Halle Berry looked gorgeous and sporty at the Revlon Run/Walk for Women yesterday. The event was held at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, with proceeds to benefit breast and ovarian cancer causes. Berry has been a spokesperson for Revlon since 1996.
Berry had baby Nahla Ariela Aubry seven weeks ago and the newborn has yet to be photographed by the paparazzi or make a high-paid appearance in a magazine. Good for Halle for not taking part in the ever-escalating bid for baby pictures by the celebrity glossies. She could make millions for sitting for photos for one day and talking about how great her life is post-baby, but she’s deliberately keeping little Nahla out of the spotlight. Halle hasn’t openly courted the press in some time, so it’s not like she’s doing a 180 like Tom and Katie did after Suri arrived. I’d love to see what Nahla looks like, though.
Sting and his wife Trudie Styler have a charity they run, the Rainforest Foundation, where they raise money to plant trees. But it seems that in the way of charitable donations, they’re running a little below the average. Trudie doesn’t think much of the criticism.
Newspaper reports claimed only 41 per cent of the funds raised at a starstudded concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall were spent on saving trees.
The New York Post also claimed the Rainforest Foundation was rated one of the worst causes by watchdog Charity Navigator.
Charity co-founder, Belgian photographer Jean Pierre Dutilleux, recently joined the attack and is quoted on blog PerezHilton.com as saying, “I have kept quiet for almost 20 years, hoping for improvement. But enough is enough.
Everything is true or worse.” But Styler has hit back at the reports, claiming the figures are misleading.
She says, “The Rainforest Foundation is celebrating its 20th year. We wouldn’t still be in business or have given out millions of dollars over the years if we’d spent everything we made immediately after it came in.”
Sure, you might have given millions of dollars to charity, but if you’ve raised over twice that, taken money from people that expect all of their donation to go to the cause, then all of it should go to the cause. 41% is not a great deal of money to make it into the fund, around 75% is the average for a charitable event.
Also, if members of your own organization are leaving after 20 years of loyal service to complain about the financial management of the charity, you know something fishy is going on.
Then again, any money that goes to helping protect and maintain the rainforest is going to help the rapidly warming globe.
The Rainforest Foundation concert takes place in New York this month, with Brian Wilson, Billy Joel and James Taylor headlining.
Sting and Trudie Styler are shown outside Scotts restaurant in London on 3/20/08, thanks to WENN.
Global Avon ambassador Reese Witherspoon was at the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in Washington this weekend. The walk raised over $8 million for the cause. Witherspoon spoke to USA Today about her role and how she tries to show her children the importance of charity:
“I’ve always been very focused on creating positive images and doing things to give back to women,” Witherspoon says.
And she says the spirit of helping is rubbing off on Ava, who traveled to New Orleans with her for this year’s Idol Gives Back special.
“She has a very giving spirit, so it’s great to encourage that,” Witherspoon says. “There’s a great responsibility to educate your children and show them what’s important in life, which includes giving back.”
There have been a lot of stories that Reese and co-star Vince Vaughn are fighting on the set of their upcoming film, Four Christmases, supposedly because Vaughn wants to ad lib and Reese prefers to follow the script. She tried to squash some of those rumors by saying that Vaughn is “great,” and “so funny.” Reese said that they “had a great time riffing off each other” on set and added: “Sometimes I would just cry from laughing so hard.”
As for her under-the-radar romance with Jake Gyllenhaal, she of course won’t discuss that, but some of his friends will. Producer Ryan Kavanaugh directed Jake in the upcoming film Brothers, and says “seeing what we saw on the set, he was certainly completely devoted to her and really loves her.”
Reese had a tiny little tummy in her top and there’s some speculation that she’s pregnant. She looks fabulous, and just seems to be wearing an unflattering outfit.
Madonna was interviewed by Ann Curry in a segment that aired on the Today Show this morning, and I tried to view it with an open mind since Madonna normally bugs the hell out of me. I came away from it thinking she’s the same stuck up narcissist she’s always been, but at least she’s doing something good in the world.
Madonna was promoting her documentary “I Am Because We Are,” which is about her “Raising Malawai” organization and includes footage about how she adopted baby David Banda in October, 2006. There was a lot of controversy over the adoption, because Madonna flouted Malawain law, which requires adoptive parents to spend a year in the country before they’re allowed to take a child home.
