I’ve mentioned this before, in passing, but I feel like I should be honest at the very beginning of this post: I’ve never been able to stand Thandie Newton. I have some various “reasons” for not liking her (she’s one of the most overrated and “affected” actresses working today, in interviews she comes across rather Goop-y and sanctimonious), but basically it’s just a gut-level reaction for me. It’s like a twitch at this point. Whenever I see Thandie, I’m just disgusted. It’s very much like my gut-level reaction to Kristen Stewart at this point – there is never a moment when I don’t want to smack her. Don’t you have people who just piss you off for little to no reason? Thandie is just one of those people I irrationally hate.

So with that prologue, imagine my reaction to this recent interview Thandie Newton gave about her start as an actress at the age of 16 years old. She got a part in an Australian film called Flirting (also starring Nicole Kidman), and Thandie began a sexual relationship with her 39-year-old director John Duigan. Now, I guess 16 was and is the age of consent, so it’s not like it was statutory rape, legally speaking. And Thandie is not claiming that, to her credit. But I’m still not sure why she’s discussing it:

Thandie Newton has revealed that she has come to terms with a traumatic relationship with a film director 23 years her senior who she claims took advantage of her innocence as a teenager. She spoke about her six-year affair with director John Duigan which she began when she was 16 after travelling to Australia to audition for his film Flirting, which starred Nicole Kidman.

The Bafta-winning actress has said the relationship left her feeling ‘self-destructive’ and said she has only spoken about it ‘so teenagers can see they can resist and gain self-awareness’.

Speaking to InStyle magazine, Miss Newton, 38, star of Mission: Impossible II, The Pursuit of Happyness and Rock ‘n Rolla, claims Duigan took advantage of her when she was vulnerable.

She said: ‘I was a very shy, very sweet girl. I wasn’t in control of the situation. Would I have liked things to be different? Sure. But I can now value myself more for the way I got through it. I don’t see myself as a victim.’

She added: ‘Part of me feels grateful I can accept the difficulties that came with that situation and be a more compassionate person myself.’

Miss Newton, an ambassador for skincare brand Olay, is happily married to director Ol Parker, with whom she has two daughters, Ripley, 11 and Nico, seven. She said she had therapy after the affair. She also said she never told her parents about at the time.

Asked why she had not reported it to police, she said: ‘I am my own supreme court. I judge that one. And in a strict legal way there might not be a case.’

Previously she has said: ‘In retrospect, although it was legal because I was 16, I was coerced.’

Duigan, now 61, lives in America. He is believed not to have married. His spokesman could not be contacted last night.

[From The Mail]

Yes, a 16 year old girl is not emotionally and intellectually capable of carrying on an adult, sexual relationship with a 39-year-old man, regardless of whether or not it was technically legal. It’s really creepy, and that is on him, this John Duigan dude. But you know what else is creepy? That it went on for SIX YEARS. And that she never told her parents? Who else thinks that there’s more to this story…?

Photos courtesy of WENN.

In honor of Mother’s day on Sunday, USA Today has new quotes from some celebrity moms on how being a mother has changed their lives. I have a three and a half year old son, and some of these quotes really made me nod and others got me a little choked up. There is nothing that I’ve experienced in life that has changed me more than being a mother. I especially related to what Kate Hudson said about how you have to be careful how you influence your children because they’re so observant. Maybe it’s because we both have sons around the same age, but her thoughts really rang true to me. Most everyone said that being a mother has influenced them to try and be a better person.

Kate Hudson says Ryder, 4, has made her slow down and appreciate more

“I’m very impatient. I like to get things done. I move fast. Patience has been something he’s teaching me. Your children teach you so much. It’s a real mirror of yourself. You recognize the things you do directly affect your children. It hopefully allows you to be more conscious of them and yourself and your actions. When you have kids, it goes so fast. I felt like I was pregnant last weekend, but he’s 4 and he’s talking and he’s gathering his ideas and learning who he is. It’s so easy to step in and fix things and make everything right, but you have to let him figure things out on his own. That’s one of my favorite things to do, to watch how they treat other kids and how they observe other people. Your life becomes about your children. I wake up every morning and I hear his voice, and that’s my favorite thing in the world. There’s nothing like it.”

