I love when celebrities do great things for random non-famous people. Unfortunately I don’t get to write about that nearly as much as I’d like, as it doesn’t happen with the frequency I’d like. But the latest one is really a doozie; a woman in New York City has found a bone marrow donor in thanks in part to the help of singer Rihanna. Attorney Lisa Gershowitz-Flynn, 41, found out she has an especially aggressive form of leukemia called Acute Myelogenous Leukemia right after Thanksgiving. Only one in five patients end up get a bone marrow transplant because it’s so hard to find a donor. Gershowitz-Flynn’s family and friends started a group, GiftForLisa.com, to try to get as many people to volunteer bone marrow as possible. Rihanna helped get the word out about Lisa’s desperate need for a donor, and the publicity she gave to her cause brought national headlines and a huge increase in the donor registry.

“When I heard about Lisa [Gershowitz Flynn]’s plight, my heart broke,” Rihanna tells PEOPLE exclusively. “I said, ‘I need to get the word out about Lisa right away.’ ”

Specifically, Rihanna is working with DKMS – the world’s largest non-profit marrow donor center to help raise awareness for the need for people to come forward to become donors.

[From People]

Lisa has luckily found a donor, even though the odds weren’t looking good.

“Today a 32-year-old guardian angel consented to be my donor, even though in all likelihood she has never met me and does not know who I am,” Lisa Gershowitz-Flynn, 41, a lawyer, wrote in an email to supporters Thursday.

“While we cannot verify the source of the donor,” Flynn adds, “this angel was most likely found through the efforts of my family and friends, as well as complete strangers who heard about my story and took it upon themselves to aid in the effort to find a donor.”

[From People]

DKMS says that not only did they find a matching donor for Lisa, but they registered an additional 2,000 people. Becoming a bone marrow donor is incredibly easy; all you have to do is have a painless cheek swab. Your DNA goes into the registry, and should you be a match for someone and wish to donate, a donor would undergo a minor outpatient surgery, which would extract healthy stem cells that would replace the cancer patient’s unhealthy cells. It’s an amazing way to save someone’s life. Several other celebrity moms got on board and championed Lisa’s cause, including Kate Winslet. Talk about good celebrities.

Here’s Rihanna at the Brit awards on 2/20/08. Images thanks to PR Photos.

Ladies, you know you’ve done it: sitting in a circle of your best girl friends, you flip to this month’s Cosmo quiz and all of you reveal your answers. Well, celebrities do it, too. This month’s quiz taker is singer Rihanna– and some of her answers might surprise you.

In the quiz, Rihanna reveals that she’s dying to work with Hugh Jackman, misses her friends back home in Barbados, and wishes she had more time to sleep. She claims that a dealbreaker in a relationship is “when a guy doesn’t treat his family right.” She also admits to a huge crush on “Pirates of the Caribbean” star Orlando Bloom, confesses that nude scenes in movies are, “HOTT,” and that she’s never owned a car.

As for Rihanna’s assessment of her body, a hallmark of any Cosmo quiz, she says her best feature is her butt, while she gets the most compliments on her eyes. She rates her figure as “not perfect, but it’s real,” and admits that she is insecure about her eating habits because “a girl like me can only have so many french fries.”

Probably the most surprising answer on the quiz was to the question, “If I could trade lives with another woman for a day, it would be…” Rihanna answered Kate Moss.

Say what?

Sure, Kate’s a supermodel, but she’s also a mess. And she’s had sex with Pete Doherty. Why would Rihanna want to deal with that kind of horror? I don’t think she knows who Kate Moss really is. I think she meant Kate Hudson. Or maybe Kate Beckinsale.

You can see Rihanna’s quiz here. Rihanna was also profiled in this issue of Cosmo, and appears on the cover. Who needs to be Kate Moss when you can be on the cover just by being yourself?

Picture note by Celebitchy: Rihanna is shown arriving at the Chanel fashion show in Paris on 2/29/08, thanks to PRPhotos.

Remember how everyone was getting those terrible helmet bangs about a year and a half ago and how Janet Jackson popularized it? My hairdresser had a big poster up from Jose Eber featuring that style, and when I asked him about it he just shook his head and said he hoped it would pass.

The severe bangs were flipped to the side until they slowly grew out to make way for more classic hair trends, but now they’re back again in all their forehead-blocking glory. I blame Katie Holmes for bringing back this questionable style. She manages to pull off a severe interpretation of her daughter’s bowl cut, but only because she has either naturally thin straight hair or enough volume has been taken out of her hair to make it flat and sleek. In my opinion this style just doesn’t work with thicker hair and looks silly.