Madonna got a little indignant when she was talking about social workers visiting her home, and she clearly thought all the procedures and questions went overboard. I have no experience with this and she may have a point. Considering how she kind of broke the law to adopt David maybe she shouldn’t talk about the process to the press as if it’s so annoying to her. Here’s a transcript of most of the interview that I typed up in case you can’t watch the video below:
On starting “Raising Malawai”
“Having children and having a family forces you to think about people besides yourself…
“I got to a point where I thought ‘I have so much and it’s a great tragedy if I don’t use what I have to make the world a better place’… I know that sounds… like a cliche or whatever, but it’s the truth.”
On people being suspicious of her motives
“I appreciate and I understand how people people can be cynical… We live in a society where people are naturally suspicious of acts of altruism or generosity.”
Ann Curry: “Or maybe they might be suspicious, because they might think ‘Madonna changes all the time. Is a fad or trend?’”
[Madonna’s voice sounds a little nervous]: “My reinventions are part of my evolution, and my growth as a person. There are aspects of it that are frivolous and there are aspects of it that are real.”
On the difficult of adopting David
“I don’t think anyone who understands how complicated it is to adopt a child could say that someone chose to do that as a fad, it’s just too difficult… It’s too traumatic.”
On social workers bothering her
Ann Curry: “It’s been hard then to adopt David.”
“We have not even been granted the full adoption. It’s supposed to be happening in the next month. For the last 18 months I’ve been a foster parent. I’ve been visited every 6 weeks by social workers who come into the house and make sure that you’re being a good parent and that David’s health is thriving, and ask you all kinds of invasive questions. You have to put up with it and endure it, and I’ve been finger printed about 20 times, undergone psychological evaluations.
“I think everybody who goes through adoptions has to do this so I’m not alone, but you know I’d do it again.”
Ann Curry: “Why?”
“Because David is amazing. Because he’s brought so much joy to our lives. Well I love him. It was worth it. I think most people will suffer for the things they love.”
On her fame and spiritual quest
Ann Curry: “At this point in your life, there’s some part of you that’s softening. Something that’s looking for wisdom, usefulness.”
“Well thank God I’m searching for wisdom and usefulness. One hopes that one gets to that point in their lives sooner or later.”
Ann Curry: “Do you ever wish that you could just be anonymous?”
“No. I have moments of it, but I don’t want to wish I’m not me. I don’t wish I was someone else.”
Ann Curry: “What is is that you want to feel about your life?”
“That my soul reached its true potential and that I did everything that I was put on this earth to do.”
Ann Curry: “Which is?”
“Well who knows, we’re about to find out.”
Here’s the video of the interview:
Madonna is shown at the “I Am Because We Are” premiere at the Tribeca film festival yesterday, thanks to PRPhotos. I really love her hair.
Thousands protested around the world yesterday to mark the five year anniversary of the crisis in Darfur in which at least 200,000 people have been killed and millions have been displaced. According to Amnesty International, there are UN troops in the region, but the Sudanese government is blocking them from helping. There is a call for more international attention to the situation as well as more resources dedicated to stopping the violence against innocent people and children:
Activists are pushing for speedier progress on the full deployment of the joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force. Approximately 35 percent of the 26,000-troop force is currently on the ground in Darfur. But the government of Sudan is standing in the way of full deployment by rejecting troops from non-African countries and refusing land for bases, among other obstructions.
The coalition partners are urging President Bush to influence other countries, such as China, to press Sudan to quit obstructing the deployment. They also want President Bush to exert diplomatic pressure on U.N. donor nations to contribute helicopters and other transport equipment necessary for the peacekeepers and set an example by funding contributions of needed equipment.
Celebrities including Matt Damon were photographed destroying toys to show the way that the conflict has stripped Sudanese children of their childhoods. More than one million children in Darfur live in refugee camps.
Caring campaigner Matt Damon has led a host of international celebrities backing protests against the war in Darfur.
In a series of powerful images, Matt and a variety of famous faces - including Thandie Newton, Joely Richardson and Jemima Khan - are seen destroying toys and setting fire to children’s drawings. The pictures, released to coincide with Sunday’s global day of protest, are a symbol of the suffering of the youngsters in the troubled region.
“After the genocide in Rwanda we all shook our heads and said never again,” said Matt. “Today, as killings mount in Darfur, we need to make never again a priority and demand protection for the most vulnerable.”
Here are the photos of the celebrities destroying toys, thanks to Hello! Magazine and The Mirror. When I first saw these images I thought that they were too stylized and that a human approach would have been more effective, but they did manage to get more attention to this very important cause and that’s what matters.
