies that usually buy their clothes weren’t quite pleased with seeing Angelina wearing them. (At least that’s how I interpreted it.)

Though reps for the fashion label say that no decision has been reached, OK! has exclusively learned that Angelina Jolie has been replaced as the face of St. John, for whom she’d been modeling since September 2005.

“Putting celebrities in campaigns is the biggest trend right now, everyone is doing it, but it didn’t work for St. John with Angelina,” a fashion industry insider explains to OK!. “The people that wear St. John just didn’t relate to her.”

[From OK! Magazine]

Angelina made some good points at the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting in NY yesterday. She’s trying to get funding for children’s education through the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, which she represents. She said that the cost of just 8 hours of the war in Iraq could provide education for 150,000 children. She was unveiling a plan to educate a million refugee and at risk children through the UN:

Hollywood star Angelina Jolie called for the world to get its “priorities in order” Wednesday, saying that the amount of money spent in Iraq in just a few hours could educate thousands of children.

“To put things into perspective and maybe help to understand why we maybe need to adjust the way we’re doing things in the world, the conflict in Iraq has displaced over four million people,” Jolie told reporters in New York.

She said an appeal by UNICEF, the UN’s fund for children, and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to address the educational needs of many of those children was dwarfed by the cost of US military spending in Iraq.

“The entire appeal equals about eight hours of current spending in Iraq. So just a few hours would send 150,000 children to school,” she said.

“Nothing wins more hearts and minds and nothing gives more freedom than education and nothing is a better deterrent for conflict than an educated child,” she added, urging the world to get its “priorities in order.”

Jolie, who as well as being an Oscar-winning actress is a UN goodwill ambassador, was unveiling an almost 150-million-dollar programme to help educate one million children in conflict, refugee and emergency situations.

[AFP.google.com]

Angelina probably doesn’t give a shit if St. John is replacing her. She’s got plenty of money and more important things to work on. Good for her for breaking the cost of the war down into cost vs. benefits, because it’s much more reasonable to spend money on education and healthcare.

Meanwhile Brad Pitt is working on his own philanthropy. He pledged $5 million in matching contributions to the Make it Right project in New Orleans, which aims to build 150 affordable sustainable homes for residents displaced by flooding.

Update: St. John says that this report is not true, and that Angelina is still representing their line.

Angelina is shown at the Clinton Global Initiative in NY on Wednesday. Thanks to PRPhotos.

Paris Hilton is such a do-gooder. Remember that time she saved the litter of puppies from the fire? And that other time she grabbed the starving nuns and orphans from a bus careening out of control? And that other time she drove drunk on a suspended license when she wasn’t wearing any underpants? Talk about a heart who’s love knows no bounds. Well Paris figures she’s done all the good she can in Los Angeles, so she’s moving on to the next most logical place… Rwanda. Talk about baby steps. Yep, instead of giving any of her money or actually being helpful, Paris is going to just be there, and by her being there it’ll bring attention to the problems and somehow solve them. Just because she’s there.

“It’s not the typical sort of hot spot she’s used to, but Paris Hilton says that she’s planning to hit the road to Rwanda. Apparently making good on her post-jail promise to help others, the socialite, 26, tells E! Online about her African ambitions, ‘I’ll be going in November, after I get back from filming my movie. There’s so much need in that area, and I feel like if I go, it will bring more attention to what people can do to help.’

“Though a trouble spot of notorious proportions – an infamous 1994 genocide in Rwanda claimed about a million lives (in a nation of 9 million) – the country’s multitude of problems doesn’t seem to worry Hilton, who vows to pay calls upon a variety of beleaguered regions. ‘I want to visit more countries where poverty and children’s issues are a big concern,’ she says. ‘I know there’s a lot of good I can do just by getting involved and bringing attention to these issues.’

“Hilton reportedly will visit Rwanda at the invitation of Scott Lazerson, whose year-old Playing for Good charity assists celebrities and high-profile business personalities in getting involved with organizations that benefit those in need. Hilton’s Rwanda trip will also cap a busy September, during which she’s been in Toronto filming her upcoming movie Repo! The Genetic Opera, partying at the MTV Video Music Awards in Las Vegas and hitting a slew of Emmy parties in Los Angeles.”

[From People]

Well to be fair, I once did the same thing. I went to a Denny’s, and just by my being there at 3:30 in the morning near a major college campus, it just magically filled up with people holding checkbooks And I kept telling them to chill, and not to pay so much attention to me but to focus on the issues here… a very questionable Moons of My Hammy… and they were all so star struck that I completely overshadowed the real issue. That’s what I’m afraid is going to happen with Paris. I’m afraid it’ll be more photo-op than actually providing food for the starving and legs for the… legless. I just don’t even want to imagine the potential faux pas that we Americans will forever be held accountable for. Though I would enjoy it if she forgot to wear her underpants again, and somehow came back with a uniquely Rwandan strain of herpes to add to her collection.