Here are some celebrities who work it, and others who just should flip it to the side and wait for the trend to pass. Rather than group them according to my opinion, I’ll just post the photos and let you discuss. I don’t think this style works with hair that isn’t straight and thin, but you may disagree.

It’s just hair. It will grow out eventually and can be styled to compensate, but unlike a bad outfit you can’t just switch it for something else the next day without some effort.

Shown are Katie Holmes, Heidi Klum, Kate Hudson, Christina Ricci, Elle Macpherson, Selma Blair, Kylie Minogue, Kelis, Paula Abdul in a messy interpretation of the style, Rihanna, Myleene Klass, and Janet Jackson.

Sultry singer Rihanna might be able to wear revealing clothing when she’s performing and going to awards ceremonies, but her family’s not having it. She showed up to a cousin’s wedding in Barbados wearing a revealing dress that showed sideboob and she was asked to leave. She was also said to be acting like a diva and pissing off the bride. This sounds true to me because there are actual details to back it up including dates and names:

The 19-year-old singer went to her cousin Nigel Alstrom’s wedding in Barbados on Oct. 27. But before the happy couple even cut the cake, she was asked to take her on-display breasts and her diva attitude and get out, say sources.

“Rihanna is known for dressing very sexy - but no one expected her to show up at a wedding dressed like she was on stage,” declared a family insider. “She was the center of attention instead of the bride - and the bride and groom got upset!”

The entertainer also put on a show - blowing kisses to fans as she entered the church.

“She would have been more low-key, dressed appropriately and not have had such a ’star attitude,’” said the family insider.

“She had words with her aunt and mother, and she was asked to leave.”

“She asked what was she supposed to do - come dressed in a paper bag? Rihanna agreed to leave.”

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, November 19, 2007]

Maybe Rihanna’s family has a chip on their shoulder because she’s so famous now, and it could have been more about long-standing family issues than any specific way she behaved. A lot of people dress slutty at weddings, but I can see the bride getting annoyed if everyone is staring at famous Rihanna’s boobs instead of paying attention to her on her special day.

While Rihanna is having trouble with her family her career is going strong. She has six top ten Billboard hits, with Umbrella at number one in the UK earlier this year for ten consecutive weeks. Rihanna is also said to be sought by Ugly Betty producers for a guest cameo. According to the November 19th issue of OK! Magazine, producers attended her concert at the West Hollywood House of Blues “to win her over” and “they’re serious about getting Rihanna.”

Rihanna is shown at Nickelodeon’s Kids’ Choice Awards on 3/31/07. Surprising that we had to go back over six months to find a sideboob pic. Thanks to PRPhotos.

Rihanna gave some really dumb quotes about her romance with Josh Hartnett to the press, calling him “hot” and sounding like a school girl with a crush on the football quarterback. She claims to never drink, so what’s her excuse for saying this? Do you think he’s going to dump her like Cameron ditched Criss Angel after he gave her a public shout out?

“He is so hot and he is really sweet to me, she told reporters at the World Music Awards in Monte Carlo. “When we hang out it feels right – even though it’s pretty new. I would be lying if I told you we were not more than just friends… I have so fallen for him, he’s lovely.”

[From The London Blog via We Smirch]

The London Blog points out a possible fib in Rihanna’s statement that “it’s pretty new,” because Hartnett recently mentioned that he’d been involved with someone for a year. Did he just break up with whomever he was referring to or was it Rihanna and were they able to keep it quiet for this long? It’s possible Hartnett meant Helena Christensen, because weren’t they romantically linked, or where they just friends? Also, Rihanna was said to be going out with Shia LaBeouf a couple of months ago. I’m so confused:

Er, whaaaa? When I interviewed the Hotnett less than two weeks ago, he said he’d been dating his current girlfriend for A YEAR!

Poor Josh had scored teen kissing disease mono while filming 30 Days of Night and said, “Apparently I haven’t kissed enough people as I’ve been with the same girl for a year, so I don’t even want to know.”

[From The London Blog]

How have Hartnett and Rihanna been together for an entire year with the news just getting out now? Maybe it was Hartnett who was fibbing. Do you think they’re going to stay together now that Rihanna has blabbed about it? Talking to the press about it openly seems to be a deal breaker for new celebrity relationships.

