Jessica Alba was a panelist at “Girls in the Director’s Chair and Women In Film Empower Young Girls to Reach for the Stars” event at the Beverly Hills Wiltshire hotel yesterday. Academy-Award winning Crash producer Cathy Shulman also attended. “Girls in the Director’s Chair” and “Women in Film” are non-profit organizations that seek to encourage and mentor young women in the entertainment industry.

A two-minute short and a public service announcement produced and directed by teens were premiered at the event:

Girl’s in the Director’s Chair was created by Fresh Films, which is sponsoring a national teen filmmaking program that is now accepting applications for its summer program.

Here are photos of Alba on the panel.

A red-headed Robin Williams and Muhammad Ali joked around yesterday at Celebrity Fight Night 12 at the Marriot Desert Resort in Phoenix, AZ. Reba McEntire hosted the event, which featured live celebrity performances with proceeds to benefit the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center.

Muhammad Ali is doing well, and reports that he was gravely ill last fall were exaggerated:

Ali was recently honored at the November, 2005 grand opening of the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, KY.

Pictures [via]

Jessica Simpson brought her trout pout to Congress yesterday to hold a press conference on behalf of the charity she represents, Operation Smile. News outlets were aghast that she had supposedly snubbed Bush by backing out of a Republican fundraiser later that evening, but her controlling daddy insists that she just loves the dictator to pieces and didn’t want to politicize the cause.

Meanwhile Simpson wants to jump on the adoption bandwagon, and admits that she apes Angelina Jolie in everything she does:

Give us a break, Simpson. You don’t even have a boyfriend after that smarmy rocker dumped you by instant message. Chances are you’re going to forget you even said this within a month.

Here she is at the press conference yesterday.

Pictures [via]

Three more after the jump.

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Jessica Simpson was supposed to attend a Republican fund raiser to bring awareness to the charity she half-assed represents, Operation Smile. Now she’s pulled out, saying she didn’t want to politicize the charity by associating it with the Republicans:

This is the woman who complimented Interior Secretary Gale Norton for the White House’s decor, so you know this was not her idea. Someone at Operation Smile knows that the administration is not well liked and wants to make sure they’re not tied to the Bushies through Jessica’s much-publicized appearance.

It’s funny, though, that the headlines read: “Jessica Simpson snubs Bush.” With an approval rating in the mid 30s, Bush cannot afford to be snubbed by a daft celebrity.

Here’s a scan from an Australian magazine showing how Jessica’s look has spread through Hollywood. [via]

Angelina Jolie has proportedly told her stylist to find her a second-hand wedding dress so she can get the word out to brides everywhere that it’s ok to wear a used gown if you’re hot enough to carry it off. Jolie is supporting Goodwill International:

The article is long-winded without mentioning a source, and this may not be true. It is characteristic of Jolie’s way of announcing information to the press, though. She confirmed pregnancy rumors by letting Haitian charity Yele Haiti sell her bump pictures for $400,000 to People Magazine.

Other recent rumors swirling around the world’s most famous couple include “Jolie wants an open marriage,” “Jolie and Pitt to wed in Ireland,” and “Pitt tries in vain not to piss off Aniston while planning wedding.” None are particularly revelatory.

Julie is said to be due with the couple’s first biological child in May.

Sienna Miller took some time off from attacking paparazzi to attend a benefit in her hometown of London. She is at a ball for The Starlight Children’s Foundation, which grants wishes for seriously ill children.

She’s helping a worthy charity and that’s commendable, but she’s still wearing those goddamn awful shapeless frocks. This dress at least has a partially fitted top, but that doesn’t make it fashionable. Someone should seriously help her clean up her style.

Miller was just announced as the new star in a Robert De Niro film, Stardust:

Sting and his wife, Trudie Styler, will perform in a one-night-only theater benefit for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS at the The New Victory Theater in New York City on March 27:

It’s an expensive affair, with the cheapest tickets going for $250, but it’s for a good cause and is tax deductible.

Sting and Trudie are pictured above at a March 3 Chanel fashion show, where the famous couple was more interesting than the models:

Jennifer Love Hewitt feels sorry for her troubled fans, and spends an inordinate amount of time listening to their problems and trying to help them. She’s especially bothered when she can’t channel her on-screen character, the ghost whisperer, to help widows speak to their dead husbands:

JLove spoke to a crazy old woman for 20 minutes, and instead of walking away annoyed, she felt guilty that she couldn’t help her! Honey, no one can help someone who thinks they watch TV with their dead spouse.

On February 26th JLove hosted the LA County “Race for the Cure” to benefit the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. She wanted to “honor her aunt who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer and is undergoing treatment.” [via]

She has to be the kindest celebrity ever.

Here are some Ghost Whisperer promotion photos. Pictures of J.Love speaking at the “Race for the Cure” are after the jump. [via] and [via]