Thanks to The Huffington Post for putting together these videos of last night’s star studded “Idol Gives Back.” A lot of the human interest segments made me cry so hard and I am bawling as I write this, having just watched Annie Lennox’s segment. You can donate at AmericanIdol.com.
Jimmy Kimmel’s opening monologue. He jokes about Simon’s nipples and bad haircut. They discuss mobile medical units for Americans without health insurance. Simon visits a single mom with lupus raising a daughter with rheumatoid arthritis and a son with pins in his legs.
Miley Cyrus performs “See You Again”
Mariah Carey performs “Fly Like a Bird”
Robin Williams is a stupid Russian character in a bit that goes on way too long.
Fergie and Heart perform “Barracuda”
Brad Pitt gets his microphone put on, and introduces Daughtry’s video featuring footage from their trip to Uganda set to “What About Now?”
Carrie Underwood with an incredible performance of George Michael’s “Praying for Time”
Teri Hatcher sings “Before He Cheats.” She’s a surprisingly good singer.
David and Victoria Beckham in a taped appeal.
Shiela E and Gloria Estefan perform “Get On Your Feet”
Alicia Keys talks about her trip to Africa. She said “It’s crazy when you think about it, how you can change the lives of people forever for the price of a pair of shoes. Because of the AIDS epidemic there are 13 million children orphaned.” She showed a grandmother who lost all four of her children to AIDS and is now raising 8 grandchildren. She said “If AIDS got 1/2 the attention the media gives to celebrity dramas, this issue would be well on it’s way to being solved.”
Bono and Annie Lennox in Africa. Bono talks to a young boy who lost both his parents to AIDS. Annie Lennox talks to a family of four brothers in South Africa who have lost all their relatives to AIDS. The oldest is 15. Annie took them to get tested for HIV and they’re all negative. She said “across Africa, children are living like this. Their parents could still be with them if only they’d been diagnosed and given the treatment they need.”
Natalie Portman was on Good Morning America this morning to talk about her upcoming film in limited release, “My Blueberry Nights,” and she told a moving story about the organization she works with, FINCA, which gives small loans to entrepreneurs in the developing nations to help change their lives. When Portman was in Uganda ten years ago she met an impoverished woman with ten daughters who was beaten frequently by her husband for not bearing him a son. The woman lived on .80 a day from her husband, but she was able to get rid of him and eventually start her own restaurant after a micro loan from FINCA:
When I was in Uganda I was lucky enough to meet this woman, Niema, she had ten daughters, and… her husband was beating her because she couldn’t make a son, and she was living on .80 a day and depending on her husband for it.
She got a small loan from Finca and started her own roadside food stand, and started growing the business… buying a refrigerator and when I met her ten years later she had a restaurant with indoor seating, she had hired 7 other women, and she left her husband…
All of her daughters were in school and one of them was in University. So you see how just given the opportunity, they do all the hard work.
[Transcribed from Portman’s appearance on “Good Morning America,” 4/7/08, video below]
FINCA is one of many microcredit organizations that is changing lives, one small loan at a time. Impoverished entrepreneurs are given amounts that are usually less than $1,000, from which they can start or expand a business, eventually paying back the loan in full.
My favorite charity for this is Kiva, because you can read the background information and details on people who need loans and specifically donate to them. It’s inspiring to read the stories and realize that your small donation can help make a difference.
Portman also talked about her vegan shoe line on GMA this morning. Portman says she helps design the shoes by bringing in photos and shoes she likes to the designers, and providing feedback for their prototypes. She said she’s been a vegetarian since the age of 9 and made the decision to go vegan after reading “The Omnivore’s Dilemma.” Portman reminded Diane Sawyer that her husband lent the book to her.
Here’s the video, thanks to clipper monkeyboy on Redlasso:
Portman is shown in the header leaving Good Morning America today, thanks to Splash News. I’m not really liking those pom pon shoes, but some others in her collection are cute.
Ricky Martin has done an extraordinary amount of charity work in his attempts to bring attention to child trafficking. While a lot of celebs sign on to champion a cause and never do much more than attend a few fancy dinners, a select few remain devotedly committed to their cause – and Martin is definitely one of them. On Saturday he went to Siem Reap, Cambodia, where he met with young victims of human trafficking that were used for sexual exploitation. The stories shared are truly heartbreaking, and highlight how incredibly important this cause really is.