Rihanna recently opened up to Atlanta Peach Magazine about the fact that she revealed in an interview a short while ago that her father was once a crack addict, but kicked the habit. She said she hasn’t really talked to him about it, and gave a very good response that answered the question without being too revealing.

On Her Relationship With Her Father

“I am actually embarassed by that. I don’t like speaking about it because I am not proud of it. But it is something that helped make me who I am today. Now people know that I am not perfect and that I had real conflicts. My dad is not pleased, because he is embarassed. We still have not sat and had a conversation about it.”

[From Atlanta Peach Magazine via Bossip]

Not only has the successful pop singer not spoken to her dad recently, it doesn’t seem like she’s helping him out financially either. The guy is selling clothing out of the back of his car back in their native Barbados.

These exclusive Enquirer photos show the entertainer’s down-and-out dad trying to eke out a living. Rihanna, 19, a former beauty pageant winner in Barbados, has said in interviews that she witnessed her father, Ronald Fenty, struggle with a crack cocaine addiction while she was growing up.

While Ronald reportedly has beaten his drug problem, he’s still clearly struggling with poverty. “Ronald is trying to make ends meet by selling clothes and perfumes and lotions out of his car,” said a friend of his in Barbados.

“It’s kind of sad that his daughter is raking in millions as a world famous singer while her dad is still hustling to make a buck.”

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, September 10, 2007]

Rihanna is now said to be dating up-and-coming Transformers star Shia LaBeouf and has been seen out on several dates with him. They have at least one thing in common, because Shia has said in interviews that his dad was a drug addict and dealer too. Shia and Rihanna have said similar things about their father’s battles with drugs:

Shia on his dad:

“I got to grow up in a situation where drugs were demonic. To watch your dad go through heroin withdrawl is something that would keep you from doing any of that yourself…”

[From Star Magazine print edition, March 7, 2007]

Rihanna on her dad:

“I just knew that my mom and dad would always argue when there was a foil paper with an ashtray. He would just go into the bathroom all the time. I didn’t know what it was… [But] he knew that to get closer to [his kids], he had to cut that out. And he did.”

[Interview with Giant Magazine via SOHH.com]

Shia’s dad left his mother when he was just five. When Shia was 12 he needed a guardian on the set of a Disney series he was filming and asked his then-sober father to step in, at which point they reconciled. Shia and his dad now have a great relationship.

Maybe Shia will be a good influence on Rihanna, and can show her that it’s possible to have a relationship with a parent who was once drug addict. If Rihanna is afraid to give her dad a handout she might give him a job instead, like Shia did.

Rihanna is shown at a video shoot in Santa Monica. Thanks to Bossip. Everyone is saying she looks like Beyonce in the Irreplaceable video. (The scene is about 2:30 minutes into the video.) The header image is a scan from The Enquirer.

In a new interview in the September issue in German Maxim, Rihanna says she’s not going to slack off like Britney when the interviewer asks her about it. It’s pretty telling that she sounds so matter-of-fact about it, as if it’s a given that Britney is messing up.

She also said that she has no time for a boyfriend, and that she has never been drunk and has only had a couple drinks at a time.

Do we have to be afraid of you?
Nonsense, why?

Because your new album is called „Good girl gone bad“ and bad girls do wicked things.
Overall/By and large I am still good/endearing.

So the title is only play?
Yes and no. So, I don’t do stupid things now, wack out completelly or get wasted every night. On the other side I am at an age now where I want to dare more and can go further then so far.

What was the latest crazy thing you did?
I got a tatoo - while I was interviewed. We were sitting at a tatoo studio in New York and I thought. Come on Rihana, since you are here already, you can do it. So I got a Sanskrit tatoo on my lower back.

On your butt?
No, a little higher.

Is that your first tatoo?
No, it is already the fourth. I also have clef on my on my right foot and a little tatoo in my right and left ear.

I am sure your boyfriend thinks the tatoos are totally sexy.
Boyfriend? No. I have to pass. Unfortunately I have no time for that.

Can men trust you anyway or are you very trustworthy?
I never cheated on a boy with whom I was together. However, my experiences with love affairs are still limited.

Do you ask yourself sometimes how it came that went up all the way?
Of course. Especially in the beginning I was truely shocked. I was only 17 and people could buy my records all over the world. I am a girl from Barbados – what did I know about the world three years ago? I never would have thought that I ever would travel to Germany – that is absolutely crazy.

What influence has the success on you? Are you more arrogant, bitchier?
I don’t think so. I don’t want that. In reality I am quite shy, maybe that is perceived as arrogant.