[From USA Today]

Helen Hunt says her daughter Melenka, 3, inspires her to be calm and relaxed

“It gives me real motivation to try and be the person I want to be. You tell them to be patient. But they’ll do what you do and not what to say. If I want her to be relaxed, I have to be relaxed. Or at least try as hard as I can to seem relaxed. If I want her to be patient, I have to be patient. If I want her to be kind, I have to be kind. I have a deep wish for her to be happy and serene, and it makes me want to do everything I can to be happy and serene.”

Thandie Newton says her daughters Ripley, 7, and Nico, 3, inspire her to be a better person

“I’ve learned the value of stripping it down to the basics: love, respect, compassion, stillness, to be interested, to be able to absorb the moment. I remember the first time Ripley saw her shadow. My god. It was like shadows had just been invented. It was the most exquisite moment. And it was just dish to me. To actively attempt to be a good mother is basically attempting to be a good person. I never look at my kids and feel that they’re mine. I am their caretaker. They own the joint. It’s a privilege to be able to take care of them. With my first daughter, I remember waking up and thinking, ‘My god, I get to be her mum again today. Wow. It’s amazing.’ They just take my breath away. All I do is serve themselves back to themselves. My job is just to provide a secure environment where they can just be themselves. It’s the cycle that keeps going forward. You give to them, so they can give to their kids. You have to be delighted by that.”

Salma Hayek on how Valentina, 7 months, brought out a pure kind of love in her

“You learn so much. Listen to her. She’s in the background. Do you hear that strange noise she makes (like a purr, or a rolled r)? It’s the French in her. It’s hilarious. What I learned as a mother is that I have a strong love for things. But the quality of your love gets jaded over the years as you get beat up. What motherhood did to me, when she was born, the amount of love that started pouring out of me was completely pure. Anything anyone ever did to me was erased by this energy. I relearned how to love everything around me, too. My baby is the best thing that has happened to me in my life. It’s the most amazing thing.”

Kate Hudson and Ryder are shown out on 3/22/08 in Miami, thanks to Splash News.

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.

[From Amnesty International]

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.”

[From Hello! Magazine]

You can learn more about the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, and how you can help, at SaveDarfur.org, AmnestyInternational.org, Human Rights Watch, and DarfurScores.org. For a haunting look into what is happening in Darfur, see Amnesty International’s EyesonDarfur.org.

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.

Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz admitted in an interview with British Q Magazine that he suffers from manic depression and has been on medication for the disorder since he was 18. He says he had a lot of emotional problems after his parents divorced while he was 6:

He says, “I have manic depression. I obsess over everything. When I am depressed, I can’t get out of bed. But right now, it’s sunny and 65 in my head, so it’s OK!”

Wentz, 28, goes on to reveal he has been on medication for depression and anxiety problems since he was 18, revealing the trauma of his parents’ separation on his sixth birthday left him emotionally scarred and unable to express his feelings.

He adds, “I turned my emotions off like a faucet.

[From SFGate]

You have to admire the guy for coming out with the news that he suffers from a stigmatizing mental illness. That takes a lot of courage. I used to think Wentz was a douche but I have a lot of respect that he was able to open up like this.

In February, 2005, Wentz had a possible suicide attempt after overdosing on Ativan, an anxiety drug. He spent a week in the hospital and moved in with his parents afterwards. Of the incident, Pete said “I was isolating myself further and further, and the more I isolated myself, the more isolated I’d feel. I wasn’t sleeping. I just wanted my head to shut off, like, I just wanted to completely stop thinking about anything at all.” [Details from Wikipedia]

When celebrities talk about their struggle with mental illness and other personal problems, it helps the rest of us realize that we’re not alone and that there’s no shame in what we go though.

I didn’t publish anything other than a link yesterday about Thandie Newton admitting that she suffered from bulimia, although the story really moved me. That was something that hit a little too close to home for me, and even my family doesn’t know about it. They probably do now.

Pete Wentz is shown with his girlfriend Ashlee Simpson at Kanye West’s 30th birthday on 6/7/07. Thandie Newton is shown on 7/11/07 at the summer party for Serpentine Gallery in London. Thanks to PR Photos.