Martin held infants and listened to a 14-year-old rape victim’s song during his visit to a shelter in the northwestern city of Siem Reap, home of the famed Angkor temples. “She sings like an angel,” Martin said after the girl finished a song she composed about the plight of trafficking victims. The girl was among 65 victims sheltered at the rescue center of Afesip, a French non-governmental group working to combat human trafficking in Cambodia.
The pop star also held the 3-month-old daughter of a 22-year-old woman who was sold by her father to a brothel and is now HIV-positive. The woman broke down in tears as she urged Martin to keep fighting against human trafficking. “I’m not going to stop,” Martin said, pounding his fist on his knee as he sat on a tiled floor. “All of you are my heroes. You are a gift of my life.”
Martin, who arrived in the country Wednesday, met with Interior Minister Sar Kheng and visited various projects run by non-governmental organizations fighting child trafficking and sexual exploitation.
Ricky Martin first learned about the horrors of child human trafficking in February when he attended a U.N. conference about it. Since then he has actively campaigned to bring attention to the cause in Latin America. He said that Cambodia is a model for change, as they already have over 200 NGOs devoted to ridding the country of the crime. Martin said he plans to take the information he learned in Cambodia home and use it to “motivate people, organizations, governments in Latin America.” Cambodia and Thailand are still the worst havens for child human trafficking in the world, but Martin is right, they’ve made some important inroads. He’s had a ton of publicity in Latin America for his attention to this cause, and hopefully will stick with it and help bring on much-needed change.
Here’s Ricky Martin at the 8th Annual Latin Grammy Awards on November 8th. Images thanks to PR Photos.
OK! Magazine reports that little wisenheimer Maddox Jolie Pitt, 6, is doing charity work that he came up with on his own. Maddox is making care packages to send to US soldiers serving overseas, and is said to involve his brother and sister in helping him put them together.
Maddox is doing his bit for charity too - and doing his parents proud - by making packages that will be shipped to U.S. troops overseas. “He gets the older kids involved like an assembly line,” an Angelina insider tells OK! “Zahara loves to glitter and sticker the cards!” The friend says Maddox came up with the idea all on his own. “He’s growing up to dream big and thinks even the tiniest things can make a big differece.”
[From OK! Magazine, print edition, March 31, 2008]
That’s such a cute story! Maddox has been going to school at a Lycee Francais branch near Austin, Texas and I wonder if a teacher encouraged him or if it’s an idea that he came up with himself after his mom’s trip to Iraq.
You can send care packages to US soldiers through the website anysoldier.com. It will help tell you where to send a package to a specific member of the armed forces, along with a message from them with the necessities they need. I started reading their actual requests and got teary-eyed. American soldiers need basic items like nail files, shampoo, lotion and baby wipes along with snacks and entertainment such as DVDs.
Good for Maddox for helping out our armed forces and by bringing attention to this cause with his actions. I wonder if he writes his full name on the packages and if the soldier(s) who receive it realize who he is.
Maddox, Angelina and an unnamed service member are shown on 12/2/07 at a press conference in the Lower 9th Ward in New Orleans, thanks to Splash News.
Former President Bill Clinton and actor Brad Pitt broke ground for the Make it Right project in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans. The Make it Right Project is building 150 green homes for New Orleans residents affected by Hurricane Katrina, and Pitt states that it’s “not about a handout, but a hand up.”
Pitt has contributed $5 million dollars to the project along with real estate developer and film producer Steven Bing. Bill Clinton was there to represent the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund, which has contributed $1 million. Former President George H.W. Bush was not able to attend the ceremony.
600 students from around the world were also on hand to volunteer and help clean up. They were there are part of the first meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative University. The meeting was held at Tulane University and hopes to gather student and university staff to help address the world’s problems.
Brad Pitt looked dashing in his trademark newsboy cap and a white dress shirt with jeans while President Clinton wore a red sleeveless polo and brown pants. Pitt vowed to stop wearing that hat for New Year’s but doesn’t seem to have been able to get rid of it. He was said to be selling the hat to benefit the charity, but currently the only hat available on the MakeItRightNola website is a baseball cap. You can’t blame Pitt for trying to hide that crew cut he got for his most recent part.
Story details from PRNewswire. Thanks to Splash News for these pictures from Sunday.
Activists are pushing for speedier progress on the full deployment of the joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force. Approximately 35 percent of the 26,000-troop force is currently on the ground in Darfur. But the government of Sudan is standing in the way of full deployment by rejecting troops from non-African countries and refusing land for bases, among other obstructions.