Shy? As a pop star?
Now you are shocked, aren’t you? It already got better. Before I was incredibly irritated by my shyness. I was fed up with this girl who didn’t have the heart to do things and was always afraid.

Is that the reason you changed your styling? It appears now…
… more mature, I know. Two years you could’nt have dressed up so provocative. I wasn’t allowed to. My manager didn’t allow to much openness/candidness. Now I also wear belly free clothes and hot pants. I like it sexy.

Did you ever get wasted?
I do like to go out. Here in Europe I allowed to drink alcohol. I never have been really drunk. One, two cocktails, that’s it.

Are you afraid to end up like Britney Spears?
No, I am not afraid of that. That doesn’t suit me. I am not going to slip off / slump. It just began to take off.

[From German Maxim scans available on ONTD. Translated by my husband.]

19 year-old Rihanna was born in Barbados and was discovered at 15 when she met a music producer on vacation there with his family. Prior to that she had performed with school singing groups and won a 2004 beauty pageant. The producer made some recordings with her and sent them out to other record companies. She was eventually picked up by Def Jam after Jay Z heard her demo. [Details from Wikipedia]

In an interview in the June issue of Giant Magazin, Rihanna said that her father was addicted to crack cocaine while she was growing up, but that he kicked the habit.

I’m not really buying the fact that she’s never been drunk, but it could be true. In Barbados the drinking age is 18, but younger children can drink in the presence of their family. Maybe she realized early on that it wasn’t really worth it to get wasted, especially considering her father’s drug addiction.

Rihanna is a kick ass performer, but I’m not too fond of her music. I hate the repetitive stuff that gets stuck in your head. Just thinking about her makes me think “SOS, baby…” over and over again. Some people want to hear those songs once they have them reeling around their brain and I guess that’s how they get so popular. Me, I just want to forget them.

Thanks to ONTD for these pics.

Rihanna has injured her foot on her first day of vacation.

R+B star RIHANNA is hobbling about on crutches after accidentally running into a chair. The Umbrella singer, whose legs are insured for a million dollars, is sporting a bandaged right foot after injuring herself on the first day of a well-earned break. Doctors have instructed the 19-year-old to rest up for at least two weeks.

Contact Music

Her legs are insured for a million dollars? I guess this is because dance might be considered an integral part of her act, but it seems like a strange thing to insure. Is it standard practice to insure individual parts of your body? Rihanna won’t be cancelling any concerts, but TMZ reports that some shows may be performed from a chair.

In other cancelled concert news, Christina Aguilera has canceled the final two shows of her world tour, two hours before the show began. This was following her earlier cancelled dates in Australia, she flew to New Zealand yesterday, before canceling the show.

“I would like to apologise once again to all of my fans here in New Zealand for having to cancel my last two shows of my tour. This is my first time in your beautiful country and I have really been looking forward to performing for you all.

“Unfortunately, I caught a bad flu virus and I have not been able to recover in time. Thank you all for your continued love and support and I can’t wait for the next time. With love, Christina.”

New Zealand Herald

These shows haven’t been postponed – is this because the singer will be too pregnant to continue her tour at a later date?

Note by Celebitchy: Rihanna’s legs are insured for a million dollars because she’s the spokesperson for Gillette’s “legs of a goddess” campaign. She is shown shopping yesterday, thanks to Splash News.

What a song! Ten weeks at number one on the British charts, equal record with that annoying song from Four Weddings and a Funeral that my parents like. Probably because it was the last movie they saw in a cinema. Mum still thinks Hugh Grant is cute, she hasn’t seen any of his recent movies…

Anyway, Rihanna is going to launch a range of umbrellas to go with her song. Actually, I’m not sure they go together but someone obviously does. It makes total sense to sell umbrellas where the single is huge, in the UK, since it rains there. A lot.

The track became the longest-running UK number one in over ten years on Sunday (July 22nd) after claiming a tenth week at the top of the charts.

The singer has now teamed up with clothes company Totes to bring out her own collection.

The five brollies, which range in price from $16 to $50, come in range of different colours - the most expensive being the limited edition Rihanna 2 Color Satin Stick.

According to the Totes website, this was the brolly specially designed for Rihanna’s performance at the 2007 MTV Movie Awards.

DotMusic

Five umbrella designs are available, including the ones she had at the MTV awards. One is actually on sale! Hopefully there will be no audio/visual campaign, as I’m getting pretty tired of that song. Her new song kicks butt though.