Picture note by Celebitchy: Paris is shown at the amfAR Rocks Benefit on 9/24/07 thanks to PRPhotos.

In continuation of my vow to write a “Good Celebrity” article every day, we have a wonderful story about the always endearing Will Ferrell. He’s not one of those starlets that’s always snorting coke with a needle still hanging out of his vein and his man bits hanging out like some starlets we know (ahem, Britney). Yes I realize what I just said. Anyway, Will is a pretty decent, low-key guy who’s always up for self-mockery. He also has an odd compulsion to show his hairy belly whenever he gets the chance, and that makes him loveable. What else makes him loveable, you ask? He’s auctioning off a cameo role in his new movie “Step Brothers” to benefit his college fraternity brother’s charity foundation, Cancer for College.

“Will Ferrell is auctioning a cameo spot in his new movie to raise money for a fraternity brother’s cancer foundation. Ferrell came up with the idea to help Craig Pollard’s Cancer for College foundation. The two were fraternity brothers at the University of Southern California. Online bidding will begin Monday and close Sept. 26. Ferrell will announce the winner on Sept. 27, and that person will meet the actor the next day at the 14th annual Cancer for College golf tournament dinner at Temecula Creek Inn. The opening bid for the movie appearance is $5,000.

“In October, the winner will join Ferrell on set of his new movie, ‘Step Brothers,’ and appear in a scene. ‘What a perfect Christmas present for your son or daughter,’ Ferrell said. ‘It is the surefire way to win the parent of the year award. Support this amazing cause, by buying them me.’ Pollard, a two-time survivor of Hodgkin’s disease, started Cancer for College to provide college scholarships to current and former cancer patients. The charity has awarded $200,000 to 50 cancer survivors since 1993.”

[From USA Today]

Props to Will Ferrell. I know it’s not quite as fascinating to read about someone doing something good as it is to read about Lindsay Lohan possibly selling her body for crack and/or crack money, but I think it’s important that we don’t encourage the notion that only bad behavior deserves recognition. So to make this post a tad more entertaining, I leave you with some Will Ferrell PSAs from “Talladega Nights.”

Picture note by JayBird: Header image of Will at the “Blades of Glory” L.A. premiere. Right image with wife Viveca Paulin. Images thanks to PR Photos.

Brangelina’s kindness and charity knows no bounds. It’s sickening, really. In that “I wish I was as good as you” way. The pair will host a fancy Hamptons soirée this weekend to raise money for Hurricane Katrina victims and benefit Brad’s “Make it Right” project that he’s been working on in New Orleans. The cocktails and dinner will take place at the home of Jane Rosenthal, who Jolie met while working on “The Good Shepherd.” Apparently the pair will be choppered into the event, and won’t even stay for the weekend – one has to wonder how environmentally friendly that is, considering how Brad is all about the green building and the anti-global warming. Bur it’s probably better than taking a private, nearly empty jet.

“Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are showing their humanitarian side yet again. This time the pair are hosting a charity dinner on Saturday night in the Hamptons for the victims of the Hurricane Katrina tragedy. A source at Usmagazine.com says that the guests who attend are expected to make an extremely large financial commitment to the project.

“The venue for the swanky dinner will be in the home of producer Jane Rosenthal, with whom Jolie worked with on her movie The Good Shepherd. Brangelina are said to be traveling to the party by helicopter, and jetting out via flying means as well. They are not expected to stay for the whole weekend.

“The invitation they sent reads:
‘Nearly two years after Hurricane Katrina, residents of the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans are still struggling to rebuild. Brad Pitt started the ‘Make it Right’ project after he visited the devastated area. He hopes to preserve the unique culture and spirit of the Ninth Ward by rebuilding a neighborhood inspired by safe and sustainable “green” homes in one of the hardest hit communities in Louisiana.’

“Brad appeared on the Today show to talk with Ann Curry about his involvement in an environmentally friendly project to rebuild houses in the demolished New Orleans.”

[From Entertainmentwise.com]

Brad Pitt makes me feel so guilty. I don’t rebuild homes or host charity events at swanky mansions. I don’t adopt kids from around the world, nor do I have a chiseled jaw. I’m not all that upset about the last one since I’m a girl, but still. I’ll never compare. Seriously, I think it’s awesome that Brad and Angelina have consistently chosen to use their celebrity to draw attention to important causes. Katrina rebuilding is really important but hasn’t got a lot of press lately –they joke about the average news viewer’s attention span being so short, and it is true – nearly two years later most of New Orleans rebuilding still needs to get started, but we haven’t heard much about it. Hopefully he’ll continue to bring attention to it.

Picture note by JayBird: Here’s Brad taking the kids to school in July, wearing a most Michael Jackson getup. Thanks to WENN for the photo. Header image of Brangelina and family on a boat in Chicago on Sunday. Thanks to Splash Photos.